GEORGE SMITH’S OUTDOOR NEWS • April 1, 2020
This is a terrific and important column by Sandra Neily: This week the undeveloped woods around my northern forest home were posted “No Trespassing.” Gates went up, cameras were leashed to trees, sheriffs were called; everything turned nasty. For 30 years I’ve been slipping in and out of these woods. I had a favorite tree that I sat under each fall as the last leaves fell. I had a favorite spot where a stream joined a lake, a spot so thick with animal tracks, it always felt like a gift to go there. These owners have a perfect right to close off their property. But I will miss the porcupine haunts I visited. The marsh where I could hide and watch moose feed. The silent, early dusk nights where the only sound was my skis through snow and the surprise of seeing coyote tracks cross my tracks as I headed home.