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Mass Timber: Coming to a town near you?
Mass timber, also known as cross-laminated timber or CLT is becoming a mainstream building material. What is it? It is basically plywood on steroids.
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It’s February, why haven’t these leaves fallen?
Have you ever noticed leaves hanging on to certain trees throughout the winter? This phenomenon is known as marcescence, and why it happens is still widely unknown, though scientists have theorized a variety of reasons. Typically, most deciduous trees drop their leaves during the fall season, however those who hang onto their leaves are marcescent.
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Health Benefits of Interacting with Water
I was out on my noon time walk in the local preserve after a morning rain. As I walked, I heard something and paused to listen more intently. Ah there it was, the sound of the stream rushing over rocks as it tumbled out from the little valley up ahead. I was drawn to it.
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Signs of Too Many Deer
This MyWoodlot blog was adapted from a National Deer Association article by Lindsay Thomas.
Hunting is the primary way that states attempt to control deer populations since many of the natural predators (like coyotes, wolves, and mountain lions) do not control the deer populations anymore.
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A Critter and a Pine Woods
What’s with that pile of stripped pine cones? Was some sort of seed collecting machine set up there for a while? Well, yes actually.
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Tale of the Albino Hawk: Part II
Back in 2016, WAC Watershed Forester Tom Foulkrod wrote a blog about a white raptor he saw near his home in Stamford, NY. I spotted a white red-tailed hawk in the same area during the 2022 hunting season and again in the summer of 2024. Could it be the same one Tom wrote about?
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Spreading Slash for Seedlings
I have always heard that logging slash – tree tops, limbs, and branches – protects young seedlings against deer browse. After a tree service job at my house, I had a lot of tree branches to clean up. I decided to spread them out in my woods and set up a backyard experiment.
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Invasive Plant Control at My House
Not sure how I missed it, but this summer I noticed some invasive multiflora rose growing rapidly in my front yard.
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Spittlebugs 101
Spittlebugs, also known as froghoppers (Cercopoidea), get their names from the traits that they possess. Spittlebugs produce ‘spit’ by chewing on the leaves and stems of plants. They can also jump very high, which is where the name froghopper comes from.
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Why Manicured Lawns Deter Wildlife and Impact Biodiversity
How much time and money do you spend mowing your lawn? Did you know that if you reduce your mowed lawn area you will notice an increase in biodiversity, decrease in pest species, and less overall lawn management?
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The Nature Pyramid for Health
Want to keep healthy and enjoy the natural world? Try the 20-5-3 rule for health in the natural world. These are some fascinating new findings.

Artsy Plant Pests
Have you ever been out for a hike in the woods or a stroll through your garden and noticed a pattern on the leaves of plants that is out of the ordinary? Kind of like this leaf?
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Building my First Holz Hausen
Are you looking for a wood stacking method that requires no materials other than firewood itself and can be built pretty much anywhere? I thought you were. Consider trying your hand at a holz hausen.
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Late Frost Kills Oak Leaves
A late frost in 2023 killed many of the newly formed oak leaves in the Catskill Mountains.
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Want More Wildlife? Start with More Caterpillars
Want more wildlife on your property? Then you may want to focus on adding native plants that support more caterpillars by using the Native Plant Finder tool.
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Ash Salvage
A thorough look at a white ash and hemlock harvest on a property in the Catskill Mountains.
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Tree and Shrub Planting at My House
In late-January 2023, I placed my first tree and shrub seedling order from the Delaware County Soil and Water Conservation District office. I ordered several fruit trees and then some hazelnut, elderberry, and cranberry seedlings that came in bundles of 10. This blog documents how my wife Jess and I planted and protected these mast-producing trees and shrubs in mid-April 2023.
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Building Up the Woodpile for Next Year and Beyond
In early April, Kris Brown tries to get caught up on firewood for the next heating season and beyond.
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Three Tricky Maples: Red, Norway, Sugar
MyWoodlot team member Tom Pavlesich has posted about his experience tapping the maple trees in his backyard and then using the sap to make maple syrup. If Tom’s posts have inspired you to tap some maples yourself, one of the first things you’ll need to know is how to identify different kinds of maple trees
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Maintaining Young and Old Tree Planting Projects
Each year in early spring, the Watershed Agricultural Council (WAC) Forestry Program team maintains tree planting projects that are part of the Croton Watershed Trees for Tributaries Program, otherwise known as Trees for Tribs. This blog demonstrates the different types of maintenance activities we do depending on site conditions and the age of the plantings.
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Biochar Benefits for Soils
In a past blog introducing biochar, I shared some of the broad benefits of biochar which can be made from tree and log residue as well as agricultural residue. There are so many benefits of biochar in the agricultural crop area, so I wanted to share those in more detail.
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Beech Bark Disease in the Catskills
Over the last couple months I have been fortunate enough to be out in the Siuslaw Model Forest performing field work with other staff as we develop new agroforestry demonstration areas. As we were out working in a new site last week, I was intrigued by the severity of beech bark disease, known as BBD, we had seen on this hillside.
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Trees Fusing Together
Have you ever come across two trees with their branches fused together?
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Can Deer Freeze to Death?
Have you ever wondered, as you sit inside your warm house, when the temperature dips into the negative numbers, how do deer handle this kind of weather? Could they freeze to death?
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Why Animals Gnaw Shed Antlers
Some folks enjoy searching for antlers in the late fall and early winter just after the deer have shed them. It can be hard to spot these antlers, let alone end up with a matching pair from a deer. Have you ever found an antler and realized as you looked at it there were gnaw marks up and down it?
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Wind-Sculpted Snow
Once in a while the snow density and wind are just right to create interesting patterns in the snow.
Check out the patterns, as well as the mix of fence, fence posts and fall’s leftover plants in these photos.
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How Do Small Birds Survive Frigid Winter Weather?
Ever wonder how small birds survive frigid winter nights or snow storms when the temperature dips down into the teens and below? Let’s look at the options these birds have to stay warm.
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Cat Litter Made from Wood Pellets
You may be familiar with Karl VonBerg’s blog, “Link to Karl's Blog on Wood Does What?” about the many uses for wood products. Our three cats use an amazing wood product every day, 3-4 times a day. I’m talking about wood pellet cat litter.
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What to do with Wood Ash?
When I started heating with a wood stove a few years ago, I didn’t know what to do with the leftover ash and charcoal. My primary goal was to find a safe place to dump it without causing a brush fire. With some experience, I developed some higher goals for my ash disposal. This blog covers some beneficial uses for wood ash around the house.
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My Favorite Firewood Species and Why
For the last two heating seasons, I have used a cordwood burning fireplace insert to heat our house. While I’m not a veteran wood stove user, I have tended enough fires to develop some preferences in the wood I burn. This blog lists my favorite firewood species and why.
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Trees Fight Microplastics
Why are we addressing microplastics on MyWoodlot? Read on to discover how sawdust and other components of wood/plants can address the microplastics problem.
What are microplastics? They are little pieces of plastic that measure less than 5 mm (1/5”).
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Check Out that Firewood Stack
On my daily commute I drive past a house with a unique firewood stack. It’s a large, uncovered pile shaped like a razorback mountain ridge. For months I rubber-necked at the pile and wondered about things like how long it takes before the wood is seasoned, as well as the logistics of bringing loads of firewood inside the house. One day, I stopped in to get the scoop from the landowner.
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Forest Farming Across New York State
Forest Farming is the most common form of agroforestry for landowners in New York State. Landowners cite ecological stability in addition to financial incentives as motivation to implement systems, with shiitake mushrooms, maple syrup, and ginseng turning the greatest profits.
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Agroforestry: People, Profit, and Environment
This blog defines agroforestry and the five recognized agroforestry practices. A survey of 300 landowners across New York State revealed that forest farming, alley cropping, and windbreaks are the most common practices implemented.
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Identifying Deer Pressure
How can you tell if deer are overpopulated in your woods?
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Coyote Close Encounter
In late August, on my way back from walking a bit of the rail trail that parallels the West Branch of the Delaware River, I had an encounter with a coyote.
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Summer Foraging Adventures in the Catskills
For me, one of life’s simple pleasures is to get multiple things done at the same time. Multitasking or killing two birds with one stone, so to speak. It’s one of the reasons I like foraging so much. You get a multitude of benefits from traipsing through the great outdoors (for example, fresh air, exercise, and clarity of mind), plus tasty food from the forest that helps to keep the grocery bill down.
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Ash tree growth at Lennox Model Forest: 2021-2023
Each year after trees have fully leafed out, I help to collect data for a citizen science project called MaMA (Monitoring and Managing Ash). Data collection involves assessing ash tree health and looking for definite signs of the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), an invasive insect pest that kills ash trees. Fortunately, after 6 years of monitoring, there is still no sign of EAB at Lennox Model Forest in Delhi, NY. I wondered how much these trees had grown during this period.
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It’s Tabling Season for MyWoodlot.com
Attending forestry related events and farmers markets is one of the ways that we market MyWoodlot.com to family forest owners in the NYC Watershed. It is a great way to meet landowners and learn about their interests, concerns, and objectives for their woods. This blog highlights our tabling event schedule for summer and fall 2023.
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Repairing the 50-ft bridge at Frost Valley YMCA
Maintaining forest roads and trails is important to provide reliable access to the woods for management, recreation, research and education. Frost Valley YMCA’s 50-foot bridge over the West Branch of the Neversink River is the gateway to their 300+ acre Model Forest. The bridge’s white oak decking had over 20 years of service, but by the spring of 2023 it was due for replacement.
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Wood-Based Sinks, Toilets and Bath Tubs
What if you could buy a sink made out of wood chips? One that didn’t need to be protected with a special waterproof coat. But could sit in water for months and have no issues with it functioning well. Even if it was chipped or broken.
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THE MOSQUITOES ARE COMING!
Mosquito bites don’t make us appreciate mosquitoes. Around the world they are the most deadly animal. However, they have some interesting and good qualities.
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Hay-scented Fern - A Control Freak of Nature
Have you ever walked through a forested area, seen a patch of fern, and thought, “That is really beautiful”?
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A Compost Post - Part 2: How to Compost in All Spaces on All Budgets
Welcome back to Part 2 of “A Compost Blog Post: How to Compost in All Spaces on All Budgets! Learn how to turn your household and landscape waste into organic fertilizer with four more composting methods.
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A Compost Post - Part 1: How to Compost in All Spaces on All Budgets
Standing in front of my compost tumbler on my parent’s half acre of property, I balance a large pot of kitchen scraps: seeded cores from peppers, ends of carrots, wilted spinach picked out of a bag of greens, and spoiled counter tomatoes. Setting the pot on the supporting ground, I slide open the two doors on the tumbler’s chambers. Peeking down into the dark basin of the tumbler, I observe the compost’s natural aerobic (oxygen-required) processes as the earthworms and microorganisms break down the waste generated from our household.
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Continuous Improvement with Chainsaw Safety
This blog documents a novice chainsaw operator’s progress towards tree felling competency. A chainsaw safety training program called Game of Logging provided the building blocks.
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How Trees Become the Products You Use
Have you ever wondered how products from trees make it to the local lumber yard or your doorstep? Here is a wood supply chain that shows the steps with some explanation about each step.
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Conservation Dog Blog
Dogs have long been prized for their incredible sense of smell, and in the last few decades we’ve really begun to test the boundaries of their noses. It turns out dogs can sniff out all sorts of stuff; game animals, people, illegal substances, even cancer cells. The world of detection dogs is always expanding, and recent additions to this impressive group of pups includes the conservation dogs at the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference.
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The Spring Emergence of the American Black Bear
As spring begins with snowmelt, and color comes back to the landscape, wildlife become increasingly active. One to note is the American Black Bear (Ursus americanus). Depending on weather conditions, the black bear emerges from its den around late March – early April.
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What is That Coyote Digging Up?
Have you ever come across places in the woods, fields, and brush where coyotes have been digging? Do you ever get curious enough to check out what they are digging up? The other day I got curious and had quite a surprise.
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Biochar
Would you ever think that something that leaves a sooty mess on your hands could have so many benefits? Biochar is a form of charcoal that increases crop production, filters water, reduces smells, insulates homes, improves health and much more.
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Estimating Forestry BMP Installation Time and Cost
The water bar is perhaps the most well-known forestry best management practice (BMP) used to protect water quality during a timber harvest. Water bars have an important job, and that is to mitigate erosion of forest roads and trails by reducing surface runoff volume and velocity. Despite the water bar’s relative fame, the cost to install one is somewhat of a mystery.
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Troubles Gone with the Wind
Have you ever stood at the top of a hill, on a mountain, at the edge of a gorge, by a waterfall, by the ocean or a lake and felt the wind blowing over your body?
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Woods Wash Water
Mother Nature takes issue with the idea that NYC’s drinking water is unfiltered.
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Visualizing Climate Change Impacts in My Woodlot
I was inspired by a new climate change activity on MyWoodlot called See How My Woods will Change. Specifically, there is a tree flagging exercise that helps to highlight trees species with Poor, Fair, and Good capabilities to cope with climate change impacts in the Northeast.
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Identifying Wildlife Tracks in the Snow
It was January 24, 2023, just a few days after a snowstorm had dumped 8-12 inches over much of Delaware County, NY. The conditions were perfect for a post-lunch snow walk in the Nature Conservancy’s West Branch Preserve.
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Pre-Harvest BMP Installation Protects Water and Improves Logging Efficiency
Do you know a forestry best management practice (BMP) when you see one? This blog is a continuation of a previous one about a cut-to-length logging operation in Catskills.
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Cut-To-Length Logging on a Catskills Woodlot

Repurposing Trees, Nature’s Way
Have you ever thought about what this world would be like if nothing died and rotted away?
Think about it. Trees and bushes would just keep growing, and if a windstorm blew them down they would just lay there year after year, century after century, piling up higher and higher. How would you deal with that?
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Urban Trees Make You Healthier
I am guessing most of you prefer the one with trees as opposed to the one without trees. Did you know that urban trees improve our health?
The facts are in. Researchers have shown that peoples’ health improves when trees exist where they work and live.

Wood Batteries
As the world has become more electrified the need for better battery technology has become more evident. Batteries aren’t that efficient and their production/disposal is not environmentally-friendly.
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Chasing the Light
Trees, like all plants, need light to survive. The need for light is so strong that it shapes trees, forcing branches and trunks to grow in sometimes odd directions as the leaves reach for the sun. When out in the woods, you may notice some of these differences in growth patterns, which can tell a story about the trees that took root there.
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The Fibonacci Sequence and the Golden Spiral
There are things in the natural world that defy randomness.
The Fibonacci sequence is one of them:
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 . . . Can you see the pattern and figure out the next number?
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Spring Houses
Because the water comes from underground it stays at roughly 50 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. Before modern refrigeration, the presence of a good spring on one’s property was far more convenient and practical than the use of ice houses.
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Freddy’s Cache
Why the name Freddy? Richard Proenneke was a self-educated naturalist/conservationist/wildlife photographer who kept daily journals during his nearly 30 years spent in an isolated cabin in the Alaskan wilderness. He referred to all red squirrels as “Freddy.” Since I have thoroughly enjoyed all of his journals, so do I.
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Cutting Firewood in My 2-Acre Woodlot
In a previous blog, I shared about a recent wood stove purchase and learning to heat my house with firewood. I bought the first several cords of cut, split, and delivered firewood for $250-$300/cord.
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Learning to Heat Our Home with Firewood
My wife Jess and I moved into our Stamford, NY home during the last weekend of January 2021. Temperatures were in the teens and there was knee-deep snow on the ground. That sounds tougher than it was. We were tickled to be homeowners and when we weren’t moving furniture, the oil-fired, water-filled baseboard heating system kept us warm.
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Frost Awe
Are you pining for a warm summer morning, sipping your beverage of choice on the porch while the warmth of the day comfortably envelopes you?
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Maintaining Forestry BMPs is Good for You and Water Quality
Water bars, rolling dips, broad-based dips, and open-top culverts are examples of water diversion devices (WDDs) used on forest roads and trails. Their primary purpose is to control the volume and velocity of road surface runoff, thus preventing erosion.
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How Leaves Keep Paying it Forward
Leaves are part of an amazingly fine-tuned cycle, the nutrient cycle. Let’s take a look at how this cycle works in the woods:
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Pesky fall leaves are good?
Leaves, leaves everywhere! It is that time of year when the newly fallen leaves pile up on your lawn and in your woods.
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Nature Heals so Use It!
My mom used to say: “Get out and get some fresh air.” She would basically kick me out of the house. I never thought about it at the time, but she knew something about the natural world that we are realizing more and more.
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I Spy a Big White Bird in a Tree
Have you ever been driving and something catches your attention? Something that you can’t quite make sense of, so you stop to investigate?
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Late Fall Flowers
Late fall may seem like a drab, brown season, but there are lots of interesting sights to find if you look closely.
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Crowd-sourcing Wild Apples for Cider
“We’re always looking for more wild apples,” explains Martin Bernstein, co-founder of Abandoned Cider, a hard cider company based in New York’s Hudson Valley that incorporates apples from wild trees into many of their cider products.
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Do Trees Scream When Insects Invade?
Did you know that trees in a woods can communicate with each other and the animals in the woods? They send out information when they are getting attacked. Information that helps others come to their rescue. Check out how this works.
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Why Trees Thrive: Mycorrhizal Fungi
Fungi may conjure rotten thoughts. But fungi can be very helpful. Check out how mycorrhizal fungi help trees grow and stay healthy.
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The benefits of AWE!
Have you ever stared in wonder at a sunset in all its brilliant colors? Or had your jaw drop at an incredible move by an athlete? Or heard a song that gives you goosebumps? YOU ARE BEING AWED!
The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley studies this phenomenon and they discovered that being awed makes you healthier and makes you feel more connected to others.
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Protect Young Trees from Deer: A Smorgasbord of Options
What can landowners do to protect young trees from deer? This blog provides a range of deer exclosure options and cost-share opportunities for family forest owners.
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Relive: A Social Route-Mapping App for Outdoor Adventurers with a Fun Video Element
I recently discovered a fun smartphone app called Relive that uses GPS to track your hike/run/bike and other outdoor activities. You might be thinking, “So what? Many hiking apps already do that”.
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How Many Snags Should My Woods Have for Wildlife?
You might think dead trees in your woods mean something is wrong. But death is part of the woods, and dead trees, called snags, are important for a host of wildlife.
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Creating Your Own Smartphone Map
Creating your own georeferenced .pdf map allows you to customize a map of your property to use on your smartphone.
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Mapping My Woodlot with my Smartphone
Smartphone mapping apps are an easy way to become more familiar with your woodlot.
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Raising a Monarch(y) Part Two
About 24 hours after I collected my monarch eggs I had three teeny tiny wiggles to feed and look out for.
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Raising a Monarch(y)
Summer in the northeast is transformative. The earth seems to come alive again; trees are green, flowers are blooming, and monarchs have arrived.
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Ten Projects You Can Do on Your Land This Earth Day
April 22nd is Earth Day, and woodland owners are in a better position than most to make a difference. Here are ten projects you can do this Earth Day (or just about any day) to give back to nature.
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Bleeding for Blackberries
A heavy timber harvest leads to scratches, stains, and engorging of blackberries.
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Reality of Roots
Have you ever heard that trees are like an iceberg, mostly hidden from sight?
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5 Lessons I Learned About Trail Cameras
I started using trail cameras in 2019 to scout for deer and to capture photos of other Catskill Mountain wildlife I might not easily see on woods walks. I did my homework before I got started, but sometimes the best way is to learn by doing. Hopefully some of these takeaways will help you out.
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B&B Forest Products Ltd. Builds a Skidder Bridge for Siuslaw Model Forest
At a skidder bridge building workshop a few years back, several loggers had innovative ideas to improve the bottleneck of drilling holes in the bridge cants. However, no one suggested getting a bigger drill.
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A Clear-Cut Controversy
If a tree falls down in a forest, does it ever grow back?
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Forensics in the Forest
Are your woods hiding any spooky secrets?
New research suggests that it is possible to use forest chemistry to locate missing human remains. However, more research needs to be done for this to be applied practically.

Beech Beauty
The major leaf fall has occurred in the Catskills and the landscape has turned drab brown. But wait! There is still vibrant color out there.
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I Stepped Inside a Fairy Ring and Lived
It was 6:00 AM on October 3rd. I had just turned off my headlamp after getting situated in my climbing treestand. Everything was dark except for some white splotches on the ground beneath me.
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Forests and Bird Migration
In New York, migrating birds can be seen flying south in fall on their way to wintering grounds in the southern United States, Central and South America. Birds migrate to fulfill two primary resource needs – food and nesting locations. In fall, available insects and other food sources decrease, so some birds migrate to areas with higher amounts of food resources.
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Scouting Land for Trees for Tribs
What makes a good tree planting site and how do I qualify for Croton Trees for Tribs?
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Logging, what goes on?
Guest author Jack Van Buren has a road-side chat with a logger to learn more about what loggers do for a living and what goes on during a timber harvest.
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Portable Bridges? What? Why?
A sharp-eyed commuter notices a new bridge over a stream on her way to work. She stops to find out what’s happening in the woods in the middle of winter.
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Wood: Tough as nails?
Have you seen the not-so-obvious things that are made from wood? Well, now here is another one: wooden nails, along with some other interesting items.
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Stay on the Trail: Scouting the Winter Woods for Wildlife
Winter is a great time of year to scout for wildlife sign, or to simply take a nature walk. The leaf-off season means you can see long distances in the woods and snow-covered ground serves as a short-term record of wildlife using the area.
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Portable Skidder Bridge Installation at Siuslaw Model Forest
Skidder bridge replacement job done at Siuslaw Model Forest. Thank you B&B Forest Products Ltd. of Cairo, NY!
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Backyard Scavenger Research: Part I
I was lucky enough to get a deer during the 2021 early bow season in the Catskills. After processing it in the garage, I had about 40 lbs. of venison, 25 of which would become deer burger.I debated about what to do with the remaining deer carcass. Then I remembered some amazing bald eagle photos that MyWoodlot team member Tom Pavlesich captured by placing roadkill deer in front of his backyard trail camera.
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Seeps in the Snow
If you wander your woods on a snowy day, you might come across an area of surprising green, like the one in the photo below. These areas are called seeps, and if you’re fortunate enough to have one, you have an excellent winter home for wildlife on your hands.
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Look-Alike Leaves: Red, White, and Scotch Pines
It’s a cold January morning, and leaves are a distant memory. Or are they? Just because the cold has made the hardwood leaves drop (and larch needles, our only deciduous conifers!) doesn’t mean we can’t sharpen our tree ID skills. Winter is a great time to focus on evergreens like pines, hemlocks, spruces, and cedars.
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EAB in Arkville NY (Central Catskills)
Another day, another emerald ash borer (EAB) discovery. That seems to be the way things are going lately. On October 28, logger Jake Rosa was harvesting a woodlot southeast of the Dry Brook Ridge near Arkville, NY in the central Catskills. It was a sunny, cool fall day. Jake was cutting some ash trees when he noticed a lot of woodpecker peck holes (small foraging holes) in the top of one of the trees he had cut down.
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Dinner for Deer
My family always eats a big meal around Christmas, and this year, that got me thinking. What do deer eat this time of year? During the spring and late summer they feast on new growth – leaves, grasses, and herbaceous plants (like spring wildflowers). In the late summer and fall they shift to fruits, nuts, acorns, and farm crops.
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Book Review: Deerland by Al Cambronne
Few woods-related topics are as important – and as emotional – as white-tailed deer. In his 2013 book Deerland: America’s Hunt for Ecological Balance and the Essence of Wildness, Al Cambronne delivers a thorough, well-researched, rational discussion of this often irrational topic.
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Passionate Pine Protector - The Red Squirrel
The sound keeps going, and I realize it’s coming from a white pine tree in front of me. I look up, and as I do the chirp suddenly accelerates into a sharp, staccato burst. It’s like no bird call I’ve ever heard.
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Lichen: Bold Colonizer
On a nice late fall day I wandered back to one of my favorite spots in a local nature preserve. As I sat looking out over the valley where only the oaks still held their leaves, I noticed the carpet of reindeer lichen and moss around me.
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Roots, Stems, Branches, and Leaves…Oh-my!
If you take the time to learn the root, stem, branch, and leaf traits of different trees, you’ll gain a whole new perspective when you’re in the woods.
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Acorn Bombs Away!
For weeks now, the pin oaks on my block in Queens have been bombarding passers-by with fertile missiles. Neighbors compete for the few parking spaces outside the strike zone, hoping to avoid a dented hood … or head.
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Culvert, 1, 2, 3's
Culverts are popular choices for roads, trails, and driveways in the woods. If you ever foresee installing a culvert in your woodlot, keep the following three tips in mind.
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Fall Colors Part 2: Why Do Leaves Change Color in the Fall?
In my last post, I talked about why leaves change color in the fall. But as I wandered my local woods this October, another question came to me. Why do different trees turn different colors?
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Fall Colors Part 1: Why Do Leaves Change Color in the Fall?
Fall may just be my favorite season. I’m not a fan of what follows it, but for those precious few weeks in September and October, fall is an amazing time to be in the woods.
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Woodland Edible: Black Cherries
When summer turns to fall, keep an eye on the ground underneath your black cherry trees. Why? Because this time of year black cherries are ripe, delicious, and ready to eat.
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What Draws Us to Water?
This question has been on my mind lately, ever since my recent early morning visit to Bear Spring Mountain Wildlife Management Area in Walton, New York.
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A Vernal Pool and a Spotted Salalmander
I step out of a patch of beech brush onto an over-gown dirt road marked by the subtle wheel ruts of old farm traffic. A flash of white on the ground catches my eye as I chart a course between the ruts.
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Hiking Before Lunch
On a muggy July morning—the kind where your clothes feel like they’re glued to your skin—I’m out hiking through a deep hemlock grove on the West Branch Nature Preserve.
I don’t have a specific destination in mind. I just want to explore, to see what catches my attention.
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Rock Pile Mystery
On a recent woods walk I found something I’d never seen before: half a dozen mounds of stacked stones. Each pile was about 3 to 4 feet high, and they varied from 6 to 15 feet wide.
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Backyard Monarchs
This summer to fall, Stefni Krutz captured the transformation of monarch caterpillars into butterflies in her backyard.
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Take a 4-minute Nature Vacation Blog
College students are wrapping up for summer, parents are signing up the kids for camp, and it seems like every other week another coworker is flying off on some exotic seaside getaway. But what about you?! You’re in need of some time off, too, but you just don’t have a week to spare. Well, do you have 4 minutes? You do? Great. That’s all you need.
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Online Scouting and Map Making with MyWoodlot’s Watershed Mapping Tool
Learn how to create a georeferenced PDF map of your NYC Watershed property, or one of the many NYC Watershed Recreation lands, in just three steps.
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2021 Ash Mortality Monitoring at Siuslaw Model Forest
In 2018, which was Year 1 of ash mortality monitoring at Siuslaw Model Forest, 15 of the 42 trees we assessed had succumbed to the emerald ash borer. As I planned to return to help with Year 4 data collection, I thought we’d have a short field day because all the ash would be dead.
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Psychotic (in a Good Way) Wildlife Benefiting Behavior
You know you’re in for an adventure when the first thing a landowner says to you is, “So have you heard about my psychotic deer behavior?”
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A Thanksgiving Break
Warning! It’s the week of Thanksgiving, which means I’m feeling sentimental. By the time you read this, it’s likely I’ll be at home with my extended family.
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A Frosty Photo Shoot
Winter and I do not agree. But even I have to admit there’s some beauty in the cold, as I discovered one morning when hoarfrost coated the woods.
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Backyard Scavenger Research: Part 2
Last week, I shared how I placed a deer hide (from a deer I processed) in front of a trail camera to capture photos of scavenging wildlife. This week’s blog shows what happened after I put out the rest of the carcass.
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"Wild" Apple Trees
When you look at your woods, you might think they’re a wild place, but there are marks of people’s influence all over them. Some are obvious, like cabins and trails. But others are so subtle, you might not even realize that they have a human history.
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Remarkable Wildlife Videos Taken with a Trail Camera
Is it possible to be awesome at trail camera photography or videography? I mean, the camera does all the work, right? MyWoodlot guest-author Matt Smetana proves it’s all about camera placement.
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Find Your Own Berry Picking Patch This Summer
This summer, I found a berry patch loaded with blackberries and blueberries and I had it all to myself. Use this blog to help you know when and where to look for your own wild berries in the Catskills.
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Fuzzy Egg Mass on an Oak Tree’s Bark
Can you name the exotic insect pest responsible for this egg mass? The egg mass was found in August 2020 on the bark of a red oak tree in Albany County, NY.
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Smartphone Birding with the Merlin App
When I come across an unfamiliar bird I usually rely heavily on field guides and the knowledge of others to help me learn which species I’m looking at. I didn’t have any field guides or ornithologist friends with me on this walk, so instead I pulled out my phone and opened my Merlin Bird ID app.
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Profitability of Logging in the NYC Watershed
In 2018, researchers at SUNY-ESF published a paper about the profitability of timber harvesting, from a logger’s perspective, in the NYC Watershed and surrounding areas (link to article). The study examined 23 logging jobs and found that almost half were losing money.
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Assessing Deer Browsing Impacts at Lennox Model Forest
Cornell Cooperative Extension developed a method called Assessing Vegetation Impacts from Deer (AVID) that anyone can use to assess deer browsing impacts in their area. Annual measurements of seedling heights are the basis for quantifying the impact of deer browse. Over time, this data can help to inform management decisions to reduce deer browsing impacts so that desirable tree species may grow.
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Snags Loom Over the Garage
While standing dead trees (aka snags) provide wildlife habitat, you don’t want them hanging over your house. Follow along as I begin the planning process to bring them down.
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Why High Lumber Prices?
Why is that lumber for my DIY project or new home costing 3x what it did last year at this time?
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The Early Spring Things You See in the Woods
Who doesn’t get excited for spring, especially in the northeast United States? When I finally emerged from winter torpor, I started hiking in the woods like it was my job. Along the way, I came across several signs of spring.
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Caddisfly Larvae, Small Critters With Big Abilities: Stabilizing Streams
Would you ever guess a one-inch, worm-like larva could slow erosion in a stream?
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The Trees for Tribs Story at Sylvan Glen
Yorktown’s popular Sylvan Glen Park Preserve has a rich land use history that has shifted from mining to hiking trails, but one thing that has remained constant through the years is the need for a strong riparian zone.
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Planting by Water
When Lake Waccabuc needed help fighting erosion and runoff, the Three Lakes Council turned to trees to save the day.
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Who Drank that Water and Where in the World Did it Come From?
Who else might have drunk the water you drank today? Where in the world did it came from? South Africa? Hong Kong?
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Woods Fight Coronavirus
A compound found in the boreal woods of Finland is being developed into antiviral products to help us with the coronavirus.
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Transplanting Leeks
In this MyWoodlot blog post, Andrew Krutz shares how he harvested wild leeks, also known as ramps, to spread in his woodlot for future harvesting.
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Early Spring: A Great time to Spot and Remove Invasive Plants
Now is a great time to identify and remove some common non-native invasive plant species from your woodlot.
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Amphibian Migration: A Big Night Surprise
Hang the poncho by the door and change the batteries in your flashlight. It will soon be time for “Big Night”, when amphibians meet at the local vernal pool to mate.
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Color Hike at the Pound Ridge Land Conservancy
I spy with my little eye… something colorful in the woods.
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Winkler Woodlot: 2017-2020
Should I harvest my ash trees ahead of an Emerald Ash Borer infestation? Many family forest owners in the U.S. have grappled with this decision. In this week’s blog, landowner Frank Winkler explains how he prepared for and oversaw an ash-only harvest on his Catskill woodlot. He’s been busy after the harvest as well, participating in an integrated pest management study, promoting vegetative regrowth on skid trails and replanting red oak acorns among the logging slash.
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Horsetails and Scouring Rush
Here is a prehistoric, miniature bamboo looking plant that is worth checking out.
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Smoothing Out Ruts at the Eco-Wheel Tracks Study Site
It is important for landowners and loggers to understand the equipment, labor, supplies, and time required to install forestry BMPs. This blog post provides an example of remediating a quarter-acre landing area and 1000 feet of skid trail.
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Field Research Complete for the Eco-Wheel Tracks Project
After doing three EcoTracks research trials at SUNY-ESF’s Heiberg Forest in Tully, NY, we did a fourth trial, this time in the Catskills. Not only did we change location, but we beefed up from a Timberjack 360 cable skidder to a John Deere 648H grapple skidder.
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Hugelkultur: Part Two
Building a Hugelkultur mound was labor intensive, but the payoff made it all worth it. Check out our fruit and vegetable haul!
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Trees in Action: Part 2
Do trees cling to the soil or does soil cling to the trees?
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Mother Oaks and Other Clues About a Woodlot’s History
The observations you make in the woods can tell you quite a bit about land use history and forest disturbance events, like windthrow and logging. Once you know what to look for, your woods walks will become even more meaningful.
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Multifunctional Riparian Buffer Project at Riverdale Farm and Forest, Spring 2020
This story is about a NYC Watershed farmer’s multifunctional riparian buffer project. He guides you from adoption of the concept and planning stages, through site preparation, planting and protection efforts. Imagine food production and carbon sequestration from streamside areas devoted to water quality improvement!
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Helping Little Oaks Become Big Oaks
Do you have small oak trees (< 6’) that you would like to see grow into large oaks that produce many acorns? Does it seem like they never really grow taller? Find out how to solve that problem.
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Freeing or Lighting Oaks
Do you want to keep your oak trees healthy? Here are ways to give them the space and light they need to grow and produce an abundance of acorns.
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A Wise and Warm Investment
Have you ever thought about using an outdoor wood boiler to heat your home? For the past six years, Heather Hilson has used one to keep her house warm during the heating season in Upstate New York. In this week’s blog, Heather shares her experiences with installing, operating, and maintaining an outdoor wood boiler, including installation and operating costs.
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Finding Oaks
Do you like oak trees? Do you want to promote them on your property, but just can’t find them? Here are some ways to find even the smallest ones so you can help them grow up and produce acorns in abundance.
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Hugelkultur: Part One
Hugelkultur beds can be a great way to grow vegetables when existing soil is poor or space is limited. Hugelkultur is a German word meaning “hill culture” or “mound culture.” These are raised mounds 4-5 feet high from which plants are grown on all sides.
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Treating my Outdoor Wear with Permethrin
Have you ever treated the clothing you wear to the woods with permethrin? I was late to the game with regard to this tick prevention practice, but I was able to treat my deer scouting clothes safely and efficiently one mid-July morning. This blog demonstrates how I did it.
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Owl Pellets
Under some spruce trees just outside our house there have accumulated grayish-fuzzy clumps about the size of golf balls. Upon quick examination they appear to be reconfigured mice. That is because they are!
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Fowl Thief
“Why eat chipmunk when you can have chicken?” This is the scenario that has been playing out somewhat regularly around the Krutz household this summer, ‘round about late afternoon-early evening. It’s a time they call… “The Foxing Hour”.
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Would 480-a work for you and your woodlot?
The WAC Forestry Program’s 2020 survey of New York City Watershed landowners showed that over two-thirds of study participants were unfamiliar with New York’s Forest Tax Law Program, otherwise known as 480-a. This program helps landowners with 50 or more contiguous forest acres to reduce the property taxes they pay on their forestland in exchange for a commitment to the long-term conservation and management of their woods. This blog post highlights 480-a and its potential benefits and problem areas to encourage eligible landowners to explore how 480-a might work for their woodlots.
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Does a Bear Sit in the Woods?
New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Watershed recreation lands provide the public with many opportunities for outdoor fun, including hiking, fishing, and hunting. Since January of 2020, I’ve been running four trail cameras on several DEP properties. Well, three now that one “went missing”. Recently, I programmed the cameras to take videos, and in this blog, I share the highlight reel.
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Do Eco-Wheel Tracks Reduce Soil Compaction Associated with Skidder Traffic?
What is that bright blue armor wrapped around those skidder tires? They’re called Eco-Wheel Tracks, manufactured by the Swedish company Olofsfors, and they are marketed as helping to improve traction, reduce compaction and rutting, and last longer than traditional tire chains. But do they? Taylor Richmond, a Master’s student at SUNY-ESF, digs into these questions for the WAC Forestry Program.
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Trees Do What?
Have you ever thought of all that trees do for us, for wildlife, and for the planet? Take a break and ponder how amazing and diverse they are!
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Wood Does What?
When you think about wood products, is this what comes to mind? Check out what wood can do.
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It's Alive! ... Alive!
Trees are tough. This week on MyWoodlot.com, Stefni Krutz shares examples of trees that are alive and well (mostly), despite some ghastly injuries or harsh growing conditions. Don’t look if you’re squeamish.
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How much do you know about forest conservation options for your land?
At some point, you’re probably going to face some big decisions about the future of your land. When you do, will you know your options? Our ongoing study looks at this question for landowners in the NYC Watershed.
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Micro Hiking
When you’re looking for a new place to explore, sometimes it’s best to start small.
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Spotting Spots
With the rise of the Asian ladybeetle, it can be difficult to find one of our many native ladybug species. To increase your odds of success, you have to know where to look.
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Leaf Scorch
Last summer, I looked up and noticed something strange about the sugar maple tree that shades my favorite picnic table. Many of the leaves were brown on the margins.
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Biggest Solar Farm Ever
New York has a vast ‘solar farm’ in that about two-thirds of the state’s land cover (18 million acres) is forested.
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Using the iNaturalist App to (Almost) Solve a Mystery
What is THAT?! Use the free, powerful iNaturalist app to help identify what you find in the woods.
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A Tale of Two Tails
When digging weeds out of my garden area this spring I dug up more earthworms than you can shake a trowel at. In the midst of this earthworm fest, I came upon a curious creature: an earthworm with two tails.
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Black swallow-wort: A nasty invader
Clearpool Model Forest is hitting back against black swallow-wort.
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Dame’s Rocket: The Hateful Hesperis
Such beauty. What fragrance! Do you have what it takes to remove her?
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That Like Bite a With Hide Why
Some observations are best begun at the beginning, but this one will be more interesting if we begin at the end: with this green object in the middle of a mud puddle.
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Because They Can Can Urticant
Caterpillars can be so stunning that many people want to place one in their palm. If this sounds like you, it’s probably best that you read this first.
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Winging-it Venison Stew
Cooking can be cathartic. This week on MyWoodlot, Heather Hilson shares her Winging-it Venison Stew recipe, cooked low and slow. It’s hearty and comforting – perfect for those colder rainy spring days in the Catskills.
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Turned Vernal Pools: Toad Eggs and Tadpoles
Spotted salamanders weren’t the only amphibians laying eggs in the pools. Something had laid eggs in a single line that often spiraled. Some of these eggs were laid on top of the salamander masses.
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Implacable Invertebrates
Vernal pools play host to many forms of wildlife. An important part of these are the invertebrates which have roles as both predator and prey.
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Spotted Salamander Egg Masses
A vernal rut’s not a bad place to grow up if you’re a salamander.
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Skidding Ruts Turned to Vernal Pools
This high-grade harvest has a silver lining.
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Red Leaves in Spring?
Did you think red leaves were just a fall color? So did I, until I noticed some leaves are red in spring and summer.
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Springtime is Croton Trees for Tribs Maintenance Time for the MyWoodlot Team
Unlike making rotisserie chicken, streamside (riparian) tree plantings are not a “set it and forget it” activity.
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Sediment Breakthroughs Associated with Logging in the New York City Watershed
WAC researchers help to improve understanding about the likely sources and pathways for stream sedimentation associated with logging in the NYC Watershed.
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Snow Frame Art
You never know what you might find on a walk out in the natural world.
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Checking the Trail Cameras for the First Time
One week had passed since I installed trail cameras on public land in the Catskills. Was I the only animal that had stopped by?
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Winter Night Hike
Winter can be overlooked as a time for outdoor activities, but it has plenty to offer.
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Installing Trail Cameras for the First Time
This week on MyWoodlot.com, Kris Brown shares his first experience with setting up trail cameras on public land in the Catskills.
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Sensitive Fern Sign in Winter
The cold of winter kills off the sign of many plants that lay dormant under the snow. But there are telltale signs that stick up above the snow for us to discover.
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Winter Wonderlands
Winter can be kind of a drag, but I’ve learned the best way to enjoy it is to get outside and embrace it.
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Ladybugs or Lady Beetles- What’s the Difference?
Most of us learned growing up that ladybugs are “good bugs” but is that still true?
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Tiffany
Nature inspires art. This is especially true of the Art Nouveau movement popular from 1890 to 1910. A major proponent of this style in the United States was Louis Comfort Tiffany.
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Common Yellowthroat
We were in a stand of white pine that had been thinned to allow the best trees to get the most nutrients the site could offer. We heard a bird from above and looked up to spot a male common yellowthroat on a hemlock branch.
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Impressions in Snow, The New Year and You
Check out this plant’s impressions! What impression do you leave?
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Thorn Pig the Beech Muncher
The word porcupine comes from the old French word porcespin, meaning thorn pig.
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Snow Stories
Snow reveals wildlife activities that are usually hidden from us. It catalogs the actions of animals and holds them frozen in time for our perusal. It tells us stories.
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The Bat Story
“Tell me the bat story,” my toddler says. The bat story is a favorite around our house. I get this request weekly.
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Replacing the decking on a 30-foot portable bridge
The WAC forestry program helped to repair the decking on a bridge at a timber harvest in Windham, NY.
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What is a Watershed & Why Should I Care?
A watershed is a shed that holds water, right?
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Nature’s Food Plot in a New York Woodlot
It’s a bumper crop year for red oak acorns in the Catskills.
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Golden Eyes
Just because Halloween is over doesn’t mean we can’t tell spooky stories.
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Ghost Flower
In honor of Halloween, Stefni Krutz penned this poem about Monotropa uniflora, The Ghost Flower.
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Streamside Spiders Eat Stream Bugs
What if you were an aquatic insect preparing to spread your wings for the first time and saw this?
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WAC Forestry research update: Tracking sediment pathways from skid trails to stream channels
We want to know where, why, and how often Best Management Practices fail.
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Poop Quiz, Hot Shot
Everyone does it, though not everyone does it in the woods. But hey, poop happens.
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What are those Tiger Swallowtail Butterflies Doing?
Puddling… it’s a thing that butterflies do.
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The Rotten Truth
Do certain things catch your eye as you wander through the woods? I get drawn to things like: different colors, different shapes, things that seem out of place, odd looking things.
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What I Saw in the Wood
Have you ever walked through the forest and stopped to backtrack because you saw a tree that looked like wings? Or a knot that looked like a gargoyle playing basketball? A canker that looked like an iris or a stump that looked like a goat eye? Nature has many amazing shapes and our human minds just yearn to make sense of them. Glance through the following photographs and see for yourself. Do you see the same thing I do or something else entirely? Let us know on Facebook or post your own examples on the MyWoodlot.com forum.
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Guest Voice: The Northeast Timber Growing Contest Helps Landowners Grow Bigger Healthier Trees
Do you wonder if your trees are healthy? Are they getting bigger each year, or do they seem to stay the same size? Is there anything you can do to improve your woods? The Northeast Timber Growing Contest was designed to help woodland owners learn about and improve the productivity and health of northeastern woodlands.
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Raising a Monarch(y) Part Three
From late-August and several weeks into fall I saw monarchs flutter by, enjoying the late summer sun and blooms. Every time I saw one pass, I stopped and wondered if it was one of the caterpillars I spent so many hours looking after.
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Bald Cardinals
You may have seen scruffy or even bald cardinals at your bird feeder. What causes that, and is it anything to worry about?
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Japanese Knotweed: The Tasseled Menace
It lurks along waterways, shading out native plants and starving the animals that eat them. Colonies haunt the roadsides. What is it? It’s the Tasseled Menace.
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Dead and Dying Trees: Why I’m leaving some but not others
Guest-author Brendan Murphy is torn between two loves: bonfires and pileated woodpeckers.
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The Anti-Rent War
The Anti-Rent War was centered in the Catskills and pitted farmers against the landowning elite, known as the UpRenters. The Anti-Renters believed they had been misled into entering leases that were unjust. The UpRenters believed a contract was a contract.
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More Trees for the Trib at Hilltop Hanover Farm
Students from Ossining High School planted trees to protect water quality at Hilltop Hanover Farm in Yorktown Heights, NY.
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To Touch or Not to Touch
My toddler continues to teach me lessons about nature. On a recent backyard playdate, she taught me not once, but twice.
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Trees in Action
Water is strong, but tree canopies help to soften the raining blows.
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Spotted Lanternfly: A New, Unwelcome Invader
Guest-author Jennifer J. Lerner gives you the tools to be a Spotted Lanternfly vigilante.
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Enhancing Biodiversity in Your Backyard
This week on MyWoodlot, the Agroforestry Resource Center of CCE Columbia Greene describes how you can promote biodiversity in your backyard.
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Waterfalls and a Mystery
Humans and water go together like peas and carrots, salamanders and vernal pools, summer and ice cream.
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Making (Tree) Babies
Establishing baby trees is critical for your woods’ future, but like any parenting, it takes patience and hard work.
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Building Skidder Bridges for the WAC Bridge Loan Program
Logger Tom Wormell shared his expertise in skidder bridge construction during a Trained Logger Certification course in Saugerties, NY.
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PINK LADY’S SLIPPER: I’M TALKING FLOWERS HERE!
If you have ever seen this little beauty of an orchid, also known as the Moccasin Flower, you will remember it!
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The New York City Watershed Explained
Do you know where NYC’s drinking water comes from?
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To Improve Your Woods, Practice ‘Worst First’ Forestry
High-grading removes the best trees and damages your woods. Turn it around and practice “worst first” forestry to boost your woods’ long-term economic and wildlife values.
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Catskill Baseball Bats
Catskill sugar maple trees are likely being used to make many of the baseball bats you will see in a Major League Baseball game.
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Weird Woodpecker: The Northern Flicker
If a woodpecker pecks on the ground instead of wood, is it still a woodpecker? Isn’t it a ground-pecker?
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Another Robin
It’s easy to take the American robin for granted, but these tidbits about Turdus migratorius will have you looking at this common bird with a new sense of wonder.
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Posting the property boundaries at Siuslaw Model Forest
I’ve never been described as a multi-tasker, but that all changed when I went snowshoeing and boundary line posting (both for the first time) at Siuslaw Model Forest.
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Who (or What) Done It?
Do you ever get curious about what you see when you walk in the woods? What if you saw this?
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Working to Protect Water Quality and Support Economic Viability on Woodlot Harvests in the NYC Watershed
Protecting water quality during a timber harvest can be a challenge, but working with loggers to find practical, cost-effective solutions is what we are passionate about.
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Shooting the Horse that Wins the Race
High-grading and diameter-limit cutting are two common logging practices. They provide short-term income, but they damage your woods in the long run. Avoid them in favor of “worst first” forestry.
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Monitoring and Managing Ash (MaMA) plot established at Siuslaw Model Forest to help find EAB-resistant trees
Feeling blue about emerald ash borer (EAB)? Don’t just throw your hands in the air. You can help scientists find EAB-resistant trees (which provide great hope for ash restoration) by tracking the health of some of the trees in your woodlot.
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