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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Fresh from the Woods Trails for the 21st century December 2010 By JOE RANKIN It’s a beautiful day. Leaves are turning. The air smells of the dying days of summer. A swollen stream roars off to the right. The group is moving slowly, pulling brush off a newly cleared footpath. Snipping pesky branches, cutting saplings. Later…
Fresh from the Woods A group of hikers nears the summit of White Cap Mountain in the KI Jo-Mary region. (Photo courtesy of North Maine Woods) North Maine Woods offers unequalled opportunities for backwoods recreation By Andrew Kekacs Few would argue that the 205,000-acre Baxter State Park is a national treasure, but there is another…
