Straw Bale Greenhouse

On August 18th & 19th Lee and Amy Cooper and the Northwoods Stewardship Center jointly offered an alternative building workshop - focused upon straw bale & passive solar construction. A small group of aspiring builders from far and near convened to learn and then apply their new skills first hand. Designer Lee Cooper first described the process behind his post and beam frame, and then the philosophy and practical methods of straw bale wall construction. With Lee guiding, the group quickly shaped, stacked, and staked the bales, breaking for a well-earned lunch at a beautiful 1,000 sq ft straw bale home owned by Lee's parents. Day two focused upon mixing and applying the stucco. Lee demonstrated the process with practiced ease, which the rest of us then struggled to imitate. Lee's greenhouse/canning room design is impressively low-impact and elegant in its simplicity. It draws upon local stone for the thermal mass footing, on-site softwood timber milled with a portable sawmill, and straw purchased from a neighbor farmer. The metal roofing, glass, and a small amount of cement will be the only non-local materials. Many thanks to the Coopers and the workshop participants. Clearly, straw bale is a very promising (and under-utilized) building technique in our northern climate.

Teen Researchers Take to the Woods

The third year of our summer teen research program is now in full swing, with five budding naturalists participating in a variety of ecological studies in the Northern Forest. This summer we are surveying for bats and terrestrial small mammals, investigating land-use history in our forests, sampling water quality and forest salamanders, observing loons, and investigating the effects of logging on wildlife species.

The past two nights of small-mammal surveys have produced the highest individual captures and species diversity that we have seen at NorthWoods in nearly ten years. This may be in part the result of a mild January and then deep protective snow cover over the past winter. Overall trapping success was 40%, and species included Northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus), short-tailed weasel (Mustela erminea), masked shrew (Sorex cinereus), and many meadow and woodland jumping mice (Zapus hudsonius and Napeozapus insignus).

Photo: Small mammal researcher and University of Vermont professor William Kilpatrick examines a deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) with teen researchers.

Red squirrel heaven

Campers explore the enchanted spruce forest and find a mighty midden!

Summer discovery

Although slugs and turkeys were the most popular themes of summer day camp (week 1), there was still time to enjoy watching a newly emerged dragonfly unfurling and drying its wings.

Summer Camp begins!

Week 1 of Summer Day Camp has flown by - leaving new friendships and memories in its wake. Here part of the crew gets ready to learn the finer points of frisbee golf during some R & R time.

Kingdom Corps 2007

2007 marks the 12th Kingdom Corps season and today marks the end of week one! Kudos to all of the hardworking leaders and corpsmembers who carry forward a tradition of conservation service started by the Civilian Conservation Corps. We have six crews this season toiling from a National Wildlife Refuge in Connecticut to the summit of Mt. Monadnock in Lemington. Keep an eye out for them (or their good work) when you're out hiking this summer.

Photo: 2007 Kingdom Corps leaders becoming acquainted - the NorthWoods way.

Baby Robin

It's often said that "the early bird gets the worm". For nestling robins, the big yellow mouth gets the worm, and this one shouldn't go hungry any time soon! American robins are nothing if not industrious and the nest shown here was constructed under a protective eave at NorthWoods - on the handlebars of a hanging mountain bike.

According to the Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas, breeding “safe dates” for robins in Vermont are May 1st to September 5th. This designation implies that robins seen within these dates are most likely on territory and may be breeding. Birds seen outside of these dates, on the other hand, could be migrants. Robins regularly produce two broods and have been known to produce as many as three broods in a breeding season.

If you are a birdwatcher and are interested helping with the Breeding Bird Atlas in Orleans County, contact Jayson Benoit at NorthWoods for further details.

Sweet, sweet, [and a] little more sweet!

Photo: Cindy Smith and Richard Miller track down an elusive birdlet in a backwater of the Clyde River
This morning's birdwatching outing along the Clyde River turned up a few intrepid birders and 51 species of birds - including a few secretive or uncommon ones (birds, that is). By 6:30 am the steady rain from earlier in the morning had ceased, leaving a surprisingly mild and bug-free calm on the water. With high water we were able to paddle over beaver dams and explore the many wetland nooks and crannies for signs of life. The species list for a section of river less than a half mile long follows:

Birds (most interesting species for this site in bold): pied-billed grebe, eastern kingbird (on nest), American robin, yellow warbler, common yellowthroat, eastern pheobe, alder flycatcher, northern waterthrush, magnolia warbler, myrtle warbler, black-throated green warbler, black-throated blue warbler, red-eyed vireo, great blue heron, mallard, American black duck, wood duck, blackpoll warbler, great-crested flycatcher, gray catbird, cedar waxwing, red-breasted nuthatch, hairy woodpecker, northern flicker, ruby-crowned kinglet, least flycatcher, blackburnian warbler, black-capped chickadee, sora, Virginia rail, marsh wren, northern parula, veery, American crow, common raven, chimney swift, tree swallow, red-winged blackbird, common grackle, American goldfinch, rose-breasted grosbeak, white throated sparrow, swamp sparrow, song sparrow, belted kingfisher, common snipe, Canada warbler, killdeer, mourning dove, blue jay, and blue-headed vireo.

Non-birds: eastern painted turtle, flowering bog rosemary, green frog, and spring peeper

Making (Her)story

On Friday May 18th NorthWoods board member Lydia Spitzer left her signature on a Vermont Land Trust map- and in the process single-handedly conserved 1,342 acres of Northeast Kingdom forest land forever. This event marked the largest easement ever established by the Vermont Land Trust through a donation from a single individual.

A long-time supporter of NorthWoods, Lydia purchased the bulk of this acreage in 1992, only a few years after a liquidation logging operation had reduced large swaths of the forest to raspberry bushes. From the outset she respected the multi-generation ties that neighboring families had with her land, welcoming continued access and recreational use and maintaining regular correspondence with these families. A few years later Lydia joined the NorthWoods board, offering the use of her land for educational programs, forest research, and demonstration forestry. The Center's Conservation Science program grew out of this work and now benefits from nine years of monitoring data gathered in the forests and wetlands of the property. Our Land Management program manages the site, using ecological forestry principles and following a 10-year stewardship plan completed in 2006. In this way the property has transitioned in little over a decade from an example of abusive land use to a valuable community resource and educational model for other landowners. Lydia has also pledged to donate the property to NorthWoods, further increasing its value as a resource for our programs.

With 1,800 feet of shoreline on Echo Lake and over 2,000 feet of road frontage, the property has presented an increasingly attractive target for subdivision and development - promising a sizeable short-term profit in the process. When asked why she chose instead to donate the development rights, Lydia responded succintly; "...there seemed like a lot more reasons to do it than not to." She further explained, "Land conservation is beneficial for not only human, but also plant and animal communities. The Iroquois based their policy decisions on this declaration: ‘In our every deliberation we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.’ Like the Iroquois, I strongly agree that we need to think of future generations when we make decisions about our land."

This easement adds to recent conservation of several surrounding parcels, resulting in over 2,500 acres of conserved land. The resulting protection prevents fragmentation or development of the lands, while supporting continued sustainable forestry, agricultural, and recreational use. Thank you Lydia and may we all draw inspiration and hope from your generosity!

Photo: A scene from the easement signing event (Lydia Spitzer third from left).

Restoring River Buffer Zones

For the past several weeks staff and volunteers for our Conservation Service program have labored through some extremely fickle weather conditions to re-establish protective tree buffer zones along several Northeast Kingdom rivers. The largest project was completed on the Chaput Farm in North Troy along Mud Creek, a tributary of the Mississquoi River. Smaller sites were at the Maxwell Farm in Island Pond (Pherrins River), the Black Farm in Lunenburg (Connecticut River) and the Lamothe Farm in Passumpsic (Passumpsic River). Overall, nearly 21 acres were planted with 4,410 trees and 3,800 live willow stakes.

Creating forested buffer zones along these streams will have several important benefits. First, the tree roots will help to stabilize the soils - slowing erosion. The trees will also help to intercept and filter pollutants- such as manure, pesticides, and herbicides- before they reach the streams. Finally, as the trees mature they will provide increasing shade and wildlife habitat for a large number of terrestrial and aquatic species.

This work was funded by the USDA’s CREP program and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife's "Partners for Wildlife" program, both of which provide financial incentives for farmers to establish streamside buffers. Many thanks to everyone who made this project successful, including the farmers who gave up farmland for these important buffer zones.

Photo: Live willow stakes ready for planting along Mud Creek in North Troy.

Congratulations to Amy, Fritz, and Abigail

Rope Courses

During the month of May you will most likely hear in the NorthWoods pine plantation: "Spotters reader, ready, climbing, climb on." These are the commands climbers and spotters communicate before starting the course. The high and low ropes course is one of our most popular group activities - challenging the individual while teaching peer support. Debriefing reiterates the value of expanding personal comfort zones and empathy, bringing relevance to participant's lives. When we step outside our comfort zone, perceived risk takes over...overcoming the fear brings great joy of relief...and a well-earned sense of accomplishment!

Photo: Education staff, Silvia and Mike assist a participant through the "Tarzan Swing."

Our ice-free pond and vernal pools are full of life once again. Three species of amphibians: wood frog, spring peeper, and spotted salamander can be found in these pools and are quite hormone-driven this time of the year. They must act fast, water in vernal pools doesn't last long and their offspring must hatch before the water is gone. Photo: wood frogs in "amplexus"- the darker male will fertilize the eggs as they are released by the female and attached to cattails and other submerged vegetation.

First wave of spring...

Over the past few days spring has made its debut- even here in the cold North Country! In her first vernal pool monitoring of the spring, Melissa’s tromp through 10” of lingering snow was rewarded by an early chorus of wood frogs at our most distant pool. The first wood frog egg masses were seen this morning in the pond in front of the Center. Yesterday’s very warm breezes also brought us the first pine warbler of the season, who treated us to a short song as he fueled up on insects at the forest edge. This morning’s new arrivals included a male palm warbler- with his brilliant chestnut cap, and several Myrtle (yellow-rumped) warblers. Later, the action heated up with an adult bald eagle spotted by V over the Center - in hot pursuit of an osprey. Both of these species have become increasingly common over the past few years and ospreys successfully fledged at least one nestling last summer along the Clyde River.

Last Friday four tom (male) turkeys were strutting their stuff in the farm fields along route 105 in East Charleston – trying to catch the eye of fifteen accompanying hens. This loud and energetic display went on for at least 30 minutes, before the birds became camera shy and headed for the cover of the nearby woods.

Colts-foot (Tussilago farfara)

Colts-foot...a non-native plant. It's colt's foot -shaped (heart-shaped) leaves emerge later. Leaves can be used as salt substitute and a cough medicine.

Barred owl (Strix varia)

Introducing Oberon - NorthWoods' resident non-releasable barred owl. Oberon came to NorthWoods in the spring of 2005, after rehabilitation from an impact with a car on I-89, which resulted in permanent non-fatal injuries. We were able to obtain Oberon only after constructing special housing accommodations and obtaining permits from the US Fish & Wildlife Service and the State of Vermont. Now he is helping people of all ages to better understand and appreciate his feathered owl cousins. April is the height of breeding season for barred owls in Vermont and in recent nights Oberon's songs of "who cooks for you, who cooks for you all" have been answered and have even attracted at least one feathered visitor.

Northwoods