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Tamarack

Tamarack is a tree with a number of aliases – hackmatack, eastern larch, or if you’re from northern Maine and feeling contrary, juniper. Whatever you call it, this scraggly tree, easy to…

1,000 Words

“I was following a porcupine one fall day as it ambled up a slight wooded incline,” said naturalist, writer, and photographer Mary Holland. “At one point it took a misstep and came…

October 2016

Foliage and water were common October photo subjects. A bobcat passed by a game camera, milkweed seeds prepared to take to the air, and a rocking chair beckoned from the Society for the Protection of…

The Whitetail Rut

The most prominent event in the November woods is the whitetail rut, and in the spirit of the season, we’re thrilled to be able to share this fabulous video of a buck making a scrape. The…

Deer Hunting in the Adirondacks

I went deer hunting last week with my friend Bill at his camp in the Adirondacks. The trip over entailed a beautiful ride down Route 28, then a misty boat ride across a frosty lake. The camp sits on…

Cylindrical Stumper

What are we looking at here?

Wild Water

Water gets its poetic due, and with good reason. As composer Paul Winter wrote in Marjorie Ryerson’s book Water Music, water “represents an aspect of wild nature without which we would…

It’s a Shell Game for Turtles

Years ago, I stopped when I saw a turtle attempting to cross a high-traffic road. When I picked it up, I noticed its intricately sculpted shell. The top, or carapace, was covered with layers of bony…

Canada Geese – Migrant or Resident?

A large V of Canada geese flying noisily over my head – and traveling north, rather than south – got me wondering about the ins and outs of fall migration. Shouldn’t these big birds…

Fuzzy Puzzler

Spotted beside a pond. What’s on this sapling?

History Doing That Cyclical Thing Again

Here in Vermont there’s an interesting political race going on for governor, and it relates to our subject matter in that the contest might hinge, in some small but possibly significant way, on…

Lake Laboratory

Technology tracks the toll road salt, phosphorus, and invasive species are taking on Lake George Ancient legends say that when a mermaid dies, her soul rises from the depths to become foam, or…

Renew Your NWGTS Membership

It is time to renew your membership in the NWGTS Program! Please fill out the following form to continue receiving your classroom subscription.

Northern Woodlands For Education

Offering free high-quality place-based environmental education resources to educators and students. Northern Woodlands Goes to School (NWGTS): This program connects classroom teachers in the K-12…

Heirloom Apples

As Eve so famously discovered, apples are alluring. These brightly colored orbs tempt us with crisp flesh and juicy sweetness. It’s no wonder that apples have spread throughout the temperate…

September 2016

Your September photos revealed high-elevation leaf color and the woods in transition. Rattlesnake plantain, an evergreen orchid, gleamed against brown leaves, while an actual snake basked. One…

Birds in Focus: Canada Geese

The Canada geese now honking overhead in V-formation, perhaps more than any other birds, exemplify the fall migration. Except when they’re not really migrating, and except when they’re not…

Raccoons Prepare for Winter

Almost every time I checked the game camera last summer – whether it was stationed near the compost, pointed into the field, or hidden at the edge of the woods – I found photos of one of…

Ghost Buck: The Legacy of One Man’s Family and Its Hunting Traditions

Dean Bennett begins this memoir by reminding his readers that, in days gone by, the most important enterprise in the small Maine town of Locke’s Mills used to close down on the first day of deer…

Cutting-edge Timber Technology

A new breed of building appeared on the UMass campus in Amherst this past winter. In a landscape full of concrete, brick, and stone rose a four-story wooden frame, fitted together like a piece of Ikea…