Our August Reader Photo Gallery brims with the vibrancy of late summer, while offering the first glimpses of the season ahead. In Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, Karen Dapp’s photo of…

When I imagine scientists discovering new animals, I picture them traveling to far-off jungles or remote mountaintops – not investigating local roadsides, utility cuts, or other edge spaces of…

This week in the woods, along the edge of a protected forest in West Fairlee, Vermont, thin-leaved sunflowers continued their long, radiant bloom. While also known as the ten-petal sunflower and…

A yellowthroat warbler sang, “witchety, witchety, witch,” as I carefully made my way through the tangle of an alder swamp one afternoon not long ago. I looked about, hoping to catch a…

The 450-acre Hall Tavern Farm sits along the bank of the Deerfield River in Franklin County, Massachusetts. Jay Healy, whose family has owned the property since the early 1900s, has managed the farm…

During early and mid-autumn, eastern chipmunks are busy gathering nuts, seeds, and fungi to store for winter. Their cheek pouches can stretch to hold as much as 70 sunflower seeds, 32 beechnuts, or 6…

“A personal connection with the environment is at the heart of my work, which is first and foremost a celebration of the natural world.” – Ava Roth Ava Roth is a Toronto-based…

Maine’s forests, stretching across 89 percent of the state, have long been the backbone of its economy, sustaining generations of loggers, truckers, and mill workers. Over the course of four…

Dozens of people contribute to creating each issue of Northern Woodlands. Here are a few of the people whose work is featured in the Autumn magazine. {image2} Loren Merrill (Discoveries, page 68, and…

Picea is the classic Latin name for a conifer that produces a resinous material; the Latin term is probably derived from the Greek word for pitch, pissa. In the 1700s, several botanists used picea as…

To run, your chainsaw needs air, fuel, spark, and compression in the cylinder. If any of those components are missing, your chainsaw won’t work – or at least won’t run and cut…

Two miles down the trail that’s still drunk from coal dust though the rails screamed their way to scrap half a century since, we quit walking calm, start skewing wild as if those old ghost…

Since the late 19th century, the six-million-acre Adirondack Park – as big as Vermont, bigger than Yellowstone, Glacier, Everglades, and Grand Canyon national parks combined – has defined…

My neighbor Judy Smith, who is a geologist, told me one afternoon that the shale cliffs we looked up at from her cottage porch, along the north branch of the Susquehanna River, are Devonian rocks,…

When John Adler, at the age of 23, first heard Swedish logger Soren Eriksson talk about new techniques for harvesting trees safely and efficiently, he saw an opportunity. Adler had been cutting wood…

As climate change continues to reshape ecosystems across the globe, forests – key players in the Earth’s carbon cycle – are also undergoing significant transformations. A study…

The American woodcock is a favorite of bird enthusiasts and hunters alike, delighting people with its quirky walking style, bug-eyed appearance, spectacular aerial courtship displays, and (apparently)…

Shagbark hickory (Carya ovata) trees are a familiar sight along rural roads and field edges over much of the Northeast. They are recognizable year-round by their telltale bark, with pieces peeling off…

Fungi are a fundamental part of forest ecosystems. They break down dead plant material, releasing nutrients for other organisms to use, and they help plants access water and nutrients needed for…

While studying for a master’s degree in architecture at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Aleksandra “Sasha” Azbel discovered a new love: textiles. She was intrigued by the…