As highlighted in previous seedlings and OverSTORY articles, Maine TREE Programs and Outreach Coordinator Kelly French worked on a research investigation during the spring semester with the 6th-grade science class at Edna Drinkwater School in Northport. First, the students collected tree cores from trees found on their school’s campus. They then looked at the ring widths and local climate…
At the University of Maine’s Center for Research on Sustainable Forests, a group of scientists from academia and private institutions have come together to form the Forest Climate Change Initiative (FCCI). The purpose of FCCI is to build connections among researchers, scientists, stakeholders, legislators, and the interested public on climate change issues around forests. Despite…
By Maren Granstrom *Editor’s note: Forester Maren Granstrom voluntarily submitted this article to Forests for Maine’s Future and Maine TREE to highlight the “Forestry for the Future” video she produced as part of her Master’s of Science work at the University of Maine’s School of Forest Resources. Maine TREE claims no ownership of the video and…
By Joe Rankin, published August 2016 Much of the southern half of Maine is dry. Really dry. Lawns brown. Gardens struggling. Wells drying up. Things are bad on the rainfall front and in early August the forecasts weren’t looking good for rain. The U.S. Drought Monitor for Aug. 9 said the southern tip of Maine…
By JOE RANKIN You’re in a store, say, and you look around you at the other patrons. Can you tell who is healthy? For a few, maybe. For most, probably not. Light in the forest (Photo: Rankin file)Things are similar for a forest. Just look at the trees and it might be hard to tell…
Factors at play today will help create the woods of the 22nd century By JOE RANKIN Forests for Maine’s Future Writer When Verso Paper Co. announced the impending closure of its faltering Bucksport paper mill and the loss of 500 jobs, workers were stunned and a collective groan of dismay rippled through Maine’s forest products…
By JOE RANKIN Forests for Maine’s Future writer It’s perhaps fitting that the largest city in the most forested state in the nation should be nicknamed the Forest City. Of course, when Portland acquired that sobriquet, back in the 1800s, Maine and New England had a lot less forest. Portland has thousands of trees. Large…
By JOE RANKIN Forests for Maine’s Future Writer At one time or another we’ve all wished we could see into the future, to get just a glimpse of the ways our lives might unfold if we take this particular job, or buy this house, or marry that person or go to that university. The same…
By Joe Rankin Forests for Maine’s Future writer In a spruce-fir forest north of Bangor tall towers rise above the treetops, studded with instruments measuring everything from wind to carbon dioxide and methane. Another forest to the southeast gets regular doses of fertilizer while a patch nearby does not. In another chunk of forest on…
A talk with the author of “The Changing Nature of the Maine Woods” Andrew Barton grew up Asheville, in the mountains of North Carolina, and as a boy of 8 or 9 he was fascinated by salamanders, lizards and snakes. “My mom wouldn’t let me keep any in the house, which I think just stoked…
