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So far northwoods has created 349 blog entries.
25 05, 2016

3,600 Trees Planted in Newport Center

2016-12-13T19:11:46-05:00May 25th, 2016|Conservation Corps, Highlights, News|

Over the course of three weeks this May, the Corps has been busy planting 3,600 trees at the Marquis site along Mud Creek in Newport Center. The species planted included: Northern white cedar, tamarack, quaking aspen, shrub willows, boxelder, nannyberry, and winterberry. Across 12 acres, these young trees will make up a riparian forest buffer which will reduce nutrients/pollutants in surface runoff, lower water temperatures through the shade they provide, create habitat corridors for wildlife, and produce litter and large woody debris for aquatic organisms. Every spring season, alongside partners such [Read More...]

25 05, 2016

Wheeler Mountain Trail Work Underway

2016-12-13T19:11:46-05:00May 25th, 2016|Conservation Corps, Highlights, News|

Changes are coming to Wheeler Mountain that will ensure continued public access for years to come. In an effort coordinated by NorthWoods Stewardship Center, Wheeler Mountain landowner John Krieble has agreed to a public access trail easement in a move that also relocates the lower portion of the Wheeler Mountain Trails onto nearby Willoughby State Forest. The new route will begin at a trailhead parking area, to be constructed this summer, on state lands and bypass the poorly sited parking area in use today. Under the agreement, crews from the NorthWoods Conservation Corps will construct roughly [Read More...]

19 04, 2016

Teaming up with TNC to Save Elms

2016-12-13T19:11:46-05:00April 19th, 2016|Conservation Corps, Education, Forest Stewardship Institute, Highlights, News|

NorthWoods is once again teaming up with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to help save the elms! In the mid-20th century, the Dutch Elm Disease came through the U.S. and decimated the American Elm population, killing almost all of the iconic trees. Even now, many elm trees which succeed in establishing themselves are killed by the disease before they are able to achieve their mature height. While the majority of elms have been killed, there are still some large elm trees which survived the disease, and it has been shown that some of these individuals have [Read More...]

19 04, 2016

NorthWoods Expands USFWS Youth Conservation Crews

2016-12-13T19:11:46-05:00April 19th, 2016|Conservation Corps, Education, Forest Stewardship Institute, Highlights, News|

The NorthWoods Stewardship Center has had a long-standing partnership with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, managing Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) crews at National Wildlife Refuges across New England since 1999. Nearly 20 years later, the partnership continues to offer great potential at new locations. This year, NorthWoods will manage a YCC Crew at the Misissquoi National Wildlife Refuge in Swanton, VT and a YCC Crew Leader team at the Moosehorn NWR in Charlotte, ME. These crews are in addition to our current YCC crews at the Silvio O. Conte National Fish & Wildlife Refuge Nulhegan Basin [Read More...]

19 04, 2016

Vermont’s Green Up Day

2016-12-13T19:11:47-05:00April 19th, 2016|Conservation Corps, Education, Forest Stewardship Institute, Highlights, News|

The first Green Up Day occurred in 1970, when Governor Deane C. Davis decided there should be a day dedicated to citizen-powered state cleanup. On that first Green Up Day, over 4,000 garbage truck loads were required to haul the trash that was picked up by Vermonters. Now, 46 years later, the tradition is still going strong with over 40,000 bags of trash collected annually! Green Up Vermont, like NorthWoods, is a 503(c) non-profit organization. It was started in 1979 to organize the annual litter gathering and distribute special trash bags. The people of Green [Read More...]

19 04, 2016

Trail Guidelines for Mud Season

2016-12-13T19:11:47-05:00April 19th, 2016|Conservation Corps, Education, Forest Stewardship Institute, Highlights, News|

It is mud season in the Northeast Kingdom and NorthWoods is discouraging hikers from damaging local trail during this transitional time of year. In northern Vermont mud season comes early and ends late, often extending into June—much later than other parts of the state. The impacts of hiking during mud season are significant and they should be minimized during any wet spell, not just in the spring. Fragile soils, plants, loose slopes, access roads and parking areas are all more susceptible to rutting, compaction and erosion at this time of year. To reduce impacts to [Read More...]

24 03, 2016

This Week in the Woods: Sugaring Season

2016-12-13T19:11:47-05:00March 24th, 2016|Conservation Corps, Forest Stewardship Institute, Highlights, This Week in the Woods|

Warm days and cold nights make that sap run! But why? During the day, when temperatures rise above freezing, pressure develops inside of the tree. This pressure wants to release, and can do so by pushing sap out of an opening (such as the ones that we create). As temperatures fall during the night, suction (or negative pressure) develops within the tree. This causes the roots to take in large quantities of water, which can be used to replenish the sap. This replenished sap will flow again during the next warm [Read More...]

24 03, 2016

This Week in the Woods: Winter Precipitation

2016-12-13T19:11:47-05:00March 24th, 2016|Conservation Corps, Education, Forest Stewardship Institute, This Week in the Woods|

This winter we have seen a lot less snow, and a lot more rain, than usual. While the immediate effects of this weather difference are apparent, especially recreationally, the long term impacts may be harder to see. As spring arrives, there will be less snow melt (due to minimal snow) than what we may be used to. Snow melt from alpine zones, which lags behind lower elevations, serves as an important water source for many places (especially in the western United States). Precipitation falling as rain is available for only a [Read More...]

25 02, 2016

NorthWoods Staff Lead Sterling College Backcountry Course

2016-02-25T10:20:12-05:00February 25th, 2016|Education, Highlights, News|

Sterling College's Winter Intensive provides students with the opportunity to dig deep into a subject, and only that subject, for two straight weeks. For students in my course, while the snowpack was on the thin side, we certainly dug in to backcountry skiing in Vermont. We found snow in likely places when we left the lowlands, and reached the summits of Mt. Mansfield, Bald Mtn, and the ridge of the Bolton Trapps Traverse under the power of our muscles and skins attached to our skis.  We enjoyed snow made soft by rain, [Read More...]

23 02, 2016

This Week in the Woods: the Polar Vortex

2016-12-13T19:11:48-05:00February 23rd, 2016|This Week in the Woods|

A polar vortex, as intimidating as it sounds, is really just a pocket of cold air and low pressure surrounding both the North and South poles. It is actually always there, though it is rare that we, here in New England, get to experience its chilling effects. The “Vortex” refers to a counter-clockwise spinning of the pressure system which acts to centralize it over the poles. I say “over” because this weather is actually occurring tens of thousands of feet above the earth’s surface. Every so often, the polar vortex swells [Read More...]

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