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Maine’s public lands: recreation, wildlife habitat, timber

These parcels aren’t as well known as the state’s parks, but that’s changing By Joe Rankin Forests for Maine’s Future Writer   When most people think about public lands in Maine, they think state parks like Mt. Blue or Two Lights. Or maybe Baxter State Park and Katahdin. Acadia National Park, maybe. But there is a…

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Learning about the woods: places to go, things to see . . .

  By Joe Rankin Forests for Maine’s Future Writer   Cathy Goslin vividly remembers a first grader visiting the re-created lumbering settlement of Leonard’s Mills on a children’s day not so long ago. The little girl parked herself by a woolly little lamb and stayed there. For hours.   “She didn’t realize they were real…

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Land conservation: still going strong

Despite the down economy, landowners and the public are still eager to ensure the future of Maine’s forest   By Joe Rankin Forests for Maine’s Future writer   Earlier this month state conservation officials gathered in the Hall of Flags at the Maine State House to accept a land donation from Huber Resources Corp., one of the…

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Aging forest owners: What will become of their woods?

By Joe Rankin Forests for Maine’s Future Writer Jim walked slowly up the path, as he had done ten thousand times before. Almost every day for decades. Through the woods. His woods, he thought. But . . . not really his. Just The Woods. It was a crisp, fall day. Red maples, golden beech, purple ash…

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Bernd Heinrich: Writer, academic, Maine forestland owner

Fresh from the Woods Bernd Heinrich: Writer, academic, Maine forestland owner May 2011 It’s easy to see what makes Bernd Heinrich one of America’s great nature writers: curiosity. Strolling around his property near Weld on a late winter day he notices everything going on around him. Even as intimately as he knows this place he…

Community Forests: an old idea that’s new again
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Community Forests: an old idea that’s new again

Forest scene on Branch Lake land in Ellsworth. Photo courtesy of Jerry and Marcy Monkman, Ecophotography.org Fresh from the Woods January 2011, edited for republication January 2023 By Joe Rankin They provide timber, hiking trails, opportunities to learn, and even maple syrup. They serve to protect watersheds and provide habitat for wildlife. They’re town forests. Also…

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Maine Seeks $25 million for Conservation

Fresh from the Woods North Maine woods Maine seeks $25 million for conservation By Joe Rankin Maine’s north woods covers some 12 million acres, a near contiguous swath that qualifies as the largest unbroken tract of forest east of the Mississippi. While that forest has provided jobs and recreational opportunities for generations, these days it…