Allard Lumber Company Jillian Perrault 74 Glen Orne Drive Brattleboro, VT 05301-9175 (802) 254-4939 Bay State Forestry Service 2342 Main Street Athol, MA 01331 (413) 853-4832 Birdseye Forestry Michael…

Of the many questions one is left with after listening to the nursery rhyme Three Blind Mice, none is more vexing than how three blind rodents were able to chase anything, let alone a farmer’s…

The Latin name for the red squirrel, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus, gives us more than a hint about the summer and fall foraging behaviors of this bold and busy creature. Tamias apparently has a variety of…

Is longer better when it comes to chainsaw bars? Personally, I like a shorter bar. It allows me to use a saw with a smaller engine, which reduces overall strain on my back and muscles. Plus, shorter…

Cottonmouth snakes, also known as water moccasins, do not live in Vermont or New Hampshire. These venomous snakes live only in the South. In spite of this, Michael Marchand, a biologist and reptile…

We drove up into the mountains shortly after dawn on a late-September morning full of mist and fractured sunlight. While the valleys were still resplendent with color, the mountain peaks were starting…

Yes, it’s a dead chipmunk. (We’re pretty sure the dog killed it, but it may have been gluttony.) Note that his mouth is full of beech nuts. Now how many beech nuts do you think this wee chippy had…

In 1694, with its whitetails already devastated by overhunting and habitat loss, the Massachusetts Bay Colony prohibited deer hunting for half the year. New Hampshire did the same in 1741. Decades…

Since as far back as I can remember, the sight of a group of turtles basking on a log has made me pause to enjoy their prehistoric appearance. Most summer days during my early childhood were spent…

It’s a rite of fall: the splitting of logs for firewood. It’s arduous, but great exercise, to be sure. It’s also a chance to see a host of fascinating creatures hidden deep in…

As a nature writer and photographer, I spend a lot of my time peering closely at leaves, twigs, and flowers, seeking what lurks in their midst. So it was that I discovered Phymata, the Ambush Bug. I…

This plant was growing near the ocean on a tree farm in Addison, Maine. What is it?

A friend and I have been chipping away at hiking Vermont’s Long Trail – a 272-mile footpath that leads from one end of the state to the other – for well over a decade now. We made…

On a steep slope in the woods above our house, one particular sugar maple stands out for both its great size and its longevity. Some of the lichen-covered bark is sloughing off its trunk, but no…

The Norse Vikings referred to the east coast of North America as Vinland, with grapes so plentiful they could be smelled from the sea. Such historical abundance is questionable; the description may…

Wild plants do not surrender their treasures as easily as their cultivated cousins. Wild berries tend to be small, seedy, and scattered widely across the landscape. Anyone who has spent an hour…

Whirlwinds of feathered bodies, iridescent beetle-blue on top and snowy below, are touching down all along the eastern seaboard. Flocks move in a loose collection of tumbles and dives, sweeping…

I can’t think of many subjects that are harder to write about than forestry, something I’m reminded of whenever I read how-to stories about traditional farming. Crop farmers get to till…

Reader Dan Wing, from Cookeville, Vermont, sent us this picture. What is it?

Things were simpler when we were kids, right? Culture certainly was, before 457 channels and the internet and smart phones. Probably global politics were, too. The Cold War – Rocky vs. Ivan…