Articles

Silent Spring – the book that forever changed the way the world looks at chemicals – turns 50 this year, and when you’re a writer researching the herbicide glyphosate for a…

I grew up near the water in Brunswick, Maine, where warm mornings are often shrouded in a thick deck of clouds. On the coastal plain, moist south winds cool as they pass over the chilly…

When I was five, my father purchased the axe that accompanied us through the adventures that defined my boyhood. It was a Hudson Bay camp axe from Snow & Nealley, made in the classic…

Photographer Zack Clothier used a method called “stacking” to capture this image of the night sky over Coon Pond in the Adirondacks. Twelve images, all taken from a tripod in the…

The herring gull, one of our most cosmopolitan bird species, thrives in picnic areas or parking lots, at farms or fast-food joints, at sea or in sewage lagoons. The ivory gull, the embodiment…

From the trees he harvests, Mark Fenwick sculpts his dreams. At the end of his dirt drive in Guilford, Vermont, a dancing bear, larger than life, poses on one paw, beguiling passersby. Beyond…

Those reddish spruce needles you see adorning some mountaintop spruce trees are dead, killed by freezing. They are a flagrant indication that the host tree could not stand the weather. Such…

White nose syndrome, a fungus that attacks bats while they’re hibernating, has been devastating to bats in the Northeast. (Editor’s Note: See our story “Bats on the Brink,” Spring…

After a high-water event, there are people who will say that the way to prevent future flooding is to dig out the river channel so it can hold more water and armor plate the banks with riprap.…

Mark Wiener Spiral 45” x 36” acrylic and sumi ink on vellum, 2008 Mark Wiener keeps the door of his studio open seven hours a day, six days a week. Working in the Chelsea neighborhood of…

Logging culture is part of the fabric of rural communities in the Northeast. One might go so far as to say that the logger is a pillar of rural life, in the sense that his trade – like…

These are difficult times for families and businesses in our region: for loggers and mill workers, for land trusts and small business owners, for educators and small not-for-profit publishers…

Picture a grassy clearing in the woods, a fox pouncing on a meadow vole, a nest of baby sparrows. Picture a view of distant ridges or a nearby stream. Picture a few kids – maybe your…

As a teenager, Deborah Perkins found hunting repulsive. During her years at Greely High School in Cumberland, Maine, she wrote a passionate essay arguing that the pursuit was morally wrong.…

My good friend, ecologist Jeff Parsons, broke trail through 16 inches of fine, fresh snow. The weather was clear, the temperature hovered in the single digits, and the January sun cast long,…

As the vibrant colors of fall give way to the more subtle hues of winter, tree bark becomes a focal point in the forested landscape. The splendid contrasts of bark are highlighted by the…

On September 1, Steve Long will be leaving Northern Woodlands for a fellowship at Harvard Forest. Long founded the magazine with Virginia Barlow, and served as editor and executive director…

The beat changed more, and now they flew striking all together, so that their wings sung in unison as they went over his head. He stood stock still watching them, and long after they had…

To fell trees accurately and safely, you need to know how to do a bore cut, sometimes known as a plunge cut. On trees with forward lean, the traditional “race to the hinge” backcut will…

It is a monumental decision in the life of any birdwatcher. At stake is nothing less than the pleasure you get in the company of birds. So here is some advice on buying and using binoculars.…