Northwest Maine - what's up with it? (Bucksport, Bar Harbor: 2014, credit)

[Coaster]

Originally Posted by maineguy8888

Just curious, hopefully not too far off subject: does any one in southern Maine ever refer to "upstate"?? We talk about "downstate" all the time, around here.......

"Upcountry" sometimes, or up north. Usually more specific, "I'm going up to Bangor."

[mainebrokerman]

yes, usually up north, or upcountry - not upstate

and if up north going south- it would be down state, down south , and even down-river

its all in a frame of reference, I was working in brunswick one year and a co-worker, said "Im going up north this weekend"

I asked where, she said belgrade.... it's north to her, but my frame of reference was up north meant at least moosehead lake,,..now, upnorth means up in aroostook county


some old time mainers will say,,, "they've gone to the norrid, or southid< or west'id, or east'id
the first time i heard this(i was in my teens) was from some older fisherman, when hunting- but I have also heard this around the state, mostly from old-timers

meaning north,south, west or east

[lv4him]

The post about the squirrels with big teeth that will take your head off proves that even in Maine the insincere, comedian types exist as well as everywhere else. That was neither helpful nor funny.
Any way, environmentalists need to go away. The responsible paper companies always plant new trees as they take down timber. The same is true for building loggers and lumber companies. Sure, the all mighty dollar is prevalent, but they know they have to reforest to have a future. Too bad the worm thing happened.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by lv4him

The post about the squirrels with big teeth that will take your head off proves that even in Maine the insincere, comedian types exist as well as everywhere else. That was neither helpful nor funny.
Any way, environmentalists need to go away. The responsible paper companies always plant new trees as they take down timber. The same is true for building loggers and lumber companies. Sure, the all mighty dollar is prevalent, but they know they have to reforest to have a future. Too bad the worm thing happened.

There are states that require re-planting after a heavy cut. I have lived in states that do. Maine does not.

There are states that have Forestry Departments, that operate tree nurseries where you can purchase bare-root trees very inexpensively. So that it is not a huge burden to re-plant. I have lived in state that do. Maine does not.

As a woodlot owner, I attend workshops with foresters. I am a member of an woodlot owners association, and I hire a licensed forester every so often to make sure that I am doing the best in managing my forest. Whenever I have mentioned re-planting in any of these workshops, or to my forester, the idea is immediately scorned.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

If you don't mow a field in Maine it will soon be a forest. No planting is necessary for our natural species. If you want to introduce a new species such as red pine you do need to plant them. There are many old fields I walked as a boy that are mature woodlots today. The old Kingman Airport has had two spruce harvests since it was an airport. The airport in Winn has been harvested.

In 1940 there were 6,500,000 acres of pasture and cultivated ground in Maine. Today there are just over a million. The forests are taking over. In my lifetime we have gained an average of 77,000 acres a year of forests. That is more than three whole townships of forest gained every year. A township is six miles by six miles or 23,040 acres.

The environmental industry claims we are losing our forests. They lie. They whine about carbon sequestration. Maine has sequestered more carbon at a higher rate than any other political entity on earth.

[maineborzoi]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

If you don't mow a field in Maine it will soon be a forest. No planting is necessary for our natural species. If you want to introduce a new species such as red pine you do need to plant them. There are many old fields I walked as a boy that are mature woodlots today. The old Kingman Airport has had two spruce harvests since it was an airport. The airport in Winn has been harvested.

In 1940 there were 6,500,000 acres of pasture and cultivated ground in Maine. Today there are just over a million. The forests are taking over. In my lifetime we have gained an average of 77,000 acres a year of forests. That is more than three whole townships of forest gained every year. A township is six miles by six miles or 23,040 acres.

The environmental industry claims we are losing our forests. They lie. They whine about carbon sequestration. Maine has sequestered more carbon at a higher rate than any other political entity on earth.

I agree with this as evidenced even by our limited time here.
Technically we own 4 lots. IN that two of the lots once had a home on it. Somewhere over the past 30-40 years, the house was bulldozed there, with whatever remaining removed. Now its dense woods where it use to be remembered as a field of grass. And adding the few apple trees, that were once small, are now mammoth trees bearing very old apple growths... ( the deer love them but of no use to us...)

[Maineac]

Originally Posted by lv4him

The post about the squirrels with big teeth that will take your head off proves that even in Maine the insincere, comedian types exist as well as everywhere else. That was neither helpful nor funny.
Any way, environmentalists need to go away. The responsible paper companies always plant new trees as they take down timber. The same is true for building loggers and lumber companies. Sure, the all mighty dollar is prevalent, but they know they have to reforest to have a future. Too bad the worm thing happened.

I worked for Scott Paper as a forester years ago, and I can safely tell you that there was never anything "responsible" about the "responsible" paper companies. They very, VERY rarely "planted new trees when they [took] down timber." About 1982 Scott LEVELED Soldiertown Township. It looked like a nuclear holocaust. Raspberries first, with gray birch and pople so thick it's ridiculous. Then they'd lay down the 2-4-5T to kill everything and force the fir (a dangerous monoculture form of "management") up, and it would grow so thick you couldn 't move through it. I was one of the idiots that flagged for the helicopter spray teams. You had to RUN after the pilot got a line on you to avoid getting washed down by the purple rain.

Environmentalists DON'T need to go away. Without them, Northern Maine would be entirely a 15' tall fir thicket choking itself to death by now. The golden rule applies. He who has the gold makes the rules, and stockholders in (insert paper company name here) couldn't care less as long as this quarter's profits are up. The "worm thing" happened years ago partially due to the monoculture of fir created by clearcutting. At the Costigan end of the Stud Mill Road, Diamond would take a beautiful clear spruce log, knock a single 2" x 4" out of it, and send the rest to the Old Town Mill for pulp. They were a paper company that happened to have a sawmill. There was more end dollars for them in pulping perfectly good dimensional wood. All for the shareholders.

[Maineac]

Originally Posted by Northern Maine Land Man

If you don't mow a field in Maine it will soon be a forest. No planting is necessary for our natural species. If you want to introduce a new species such as red pine you do need to plant them. There are many old fields I walked as a boy that are mature woodlots today. The old Kingman Airport has had two spruce harvests since it was an airport. The airport in Winn has been harvested.

In 1940 there were 6,500,000 acres of pasture and cultivated ground in Maine. Today there are just over a million. The forests are taking over. In my lifetime we have gained an average of 77,000 acres a year of forests. That is more than three whole townships of forest gained every year. A township is six miles by six miles or 23,040 acres.

The environmental industry claims we are losing our forests. They lie. They whine about carbon sequestration. Maine has sequestered more carbon at a higher rate than any other political entity on earth.

Yeah, sure. Gotta love those gray birch and alder "forests." Politics doesn't belong when it comes to common sense regarding the environment and watersheds. The "environmental industry" is a figment of far right imagination, carefully molded by some very well monied individuals.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Maineac

I worked for Scott Paper as a forester years ago, and I can safely tell you that there was never anything "responsible" about the "responsible" paper companies. They very, VERY rarely "planted new trees when they [took] down timber." About 1982 Scott LEVELED Soldiertown Township. It looked like a nuclear holocaust. Raspberries first, with gray birch and pople so thick it's ridiculous. Then they'd lay down the 2-4-5T to kill everything and force the fir (a dangerous monoculture form of "management") up, and it would grow so thick you couldn 't move through it. I was one of the idiots that flagged for the helicopter spray teams. You had to RUN after the pilot got a line on you to avoid getting washed down by the purple rain.

Environmentalists DON'T need to go away. Without them, Northern Maine would be entirely a 15' tall fir thicket choking itself to death by now. The golden rule applies. He who has the gold makes the rules, and stockholders in (insert paper company name here) couldn't care less as long as this quarter's profits are up. The "worm thing" happened years ago partially due to the monoculture of fir created by clearcutting. At the Costigan end of the Stud Mill Road, Diamond would take a beautiful clear spruce log, knock a single 2" x 4" out of it, and send the rest to the Old Town Mill for pulp. They were a paper company that happened to have a sawmill. There was more end dollars for them in pulping perfectly good dimensional wood. All for the shareholders.

The forester I hired a few weeks ago, to re-do my management plan. Told me that he was the guy that over-saw the last clear-cut on the land we are currently on. He followed the clear-cut by coating everything here with 2,4,5-T [Agent Orange of VN fame was a two-component mixture, where one of the components was 2,4,5-T]. So he was interested in reviewing how well his spraying had worked.

That is how forest growth is 'managed' here. Not by re-planting desired species, but by spraying broad-leaf defoliate.

It would have been nice, if they had told us when we bought this place, that it is just been sprayed with broad-leaf defoliate.

[Maineac]

2-4-D was the dioxin laced bad stuff known as Agent Orange, 2-4-5T is a remake of the molecules and brew to get around the ban on 2-4-D. Kind of like making illegal designer drugs - just change the molecule a little and it becomes "legal." Anything for a buck and anything goes. Straight into the watershed. But its O.K. as long as the stockholders profit.