Highlights

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...]

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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...]

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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...]

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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...]

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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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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...]

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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...]

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23 02, 2016

This Week in the Woods: A Look Through the Ice

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

It may be common knowledge that water freezes at 32°F, and that water, unlike most things, expands as it freezes. We, as residents of winter, have a complicated relationship with ice. What glory it brings when fishing and skating, and what frustration, when it covers our roads and windshields. What you may not know is that the ice on our ponds and lakes (though lately it has been looking a bit thin…) actually began to form in late summer of 2015. As temperatures begin to drop, the top layer of water [Read More...]

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11 01, 2016

This Week in the Woods: Winter Tracks

2016-12-13T19:11:54-05:00January 11th, 2016|Conservation Corps, Education, Forest Stewardship Institute, Highlights, News, This Week in the Woods|

Have you ever walked outside in the morning to find that someone, or something, has been quite busy while you were asleep? Here are some hints to help you narrow down your suspects. There are four main ways that animals move: Walk/Trotters (cat family, dog family, and hoofed animals) move on their toes, front foot on one side, followed by hind foot on the other side. Typically you will only see the hind tracks as they place them on top of the front tracks. Waddlers (Bears, Beavers, Porcupines, Raccoons, Opossums, Muskrats, [Read More...]

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11 01, 2016

This Week in the Woods: Freezing Frogs

2016-12-13T19:11:54-05:00January 11th, 2016|Conservation Corps, Education, Forest Stewardship Institute, Highlights, News, This Week in the Woods|

There are five species of frogs that are able to enter a “frozen state” as they hibernate for the winter: the Wood Frog, Cope’s Gray Tree Frog, the Eastern Gray Tree Frog, Spring Peepers, and the Western Chorus Frog. Even in their protected winter homes, temperatures are sure to drop below freezing. This causes the water in their outer cells to begin to freeze. Once this begins, their liver starts producing glucose, which the heart pumps through the blood to all vital organs. This glucose helps prevent the tissue from drying [Read More...]

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PO Box 220, East Charleston, VT 05833

Get in Touch

Email: info@northwoodscenter.org

Main Phone: 802.723.6551

Office & Administration ext: 301
Conservation Science & Forestry ext: 302
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Funding for the development of this website was made possible in part by the Rural Business Enterprise Grant through the Vermont Community Loan Fund from USDA Rural Development.
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