northernwoodlands.org
Newsletter                                                                                               November 13, 2015
fire poking
Dave Mance III

Consider the givens in life, those moments of predictability that stand out in a constantly changing world. The sun rises in the east, for instance. The sky is blue. Or how about this one: while in deer camp this weekend, just before bedtime, some knucklehead's gonna put enough wood on the fire to turn the sleeping loft into a dry-sauna...

sunset
Northern Woodlands Readers

Many of your October photos captured quiet scenes: vivid fall color, early snows and sunset views. Meanwhile, the animal world seemed to enjoy the last few days of warmth, and prepared for the lean times to come. One of the last bee species to fly, posed on one of the last flower species to bloom. Bears and coyotes munched on fallen apples, beavers topped their lodges with fresh sticks, and a wood frog posed on top of leaves. It will soon be hidden under them. Winter is coming.

View Gallery

We're now on the hunt for November 2015 photos. We encourage you to share images about anything that relates to the Northeast's forests, and that you take this month. Here are examples - but by no means an exclusive list - of photo topics that fit this category: nature, weather, education activities (any age), forest management/logging, recreation, wood manufacture, art, workshops, events. As long as it relates in some way to the Northeast's forests, we'll consider it.

Submit Your Photo

hunting mushrooms
Carolyn Lori�

When you stumble across something purple in the forest, it's hard not to stop in your tracks. At least it was for me on a recent hike in Thetford, when I came across three purple mushrooms. They stood about four inches tall, with saucer tops that were nearly black in the center and ringed in a rich eggplant-purple...

hummingbird
Todd McLeish

As an avid birdwatcher for more than 30 years, I've long been familiar with the big picture of songbird migration. Tiny blackpoll warblers, for instance, fly 1,500 miles from southern New England to the Caribbean in a single two- or three-day flight across open water with nowhere to land if they get tired...

greener days
A flashback to when we had leaves. What is climbing this tree?
Every other week we run a photo of something unusual found in the woods. Guess what it is and you'll be eligible to win one of our Season's Main Events Day Calendars. A prize winner will be drawn at random from all the correct entries. The correct answer, and the winner's name, will appear in our next e-newsletter.

This week's contest deadline is 8:00 AM, Wednesday, November 25, 2015.
dead when found
Congratulations to our winner Peter Hollinger! Peter receives a Season's Main Events Day Calendar.

Rich Root sent us this shot of a mystery insect he spotted on a spruce in a woodlot in Weston, Vermont, in late October. "It was dead when I found it," he said.

NW Answer:


We asked Barbara Schultz, forest health program manager with the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation, for a remote diagnosis. She believes the moth is infected with an entomopathogenic fungus. "The fungus may be one of the species in the genus Cordyceps, which is one of the more common insect-killing fungi that you can see without a microscope," she explained.  
NORTHERN WOODLANDS NEWS
Our cup runneth over. Actually, our inbox spilleth over. Either way, we have a lot of interesting news stories that cross our desks. Here were some of our favorites:
  
NATURE

"Rail bikes" in the Adirondacks; a changing forestry model in Wisconsin, bears in the New Hampshire woods, a new state park in Vermont, and forest-fire-fighting elephants in Indonesia. Just a really cool photo of a hungry hawk in pursuit of bats. Federal forest restoration efforts are falling behind in the U.S. A model has been created to predict the effects of land management practices. And Northeastern forests are recovering from acid rain.

INDUSTRY

Weyerhaeuser is purchasing Plum Creek Timber to create the largest forest products company in the U.S. Maine opts not to pursue federal forestland conservation funding this year. Also in Maine, a low-impact harvesting workshop, and demand for "plyscrapers." Firewood prices are up and supply is down. Still, wood stove sales are booming. A Vermonter will be competing in the Timbersports World Championship.         
birdsong pendant
In our Winter 2013 issue, Howard Norman says, "It is difficult to describe the Theology of Birds to which I am devoted, except to compare it to what Emerson said of his own spiritual condition: 'It is always fully felt but ever only half thought out.'"

The Birdsong corded necklace has a handcrafted pewter pendant, blue enamel washed, with a pale blue stone inset on a black leather cord. The pendant is 2 3/16 inches high and 1 9/16 inches wide and comes on an 18-inch black leather cord. Made in Vermont. $32.00.