Education

26 01, 2017

This Week in the Woods: Who’s been chewing this tree?

2017-01-26T10:17:29-05:00January 26th, 2017|Education, Forest Stewardship Institute, News, This Week in the Woods|

Hey, who did that?! While walking in the woods this week, we noticed freshly scraped-off bark at the base of this yellow birch tree. It looks a little bit like abstract wildlife artwork, but in these cold winter months, our Vermont woodland animals are more concerned about… food! The scraping reached about two feet above the snow pack, about the height that a snowshoe hare might reach- our first suspect. But upon closer inspection we found marks from very small teeth, in randomly alternating directions. These marks are characteristic of voles, [Read More...]

19 10, 2016

Women Can Do: Chainsaw Practice 2016

2016-12-13T19:11:44-05:00October 19th, 2016|Education, Forest Stewardship Institute, Highlights, News|

Kim explains the saw at the chainless 'safe station'. Enthusiasm wasn’t dampened by a little afternoon rain last Thursday when female high-school students learned how to safely use chainsaws and cut tree cookies at the Women Can Do Expo at Vermont Technical College in Randolph, Vermont. The Expo is an annual event put on by Vermont Works for Women, an organization dedicated to helping women advance in non-traditional careers and investing in the next generation of working women. NorthWoods Stewardship Center has participated for the past 6 years running a chainsaw skills [Read More...]

20 09, 2016

North Country Conservation: Completion of Coös Conservation Projects

2016-12-13T19:11:44-05:00September 20th, 2016|Conservation Corps, Education, Forest Stewardship Institute, Highlights, News|

Conservation crews from the NorthWoods Stewardship Center recently completed several projects that improve access to New Hampshire’s great outdoors. The work, done in cooperation with local and state partners, includes two segments connected with the 162-mile Cohos Trail and an access area that further improves the Connecticut River Paddlers Trail. All three projects are intended to increase sustainable recreational access in the North Country while protecting natural resources. They also have the benefit of engaging local youth in natural resource education and management. Earlier this month, NorthWoods finished construction of the 4-mile Trio Trail in the remote [Read More...]

22 07, 2016

In Pictures: Bunkhouse Construction Under Way!

2016-12-13T19:11:45-05:00July 22nd, 2016|Conservation Corps, Education, Forest Stewardship Institute, Highlights, News|

Work began in mid July on excavation and site preparation for a new bunkhouse at the NorthWoods Stewardship Center. The four-season 54 x 24 foot building will include bunks for 18 students and an annex with handicapped-accessible bathrooms and showers. The bunkhouse will expand the Center’s capacity and ability to offer its educational programming over multiple days to groups from a wider geographic area. For over 25 years NorthWoods has provided school and adult education programs as part of its mission of “connecting people and place through education, science, and action”, but groups have been limited to single day [Read More...]

22 07, 2016

This Week in the Woods: Exploring the CT River

2016-12-13T19:11:45-05:00July 22nd, 2016|Education, Highlights, News|

This week in the woods, campers took to the water to explore a Northern section of the Connecticut River. They practiced their quick and whitewater paddling techniques and took advantage of the slower sections to observe the ample wildlife. Some exciting encounters included a flock of 50 Canada Geese, a Beaver, and Weasel, a Great Blue Heron, and a Bald Eagle! This camp runs in partnership with the Northern Forest Canoe Trail. In the featured picture, campers paddle Island Pond on day one to get the feel of their boats.

9 06, 2016

All Aboard:  Third Grade Students Explore Lake Memphremagog

2016-12-13T19:11:46-05:00June 9th, 2016|Education, Highlights, News|

How old is Lake Memphremagog? Where does all the water in the Lake come from? Who calls it home?  Nearly 300 third grade students from Orleans County searched for answers to these questions on the Discovery Cruise aboard the Northern Star boat this spring. In the search, students were invited to become lake detectives, provided with helpful tools – binoculars, discovery guides, watershed maps, identification books, and their own powers of observation.  During the quest, detectives had to abide by Captain Chris Johansen’s number one rule: to have fun! Facilitated by NorthWoods [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...]

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