Green building programs have been developed over the past 10 to 15 years with the objective of shifting the built environment toward more sustainability. As the influence of these programs grows, it…

The forests of New England and northern New York are among the most diverse and intricate ecosystems on the planet. With mind-boggling numbers of plant and animal species living in complex natural…

A climax forest is a good place to start an argument with an ecologist. To some, it is a nice name for forests that have escaped disturbance by outside forces like storms or diseases or logging long…

Last Halloween, biology students at U-32 High School in Montpelier, Vermont, got all decked out – not to go trick or treating – but in a search for deer ticks. They donned Tyvek protective…

If you want to identify yourself as someone who knows nothing about the subject, announce that you’re headed out to the woodshed to chop some firewood. Chopping firewood went out of style with…

Nearly a billion monarch butterflies from the eastern United States and Canada migrate to the mountains of Mexico each year, and this year’s migration is already underway. This has long been…

With autumn rapidly approaching, we in hilly New England are fortunate to witness spectacular displays of fall colors as the deciduous trees lose their leaves for the winter. This remarkable process…

Some have teeth, some a sticky, entrapping liquid. Others have one-way tunnels leading to pools of digestive juices and are said to exude a paralyzing perfume. All of which are good reasons to beware…

An oddity in the plant world is the roughly one percent of plant species that do not manufacture their own carbohydrates via photosynthesis. Instead, these plants are parasites, stealing carbohydrates…

To see a stream’s smallest inhabitants, lie on a flat rock and duck your head underwater. A mask and snorkel help. You’ll be assailed by the effervescence of rushing water, the sibilance…

Some of the best views in Vermont and New Hampshire are found at the top of fire towers. But with most of the states’ towers long since taken down, and with those few still remaining now used…

Vermont and New Hampshire are great places to live, if for no other reason than the wildlife. At any given moment, you might glance out the window upon a profusion of lively flowers jostled by…

Years ago, I learned that the large, bulbous, metallic-blue beetles that are often found on the lawn are called blister beetles. When molested, they exude a clear, orange liquid from their joints that…

Our farmhouse looked a lot like other northern New England farmhouses when we first moved in: short on landscaping but long on charm. Green grass grew right up to the old stone foundation. There was…

Lighthouse-keepers were the first to notice. Even in the days before electric lights, lighthouse-keepers who tended flaming lamps atop tall towers noticed that, on some nights, birds would endlessly…

A chipmunk’s is the only life I have ever saved using CPR. The animal had become tangled in some netting around a garden at a summer camp where I was working, twisted the mesh into a noose, and…

Usnea, pronounced ooze-nee-ah and better known as old man’s beard, is the long, lacy, greenish lichen that grows from tree trunks and branches in forests across New Hampshire and Vermont. …

You’ve no doubt heard the sad tale of Vermont and New Hampshire agriculture by now. Farming washed over our states like a tidal wave in the late eighteenth century, covering more than three…

My friend Dan reached out with the long hardwood branch he had found, placing it in the midpoint of the stream we were attempting to cross. He passed the pole-like branch from hand to hand, feeling…

Back in April, I attended the annual winter meeting of the New England Society of American Foresters (NESAF) in Nashua, New Hampshire. This was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with old friends…