Sugarmakers begin drilling holes and hammering spouts into their maple trees at their own discretion, and each has particular schedules and reasons for tapping when they do. Still, the traditional…

Photographer Frank Kaczmarek photographed this female lo moth in North Woodstock, New Hampshire. These giant silkworm moths never feed in their adult form, which lasts 3 to 6 days on average. Their…

Judged by the contents of its clutter, my desk is not a particularly happy place. You can picture my computer monitor gasping for air amidst a pile of papers that amount to a sea of bad news. Rummage…

Northern Woodlands received many generous contributions in 2010, but one in particular stands out. One of the members of our board of advisors (who wishes to remain anonymous) provided a challenge…

Day 2 Life accelerates as we get older, a phenomenon that most of us first notice as school kids, when summer vacations go from endless in elementary school to blink-your-eyes-and-it’s-done in…

Reader Ben Haubrich was X-C skiing recently in Francestown, New Hampshire, off trail, when he came across this odd mound in the snow. A closer look revealed . . . we'll tell you, but you have to guess…

There are few things on this pulsing planet that appear less alive, and more adverse to life, than snow. It falls from the sky in sharp-edged crystals. It blankets the earth in white, silent and…

The Hope Issue Bobcats on the Comeback Rebuilding a Trout Stream A Place for Wolf Trees Student Scientists, Slippery Elm, Success with Shiitakes, and much more

Scientists from Colorado State University have produced a first of- its-kind map of the height of the world’s forests by combining data from three NASA satellites. The map reveals that the…

In news that will come as no surprise to readers of Northern Woodlands, a team of psychologists has concluded that spending time in nature makes people feel more alive. A series of five studies…

Good news stories about the environment can seem hard to find these days, which makes it nice to report that power plants across the country have collectively decreased emissions of acid-rain-causing…

A few summers ago, I saw a red squirrel skittering along the top of a stonewall with something in its mouth. I snuck in closer and discovered the headless body of a chipmunk dangling from its jaws.…

You’d all be able to identify this plant in the summertime, but what about now?

To be human is to be self-conscious, so it’s only natural that we wonder where we came from. Some people take this to extravagant lengths, forking over hundreds of dollars to get DNA tests and…

In last winter’s issue, we highlighted a 400- year-old hemlock tree that was only 20 inches in diameter; in a recent web feature, we went the other way and marveled at a 70-year-old red oak…

The Damariscotta River Association (DRA) property in Newcastle, Maine, sits perched between US Route 1 and the Great Salt Bay. Over the past 50 years, this former pasture land has spawned a white pine…

As if the specter of emerald ash borer and Asian longhorned beetles destroying hardwoods in the Northeast weren’t depressing enough, another forest pest has reared its ugly head in the Midwest.…

Cold got you down? Ready to trade in your hat and scarf for something a little scantier? While you’re waiting for that to happen – and good luck! – consider a visitor to these climes…

We take for granted that trees drop their leaves in fall and open their buds in spring, with a glorious burst of flowers and leaves. Indeed, florists know that apple branches cut in March and brought…

I think the title’s a bit too shrill in this news piece about proposed maple syrup standards in Vermont, but I think the piece is well written and the topic is an interesting one.…