  {"id":1688,"date":"2025-06-06T15:52:47","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T19:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/?p=1688"},"modified":"2025-06-07T10:42:52","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T14:42:52","slug":"roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/","title":{"rendered":"Roger Merchant, University of 海角社区 Forestry, Class of 1965"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>When my boots landed on the ground in the 海角社区 Woods in \u201965, I went to work for Dead River Timberlands. Back then it was common knowledge in logging circles that sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas the growing cold would freeze the wet soils, allowing loggers to build \u2018winter roads\u2019 without gravel. \u2018Winter roads\u2019 would pack and stay frozen until about mid-March, the onset of spring breakup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Indeed, climate times have warmed since the 60s. When the December 2023 wind storm came through our land in Glenburn, we had eight large white pines tip over and crash down on our house. I went out afterwards and photographed the results of the mayhem. There was no frozen ground holding these trees up. As you can see in the second photo, the micro pool at the base of the stump has no frost or frozen soil in and around the roots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You could say that old Thanksgiving-Christmas \u201cfreeze down cycle\u201d is gone\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image1688_b492fa-e5 .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;}<\/style>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image1688_b492fa-e5 size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"388\" src=\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/294\/2025\/06\/climate-roger-merchant.jpg.png\" alt=\"fallen white pine trees\" class=\"kb-img wp-image-1690\" srcset=\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/294\/2025\/06\/climate-roger-merchant.jpg.png 1000w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/294\/2025\/06\/climate-roger-merchant.jpg-300x116.png 300w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/294\/2025\/06\/climate-roger-merchant.jpg-768x298.png 768w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/294\/2025\/06\/climate-roger-merchant.jpg-105x41.png 105w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/294\/2025\/06\/climate-roger-merchant.jpg-317x123.png 317w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/294\/2025\/06\/climate-roger-merchant.jpg-423x164.png 423w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/294\/2025\/06\/climate-roger-merchant.jpg-634x246.png 634w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/294\/2025\/06\/climate-roger-merchant.jpg-846x328.png 846w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/294\/2025\/06\/climate-roger-merchant.jpg-951x369.png 951w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 85vw, (max-width: 768px) 67vw, (max-width: 1024px) 62vw,1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When my boots landed on the ground in the 海角社区 Woods in \u201965, I went to work for Dead River Timberlands. Back then it was common knowledge in logging circles that sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas the growing cold would freeze the wet soils, allowing loggers to build \u2018winter roads\u2019 without gravel. \u2018Winter roads\u2019 would [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2337,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Roger Merchant, University of 海角社区 Forestry, Class of 1965 - President&#039;s Council of Retired Employees - University of 海角社区<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Roger Merchant, University of 海角社区 Forestry, Class of 1965 - President&#039;s Council of Retired Employees - University of 海角社区\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When my boots landed on the ground in the 海角社区 Woods in \u201965, I went to work for Dead River Timberlands. Back then it was common knowledge in logging circles that sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas the growing cold would freeze the wet soils, allowing loggers to build \u2018winter roads\u2019 without gravel. \u2018Winter roads\u2019 would [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"President&#039;s Council of Retired Employees\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-06T19:52:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-07T14:42:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/294\/2025\/06\/climate-roger-merchant.jpg.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"388\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cevesthomas\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cevesthomas\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cevesthomas\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/#\/schema\/person\/63fa96806557ff23d8533ff591124b5b\"},\"headline\":\"Roger Merchant, University of 海角社区 Forestry, Class of 1965\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-06T19:52:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-07T14:42:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/\"},\"wordCount\":166,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/294\/2025\/06\/climate-roger-merchant.jpg.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Climate Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/\",\"name\":\"Roger Merchant, University of 海角社区 Forestry, Class of 1965 - President&#039;s Council of Retired Employees - University of 海角社区\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/294\/2025\/06\/climate-roger-merchant.jpg.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-06T19:52:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-07T14:42:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/#\/schema\/person\/63fa96806557ff23d8533ff591124b5b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/294\/2025\/06\/climate-roger-merchant.jpg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/294\/2025\/06\/climate-roger-merchant.jpg.png\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":388,\"caption\":\"fallen white pine trees\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Roger Merchant, University of 海角社区 Forestry, Class of 1965\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/\",\"name\":\"President&#039;s Council of Retired Employees\",\"description\":\"University of 海角社区\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/#\/schema\/person\/63fa96806557ff23d8533ff591124b5b\",\"name\":\"cevesthomas\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2638a186094eb763cf958b5abce77f9f13fea727fd4313f505d765ce71f1b8ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2638a186094eb763cf958b5abce77f9f13fea727fd4313f505d765ce71f1b8ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2638a186094eb763cf958b5abce77f9f13fea727fd4313f505d765ce71f1b8ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cevesthomas\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/author\/cevesthomas\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Roger Merchant, University of 海角社区 Forestry, Class of 1965 - President&#039;s Council of Retired Employees - University of 海角社区","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Roger Merchant, University of 海角社区 Forestry, Class of 1965 - President&#039;s Council of Retired Employees - University of 海角社区","og_description":"When my boots landed on the ground in the 海角社区 Woods in \u201965, I went to work for Dead River Timberlands. Back then it was common knowledge in logging circles that sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas the growing cold would freeze the wet soils, allowing loggers to build \u2018winter roads\u2019 without gravel. \u2018Winter roads\u2019 would [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/","og_site_name":"President&#039;s Council of Retired Employees","article_published_time":"2025-06-06T19:52:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-06-07T14:42:52+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":388,"url":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/294\/2025\/06\/climate-roger-merchant.jpg.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"cevesthomas","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cevesthomas","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/"},"author":{"name":"cevesthomas","@id":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/#\/schema\/person\/63fa96806557ff23d8533ff591124b5b"},"headline":"Roger Merchant, University of 海角社区 Forestry, Class of 1965","datePublished":"2025-06-06T19:52:47+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-07T14:42:52+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/"},"wordCount":166,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/294\/2025\/06\/climate-roger-merchant.jpg.png","articleSection":["Climate Stories"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/","url":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/","name":"Roger Merchant, University of 海角社区 Forestry, Class of 1965 - President&#039;s Council of Retired Employees - University of 海角社区","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/294\/2025\/06\/climate-roger-merchant.jpg.png","datePublished":"2025-06-06T19:52:47+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-07T14:42:52+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/#\/schema\/person\/63fa96806557ff23d8533ff591124b5b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/294\/2025\/06\/climate-roger-merchant.jpg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/294\/2025\/06\/climate-roger-merchant.jpg.png","width":1000,"height":388,"caption":"fallen white pine trees"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/2025\/06\/06\/roger-merchant-university-of-maine-forestry-class-of-1965\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Roger Merchant, University of 海角社区 Forestry, Class of 1965"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/#website","url":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/","name":"President&#039;s Council of Retired Employees","description":"University of 海角社区","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/#\/schema\/person\/63fa96806557ff23d8533ff591124b5b","name":"cevesthomas","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2638a186094eb763cf958b5abce77f9f13fea727fd4313f505d765ce71f1b8ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2638a186094eb763cf958b5abce77f9f13fea727fd4313f505d765ce71f1b8ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2638a186094eb763cf958b5abce77f9f13fea727fd4313f505d765ce71f1b8ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cevesthomas"},"url":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/author\/cevesthomas\/"}]}},"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":67,"label":"Climate Stories"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"cevesthomas","author_link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/author\/cevesthomas\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":67,"name":"Climate Stories","slug":"climate","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":67,"taxonomy":"category","description":"U海角社区 retirees reflect on our ever-changing world and environment, sharing experiences that contrast the climate of decades ago with recent years.","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":67,"category_count":3,"category_description":"U海角社区 retirees reflect on our ever-changing world and environment, sharing experiences that contrast the climate of decades ago with recent years.","cat_name":"Climate Stories","category_nicename":"climate","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2337"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1688"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1691,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1688\/revisions\/1691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/retirees\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}