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WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? It seems that most of the American ginseng I find is located in the western Catskills. This has always perplexed me. The only thing I can come up with is that deer browse seems worse in the southern & eastern Catskills. Yes, deer doContinue Reading

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WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? It’s amazing just how ignorant one can be about what’s going on, on the other side of a mountain. I recently had a Consultation on a member’s property that had me driving down from the Ashokan Reservoir towards Lomontville. Holy cow, they had someContinue Reading

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WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Recently, I revisited a “bald” or naturally open area on a ridgetop in Ulster County. What makes this place special is that it offers a view or opening in a dense sea of forest where few openings exist. I guess it remains naturally openContinue Reading

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WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Finally got away & went for a good ‘ole bushwack in the woods & up a ridge. You never know what cool stuff you’ll find; It’s what keeps the woods interesting to me. Found this really unique and large “burl” growing upon an oldContinue Reading

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WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? This beautiful sugar maple recently “failed” in the Town of Shandaken after a storm. We have covered “structural” issues before, but this tree really sends the message home. Open-grown sugar maple are especially susceptible of codominant leaders and can fail miserably. Co-dominants are whereContinue Reading

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WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Now is the best time to find white and red mulberries, especially in the Hudson Valley. Kingston seems to be a hot spot for finding wild ones. My favorites are some of the white ones that are actually “white” when ripe. They taste kindContinue Reading

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WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Shortly after Memorial Day or so & into August marks the best time to peel bark from hemlock trees. Hemlock bark was traditionally used in the Catskills–and many parts of the eastern US–for making tanning liquor from. Bark is grinded up and water addedContinue Reading

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WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Last week I had about an hour to kill before sunset and didn’t feel like going for a walk. Instead, I grabbed my camera, climbing line, and harness and found the tallest nearby tree in order to snatch a photo of the sun settingContinue Reading

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WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? Well, it’s at the point now with this tree–white ash–that in some areas, the only ones alive are the few we chemically inject to kill the larvae of the emerald ash borer. June is a full month spent “saving” ash trees via CFA’s TREEContinue Reading

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WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE FOREST? It’s not perfect, but if you’re looking for an all-around pesticide to apply to your apple trees, perhaps Surround WP might work. Surround is mostly kaolin clay and is far less toxic than other pesticides. It forms a barrier or film that protects theContinue Reading