Winter Beauty

Another one of those beautiful winter days. I snowshoed along a trail at Northwood Meadows State Park, still blanketed in snow from Sunday's storm.

The gray birches along the trail bent over with heavy snow.


A tall white pine cast a long shadow onto the pond.


Fresh pileated woodpecker holes in a hemlock.

Northwood Meadows State Park is part of an informal group of public and private landowners that are working across their stonewalls on common landowner objectives. Last year the group -- Northwood Area Land Management Collaborative or NALMC -- built a 5-mile walking trail. This year I will be working with them on an ecological assessment of the "NALMC neighborhood." The goal is to help people learn what is in their backyard, share information, and work together on projects, such as trails, wildlife surveys, managing habitat, forestry, that cross property boundaries.