Behind the Pages

Internationally known artist, naturalist, and educator Clare Walker Leslie has authored 15 books, including several focused on drawing nature and nature journaling. (For more about her work, visit her website.) This issue features the first installment of her seasonal Nature Journal for the magazine. This past autumn, Leslie led a nature journaling workshop at the Northern Woodlands office. Afterward, Leslie (left) and Northern Woodlands Editor Meghan McCarthy McPhaul sat down together to look over some of the many pages of nature journals – from Leslie’s homes in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Granville, Vermont – and to begin planning for the entry you’ll find in this issue, on page 36. Photo by Jackson Saul.

Approximately 50 people contribute to the words and images in each issue of the magazine, and still more provide support for the publication process. Here are some of our Spring 2025 contributors.

From left: Mary Holland, Madeline Bodin, Ben Conant, and Raphael Kosek.

Mary Holland (Naturally Curious, page 23) is a naturalist, wildlife photographer, environmental educator, and author. She has written and photographed 16 books for children and adults, including the award-winning Naturally Curious: A Photographic Field Guide and Month-by-Month Journey through the Fields, Woods, and Marshes of New England. Holland lives in Shelburne, Vermont, and has kept a popular natural history blog for 14 years. Photo by Judy Crosby.

Madeline Bodin wrote “A Lesson in Turtles” on page 40. She has written more than 100 articles for Northern Woodlands and The Outside Story, beginning with a feature story for the magazine in 1999. She is a journalist with a passion for narrative who primarily covers wildlife conservation and biodiversity, but she has also taken deep dives into outdoor recreation, sustainable energy, and land conservation. She has lived on the same hillside in southern Vermont for more than 30 years. Photo courtesy of Madeline Bodin.

Ben Conant, who photographed “Monitoring Forests for Climate Resilience” on page 62, is a professional photographer working out of southern New Hampshire. A graduate of ConVal High School and Keene State College, Ben started his journalism career at the Concord Monitor before serving as editor at the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript newspaper for 10 years. During his career, he won both NHPA Photographer of the Year and NSMA Sportswriter of the Year before launching his own freelance photography business. Ben lives in Peterborough with his wife, daughter, and dog. Photo by Malcolm Brown.

Raphael Kosek (Poetry, page 71) is a poet and writer living with her husband and three cats in the Hudson Valley. She feels very fortunate to have a daughter who is also a writer and poet. Birds and the natural world appear in many of her poems, and the natural world keeps her sane and grateful. Another passion is writing about art, and she has many ekphrastic poems and lyric essays about the art she loves. For more about Kosek and her work, visit her website. Photo by Stan Kosek.