AMC Outdoors, June 2007
Five companies that have made preserving the North Woods their business.
Combining commerce and conservation is never easy. But these five innovators are doing it. Whether through guiding, farming, woodworking, or natural resource management, these North Woods companies have made sustainable business a reality, working locally, efficiently, while respecting the fragile northern New England landscape they call home.
Native Woods: Possibility in every tree
Gary Krauss has an affinity for weird pieces of wood. The more curls and sweeps, fungus infestations, and crotches, the better. He gives these criteria to master logger Ron Ridley who scours Maine’s northern forest for trees. The first time Ridley collected such spoiled wood, his father thought he was trying to rip Krauss off. But Ridley has learned. Today he proudly collects the diseased and twisted trees that, in Krauss’ hands, will become something beautiful.
Krauss has been turning Maine’s forest oddities into furniture for more than five years. He uses primarily unwanted logs, shaping the bark edges into pieces as intricate as the northern forest itself. His company, Native Woods, turns sustainable forestry and efficient wood-use into art—proof that conservation and economic prosperity can go hand-in-hand.
A fourth-generation woodworker, Krauss built his first birdhouse at age four. In 1989 he began remodeling homes and doing custom cabinetry and traditional furniture work, but he was concerned too much wood was being thrown away. In 2002 he took a scrap piece home and built a frame. He made more frames. Then coffee tables. Then benches. And finally dining tables—all out of disfigured, scrap material. Every piece sold. "The more heavily diseased and rotten the logs, the more beautiful character comes through in the bark edge," he says. Trees that face difficult circumstances are often the most spectacular inside.
Krauss’ efficient woodworking techniques produce virtually no scraps. His first incisions on an average piece of weird wood—roughly 14 inches in diameter and 10 feet long—are the top and bottom slab cuts. These become shelf ledges, hallway mirrors, and key hooks. The next two cuts, slicing the log from top to bottom, are made into picture frames, small legs, and vanity mirror frames. The heartwood, where the grain is the straightest and the character less interesting, becomes countertops, tabletops, doors, and benches. Waste pieces are turned into pot planters, clocks, and jewelry boxes with stick handles on each drawer. His neighbor uses the sawdust as bedding for his dairy cows. Local townspeople use what’s left—roughly four trash cans of wood each week—for kindling.
When customers learn where his products come from it becomes more than simply buying furniture. "We’re trying to make people think about our forests in a different way," says Krauss’ wife Chris. Krauss is also part of Maine WoodNet, a local artisans’ community formed in conjunction with The Wilderness Society that focuses on sustainable woodworking. Farmington’s Sugarwood Gallery sells only forestry-conscious art. In four years, it has sold over $1.5 million of local work.
Native Woods – www.nativewoods.net, 207-645-2400
Pete’s Greens: Setting the local food table
Pete Johnson dreams of one-stop shopping for those who want to eat locally. In this reverie, people no longer guzzle gas to travel to grocery stores for food that originates in far-off places. Instead, they’d make one trip to his farm, where the food they purchase comes from the land in front of them: organic greens from the fields, heirloom tomatoes from a greenhouse (framed with local wood, of course), vegetables from the root cellar, and chicken and beef raised in the pastures out back. Preserved and frozen food replaces fast food. Farming is sustainable, the food is organic, and eating becomes an event.
This isn’t some futuristic vision; it’s a way back to the past. And on 190 acres of flat farmland in Craftsbury, Vt., Johnson is already there. Since 1995 Pete’s Greens has been producing and selling organic vegetables to locals, restaurants, and co-ops. Twenty-two acres of crops grow outdoors. The dairy barn stores 70 tons of fall-harvested crops in the root cellar for the winter months. And he will soon transform his old farmhouse into a processing kitchen to preserve healthy, local food. "If we can make it interesting, exciting, and nutritionally complete to eat locally all the time," he asks, "why wouldn’t you?"
Creating a sustainable farm is like cooking the perfect meal. He uses only the finest ingredients: healthy soil and crops and seeds that will hold up to Vermont’s harsh winters. Food is kept fresh and growing all year long with the help of cellars, cold storage, greenhouses, and organic farming techniques.
Johnson is always bettering his recipe—improving processes, trying new things. "It’s all timing," he says, "being prepared to do what you can do, when you can do it. We’re always pushing, trying to squeeze a little more out of the season." Northern Vermont’s winters are a challenge. But gently scratching the outdoor crop beds every two to three days kills the weeds off sooner; storing food in the root cellar extends the winter crop. "We do all we possibly can to produce the biggest diversity of food," Johnson adds. And he’s successful. Pete’s Greens sells to more than 50 restaurants across Vermont, and in Boston and New York City. Closer to home, community members love the variety and the challenge of cooking what’s seasonally available. "It feels good to be a part of something that affects so many people in a positive way," says co-worker Elena Gustavson.
Pete’s Greens – www.petesgreens.com, 802-586-2882
Watershed to Wildlife: Protecting the North Woods’ resources
John Severance and Elise Lawson never have a bad day in the field, whether surveying marshes, measuring vernal pools, or snapping photographs of rare plant species. Even when they’re muddy, hot, and covered in ticks, they’re still outside in the northern forest, helping people focus on the land and ecosystem around them.
"One day we’re doing wetland permits; another day it’s a natural resource inventory, and then another we’re doing wildlife preservation," Lawson says. "Every project brings something unique." Since forming Watershed to Wildlife in 2001, the pair has assisted northern towns and landowners in short- and long-term resource management planning. "People move up north and stay here because of the rural character, the natural resources, and the scenery," she adds. "We want to plan proactively to keep that." For Severance, it’s essential that people see the big picture. "Having lived here for 55 years," he says, "I’ve seen dramatic changes." They seem relatively minor at first—a private residence is built, a wetland is overlooked—but the cumulative effect is something much greater. Early insight is crucial.
They began working with second-home buyers from New York and Boston who wanted to create environments on their land for wildlife to flourish. In 2002, the town of Lancaster, N.H., approached them to perform a natural re-sources inventory for the conservation commission. Since then, they’ve worked with numerous private landowners, multiple organizations, and over 25 towns including Whitefield, Berlin, Bethlehem, Lyme, and Colebrook. Their inventory of vernal pools in 13 towns along the Connecticut River—a three-year undertaking—has become an education program for local schools. And together with the Randolph Community Forest Commission they helped create a stewardship plan for the town’s community forest.
Most recently, the pair performed a natural resources inventory for the town of Franconia, where they spent days in the field inspecting the surrounding area’s fields, wetlands, and potential wildlife habitats. "There’s been lots of [land lost to] development in the last 10 years here that would have been nice to preserve ahead of time," says Franconia planning board member Bernadette Costa. "This assessment will be a useful planning tool for our town."
That’s the pair’s greatest hope. By delivering the most accurate data they hope towns will change ordinances to monitor wetland development and promote sustainable land use. "[Some believe] you’re powerless to make that happen," says Severance, "but we try." Lawson keeps working toward those good days. "When you come across something valuable, you look out and say, ‘How can we preserve this?’ Then you turn to the town and say, ‘You can sustain this.’ " She smiles just thinking about it.
Watershed to Wildlife – www.watershedtowildlife.com, 603-444-0000
North Woods Ways: Traveling through tradition
The best way to travel through the waters of the North Woods is to yield. To put down your paddle, listen, and let the surroundings engage your senses. This is how Garrett and Alexandra Conover lead trips down Maine’s St. John and Allagash rivers; not fast and frenzied, but intrinsically slow and thoughtful. "People have tried to peg us as wacky, old-style people," Garrett says. "But what really works best in the North Woods context are traditions that have had hundreds of years of refinement."
Inspired by the sensibilities of Maine’s Wabanaki Indians, the Conovers have been leading clients on traditional trips for 26 years through the guide service North Woods Ways. "Our goal is to have people engage with the landscape in a manner that lets it speak to them powerfully," Garrett says. The couple offers an organic experience, believing that too much explanation kills the moment. "When you see someone with their mouth open, really looking at something, just captivated," Alexandra explains, "even a 30-year-old looks like an eight-year-old. That look of childlike wonder is part of our paycheck. That’s our reward."
The pair met on Vermont’s Long Trail, where they worked on summer trail crews. In 1980 they started North Woods Ways as a means to stay in the woods year-round and get paid for it. Their guiding brings a personal perspective to the natural world. Legendary Maine guide Mick Fahey taught them the North Woods stroke, an efficient paddle movement that Native Americans, trappers, and veteran guides used. They also learned how to make paddles—built for the rivers they run with long handles, large, flat grips, and short, wide blades.
The Conovers also opt for homemade, traditional winter gear. Their homespun equipment is sturdy and multi-functional, unlike much of today’s outdoor gear, which Garrett believes is too specialized and hard to repair. Using traditional snowshoes, toboggans, and techniques, the Conovers’ guests receive a unique winter trip with extreme comfort. "Running around with a bunch of wooden snowshoes, toboggans, and canoes allows a huge level of engagement with the habitat because your tools come from it," Garrett says. "They’re defined by it."
Beyond simple enjoyment, the couple hopes guests will gain a greater appreciation and respect for the North Woods and the challenges it faces from encroaching development. They’d like people to come away with meaningful connections to the region, and "that their whole world view shifts, and they realize they are part of this at once beautiful and terrible thing," says Alexandra.
North Woods Ways – www.northwoodsways.com, 207-997-3723
Mahoosuc Guide Service: New perspectives on preservation
Kevin Slater likes watching people experience the outdoors. "The whole pace changes once we get on a river or on a sled for a winter trip. It clears their heads, slows them down." Slowing down allows people to take in new perspectives, says Slater, who has run the Mahoosuc Guide Service with partner Polly Mahoney for the last 20 years. And perspective has always been important to him. From his Boy Scout days to working with Dudley family guides in Matagamon, Maine, as a young adult, Slater has developed a healthy respect for the natural world. But their trips are more than just wilderness excursions. Whether dog sledding across Lake Umbagog, canoeing through the North Country, or traveling with Inuit in northern Québec, each adventure provides clients with a complete North Woods experience rich in tradition.
Slater’s daily commute serves as a reminder of the traditions he maintains: walking from the timber frame house he built out of hemlock and cedar; around the pens holding 39 Yukon huskies, all hungry and happy to see him; to the barn he built that houses canoes he and Polly constructed, 170 hours at a time, from native ash and spruce; past the blueberry fields to the front farmhouse and woodshop where the homemade paddles and dog sleds sit. "We make everything here," says Slater, "the way guides used to."
Many of their trips combine the guides’ admiration for the North Woods with their affection for native culture. "We have a unique and unbelievably rich opportunity to travel with natives and see how they look at the world," he says. Cree David Bosum, who works for the guide service, often tells clients to remove watches before going in the bush. "We’re on NT now," he says. "Native Time—we’ll do everything when the time is right." Traveling with native cultures exposes people to a different comprehension of the world. By studying a bent tree bow, Bosum can tell which ones were broken by bears, and which were the result of human interference.
Slater equates exposing people to native culture to the importance of preserving the natural character of the North Woods. If large-scale development comes to Maine’s unorganized territories, the North Woods as people know it will also vanish. And along with it, traditional jobs like logging, guiding, and fishing.
To help maintain and protect the region’s remote character, Slater and other concerned business owners created the Maine Wilderness Guides Organization. Their goal is to make people aware of the need to protect the region’s undeveloped country and shorefront. "I hope we’re instilling an appreciation to keep our vast woodlands undeveloped and unpolluted."
Mahoosuc Guide Service – www.mahoosuc.com, 207-824-2073
- Amy VanHaren
Resources
AMC and organizations like the Northern Forest Alliance are helping to bring conservation-minded business owners and guides together to build communities and foster economic growth.
Other resources for sustainably managed businesses in the Northern Forest:
Print version
