SPRING ’12 A NEW WAY OF LOOKING AT THE FOREST The Lowdown on Glyphosate Ghost Moose and Winter Ticks Clouds Up Close Crop Tree Release Bird Fallouts, Naval Timbers, A Corpse’s Foot, and much more $5.95 on the web WWW.NORTHERNWOODLANDS.ORG THE OUTSIDE STORY Each week we publish a new nature story on topics ranging from the secret lives of mourning doves to the ecological effects of road salt. EDITOR’S BLOG Dry wood only comes from being covered the better part of a year, split and stacked, under a solid non-leaking covering. In the round, give it another year unless air flow and sun are very high. — Ben, Moretown, VT From Your Thoughts on Woodstoves WHAT IN THE WOODS IS THAT? We show you a photo; if you guess what it is, you’ll be eligible to win a prize. This recent photo shows otter scat, identifiable in part by the white flecks from a crayfish’s exoskeleton. Cover Photo by Susannah Bancroft. Photographer Susannah Bancroft took this photo at the Farm School in Athol, Massachussetts, Sign up on the website to get our bi-weekly where students help with the sawing at the mill and the grunt work of slab removal. Sawn timbers newsletter delivered free to your inbox. are made to order for farm projects, and the wood they’ve sawed has been used for a chicken coop, a garden shed, and an egg mobile. For daily news and information, FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK VOLUME 19 I NUMBER 1 REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS CENTER FOR NORTHERN WOODLANDS EDUCATION, INC. SPRING 2012 Jim Block Copyright 2012 Madeline Bodin Marian Cawley Northern Woodlands Magazine (ISSN 1525-7932) is published Walter M. Medwid quarterly by the Center for Northern Woodlands Education, Inc., magazine Publisher & Executive Director Tovar Cerulli Andrew Crosier 1776 Center Road, P.O. Box 471, Corinth, VT 05039-0471 Meghan Oliver Carl Demrow Tel (802) 439-6292 Assistant Editor Bert Dodson Fax (802) 439-6296 [email protected] Dave Mance III, Editor Steve Faccio Giom www.northernwoodlands.org Virginia Barlow, Founding Editor Bernd Heinrich Subscription rates are $21.50 for one year and $39 for two years. Canadian Amy Peberdy, Operations Manager Robert Kimber and foreign subscriptions by surface mail are $26.50 US for one year. Stephen Long POSTMASTER: Send address corrections to Northern Woodlands Magazine, Emily Rowe Todd McLeish P.O. Box 471, Corinth, VT 05039-0471 or to [email protected]. Operations Coordinator Susan C. Morse Periodical postage paid at Corinth, Vermont, and at additional mailing offices. Jim Schley, Poetry Editor Bryan Pfeiffer Published on the first day of March, June, September, and December. Michael Snyder All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without the written Adelaide Tyrol consent of the publisher is prohibited. The editors assume no responsibility Gustav W. Verderber for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. Return postage should accompany all submissions. Printed in USA. Chuck Wooster For subscription information call (800) 290-5232 DESIGN Northern Woodlands is printed on paper with 10 percent post-consumer Liquid Studio / Lisa Cadieux recycled content. Northern Woodlands / Spring 2012 1 10112_WOOD_SPR12.indd 1 2/14/12 5:25:43 PM Center for Northern from the enter Woodlands Education C BOARD OF DIRECTORS President As you read this, presses are rolling on our newest publication, More Julia Emlen Than a Woodlot: Getting the Most from Your Family Forest. The book is Julia S. Emlen Associates Seekonk, MA written by Northern Woodlands founder and former publisher Stephen Vice President Long, with contributions from several other authors familiar to our readers. In More Than a Woodlot, Steve explains how to work with a Marcia McKeague Katahdin Timberlands forest ecosystem rather than against it, to produce firewood, sawlogs, Millinocket, ME and veneer. Better habitat for songbirds and other wildlife species Treasurer/Secretary is among the welcome side effects of the kinds of management he Tom Colgan describes. We’ve included an excerpt of Steve’s book on page 28 to give you a taste of what Wagner Forest Management this guide has to offer. Lyme, NH We’re so pleased to see this book join the Northern Woodlands family of publications, Sarah R. Bogdanovitch as it captures the essence of the forest stewardship message that we’ve been writing about Paul Smith’s College for the past 17 years. In light of the continuing spread of anti-logging sentiment in certain Paul Smiths, NY quarters of the Northeast, it’s hard to imagine a better time to get the message out there that Tom Ciardelli forest health and active management are not antithetical goals. Hanover Outdoors This new book will help readers, especially those new to landownership, understand Hanover, NH the ecology and the economics of their woodlots, and will serve as an introduction to Esther Cowles Northern Woodlands’ other educational resources. My hope is that the folks in the post Environmental Educator office downstairs will be wondering what all the fuss is about when they hear the hubbub Hopkinton, NH caused by the first wave of book orders coming into our office. Of course, sales from the Dicken Crane book will support Northern Woodlands. Holiday Brook Farm Speaking of support, I’d like to also bring your attention to the ad on the inside cover Dalton, MA of this issue. We’ve partnered with George Ainley of Fine Windsor Chairs of Perkinsville, Timothy Fritzinger Vermont, to raffle one of his classic chairs, with proceeds benefiting Northern Woodlands Alta Advisors operations. All non-profits need to generate revenue, and we like the idea of supporting London, UK local craftsmen who use local wood at the same time. Sydney Lea Writer, Vermont Poet Laureate Wouldn’t an heirloom Windsor chair by George Ainley go perfectly in that corner, right Newbury, VT next to the window? Peter Silberfarb Dartmouth Medical School Lebanon, NH Henry Whittemore Walter M. Medwid Four Winds Capital Management Hallowell, ME Ed Wright W.J. Cox Associates Clarence, NY The Center for Northern Woodlands Education, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) public benefit educational organization. Programs include Northern Woodlands The mission of the Center for Northern Woodlands Education magazine, Northern Woodlands Goes is to advance a culture of forest stewardship in the Northeast to School, The Outside Story, The and to increase understanding of and appreciation for the Place You Call Home series, and natural wonders, economic productivity, and ecological www.northernwoodlands.org. integrity of the region’s forests. 2 Northern Woodlands / Spring 2012 10112_WOOD_SPR12.indd 2 2/14/12 5:25:49 PM in this ISSUE features 25 Dirt and Blossom SYDNEY LEA 28 How to Help Your Best Trees Grow STEPHEN LONG 34 Clouds: More Than Meets the Sky CHRIS BOUCHARD 41 Ghost Moose: Winter Ticks Take Their Toll SUSAN C. MORSE 46 23 46 The Great Glyphosate Debate DAVE MANCE III departments 2 From the Center 4 Calendar 5 Editor’s Note 28 25 9 Another View: At Work and at Play in the Northeastern Forest REID BRYANT 11 Letters to the Editors 13 Woods Whys: How Can I Tell if My Woods are Old Growth? MICHAEL SNYDER 15 Tracking Tips: Looking for Lynx SUSAN C. MORSE 34 16 Knots and Bolts 23 1,000 Words 32 The Overstory VIRGINIA BARLOW 44 Field Work: At Work Milling Ship Masts with “Duke” Besozzi CAROLYN HALEY 53 Birds in Focus: The Forecast Calls for Birds BRYAN PFEIFFER 54 Discoveries 57 Tricks of the Trade CARL DEMROW 63 Upcountry ROBERT KIMBER 64 WoodLit 67 Mill Prices 71 Outdoor Palette 72 A Place in Mind ALLAIRE DIAMOND Northern Woodlands / Spring 2012 3 10112_WOOD_SPR12.indd 3 2/14/12 5:25:53 PM CALENDAR A Look at the Season’s Main Events By Virginia Barlow March April May FIRST WEEK Mars is now as close as it gets to Earth Mice are laying their six to nine eggs, about For moose, heat stress begins at about and will be fully illuminated by the sun. the size, shape, and color of puffed wheat / 58°F. These northern creatures will need This is a good time to view and photograph A vee of geese may be seen overhead, all water for cooling from now till mid- the red planet / Saw whet owls may be singing “Time to go North Again!” / Belted September / First bugs on the windshield / calling, a monotonic “too, too, too, too, kingfishers will nest in deep tunnels they There are many sparrow species here too” – repeated endlessly / You can see dig in sandy banks; sometimes these are now: field, chipping, song, tree, white- red-tailed hawk nests more easily now over 10 feet long / Robins seem to be throated, and white-crowned, to name but when the trees are leafless. They may happy to be back and may be noisy as they a few / It could hardly be called beautiful, be reused soon, either by the original join forces at a loaded crabapple tree / but the resonating song of the ovenbird is occupant or by another raptor / Days are Stoneflies emerging from streams and a most welcome sound / Robin’s egg blue longer and the sun has some real warmth. rivers provide food for phoebes and robins empty eggshells are being dropped on the Spring will soon be here ground by … robins SECOND WEEK Melting snow may reveal small fruit Crows are building their nests high Smarten up, doggies! Porcupines have and shade trees that have been girdled. in white pines / Wild leek leaves are left the treetops to feed on herbaceous Though many different rodents do this, approaching full size. They are delicious plants at ground level.