Steve Hopkins describes himself as a naturalist and a logger. This seeming conflict is balanced out in the several ways he manages his two woodlots. For me personally, understanding that balance became apparent when he was working with his portable saw mill at our farm last spring. One morning I happened to look out the window in the direction Steve was working and I saw him make a board pass on the sawmill, stop, grab his binoculars that were always hanging nearby, look up into the sky, and then walk to his pickup to write something down in a notebook taken from the front seat. I had known that Steve was a bird watcher. I now knew that Steve was a passionate bird watcher and, along with his job of cutting our hardwood pile into lumber, he was also keeping a list for us of birds he saw on our property.
On the way out to our place in Hammond, Steve has a 60-acre woodlot that he bought in the 1970s. Having not been cut since the 1940s, he manages it as a natural forest reserve – that is, for aesthetics and wildlife. Since he bought it, he’s been documenting tree and shrub species (50), flowers, ferns and mosses (90) and birds, mammals and amphibians (93). Blowdowns are about the only wood cut here although this is the first year he has decided to take some poplar along the perimeter for thinning.
Steve’s other woodlot in Hodgdon is managed for his saw mill operation and maple syrup production. Trees are selectively cut for customer orders or to build up his inventory of native stock. He fulfills custom lumber requests with trees selected by him on his woodlot and thus is able to provide amounts with no minimum order requirements. Syruping is done for fun and the length of time he does it each year depends exactly on that. When it isn’t fun anymore, syrup season is over.
Steve’s shop is a further reflection of his love of forestry. Upon entering, leaning against the opposite wall are large, unique pieces of thick cut, live-edge wood that are sold as fireplace mantels, tabletops or taxidermy mounts. Alongside, various sizes of burls fill several shelves that are eventually made into bowls by craftspeople. We walked around carefully stickered hardwood, stacked floor to ceiling and neatly labeled. The wall facing the hardwood is lined with signs of a collector – old chainsaws, crosscut saws and shelves of Maine forestry books. The back of the shop is warmed by a woodstove, guarded by “Bertha”, a six-foot log with several burls on it that Steve can’t quite bring himself to cut up.
The real attraction is two walls lined with native softwood and hardwood examples. One wall holds every native softwood except two (black and red Spruce). The wall of hardwood planks is greater but a wish list still remains for completion. Viewing the various native woods side by side, comparing grains and color, is an experience.
I left my visit having learned several new things (ever heard of spalted wood?) and a new appreciation of the diversity of our forests, including what lives in them. Steve can be reached at 538-1714.
Editor’s note: Angie Wotton loves her work as District Manager for the SASWCD. She also raises pastured pork and vegetables with her husband on their small West Berry Farm in Hammond. She can be reached 532-9407 or via e-mail at angela.wotton@me.nacdnet.net.
