Discoveries

Angelena Ross has been studying spruce grouse for more than 20 years, first as a graduate student at State University of New York at Potsdam and now for the New York State Department of…

Two common ways that forest fungi spread to new locations are by releasing spores into the wind, and through transport by animals, including the consumption – and defecation – of…

Gray foxes inhabit areas of dense cover, usually close to water. They den in the ground, cavities between rocks and ledges, brush piles, tree holes, and hollow logs. In 2018, in a wooded…

In 1900, much of the forest in the eastern United States was filled with oaks and other trees that tolerated fire. This structure in part reflected previous centuries of shaping by Indigenous…

The oaks are not doing well at Black Rock Forest. Their growth has slowed as new species of trees have found their way into the woods, and pathogens (such as the fungus that causes oak wilt),…

Carbon offset programs often withhold 10 to 20 percent of offsets generated by a project, as a buffer against changes to the forest that might affect carbon storage over a century or more. But…

Red Rocks Park in South Burlington, Vermont, takes its name from the iron-tinged Monkton Quartzite, formed some 500 million years ago. But above the old red sandstone are bands of younger…

Invasive plants impact the ecological integrity and timber production potential of forests. One particularly problematic species is glossy buckthorn (Frangula alnus). A shade-tolerant,…

Land protection has increased in recent decades parallel with development pressures. Town leaders struggling to balance budgets and to provide services often resist conservation because of…

The northeastern population of moose, subspecies Alces alces americana, declined during the nineteenth century as a result of hunting and forest clearing for agriculture. Hunting regulation…

What we in the Northeast sometimes call a “Town Forest” is known elsewhere as a “Community Forest.” Although common and cherished by local residents, these publicly…

Moisture is a major factor encouraging the growth of northern hardwood trees, but timing is just as important as volume. New research from University of Vermont and the U.S. Forest Service has…

Northeastern bats are on the decline for multiple reasons, especially fungal pathogens that cause white-nose syndrome. To support bat conservation efforts, researchers at University of New…

The boreal forest encircles the northern hemisphere from Alaska to Russia to Scandinavia to Labrador, making up almost one-quarter of global forest area and containing more than a third of…

For decades, acid rain was one of the biggest problems affecting northern forests, the focus of extensive research and advocacy in the latter decades of the twentieth century. The fact that…

First identified in 1998, the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis has infected more than 1,300 amphibian species in the last decade and led to the population decline of more than 200…

Alpine plants grow where they do because mountain summits are cold, icy, windy, snowy – but also sunlit, dry, and hot. Alpine plants are directly vulnerable to warming temperatures, and…

For as long as the blacklegged tick has been expanding its range in the Northeast, many have thought that cold winters limit its geographic range. This belief in part derived from laboratory…

The American marten (Martes americana) and fisher (Pekania pennanti) are closely related inhabitants of the Northern Forest region. Both species have been impacted by historical trapping and…

Two and a half years ago, much of the world shut down in response to the emergence of the Covid-19 virus. Some people worked, many stayed home, everyone worried. The outdoors was both the…