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North Maine Woods: Managing recreation on a sizable chunk of Maine

Photo courtesy of North Maine WoodsThere is the north Maine woods:  the vast expanse of trees and mountains and ponds that makes up a significant portion of the Pine Tree State. Then there is North Maine Woods, the organization that manages recreation on 3.5 million acres of the state owned by a variety of landowners,…

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Winter: A Time to get to know your Forest Neighbors by their Tracks

There’s something about the winter woods — the profound silence, the sheer whiteness. Snow whispering through the branches of the firs or slanting sunlight. The, well, purity and profound timelessness of it. But that’s our human perception. Far from being a place caught out of time, the winter woods are a happening neighborhood. It may…

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Trail cameras give you a new window on the woods

By Joe Rankin Forests for Maine’s Future Writer Everyone who walks in the Maine woods has a story about wildlife — the deer that bounded through the clearing; the moose high-stepping onto the trail; the mother turkey leading a batch of poults through shafts of sunlight; pileated woodpeckers dancing on a downed log. But they’ve…

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Nature photography: A new way of seeing the woods

  By Joe RankinForests for Maine’s Future Writer Pam Wells has patience.When she’s in search of the perfect photo she can wait hours, in some disheartening conditions. She’s not Bobcat (All photos courtesy Pam Wells)shooting brides or weddings or newborn babies or products. She’s photographing the natural world. And she knows there are a lot…

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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…

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…