What caused the growths and dead needles on these branches?

Nate McKeen, forestry district manager at Vermont’s Department of Forest, Parks and Recreation (FPR), recently reached out to us with a request to share a job posting. We were happy to oblige,…

Your October photographs included late-season caterpillars, a gathering of moose, and quiet waterside scenes. Brook trout spawned, a great egret snacked, and a slug gave a mushroom a hug. We’re…

Woolly bear caterpillars seem to be everywhere these days – creeping across the lawn, along the road when I’m walking the dog, hidden in the wilted cut-back of the perennial garden. Last…

Last year, I showed up to work on October 31 in one of my old park ranger’s uniforms, torn to fake-bloody shreds in an imaginary bear attack. One year earlier, I drank smoothies for breakfast,…

What caused this branch to break from the canopy of the tree above?

Our annual Northern Woodlands Conference, held this past weekend, was a gathering of old friends and new, and an opportunity to meet with a fascinating mashup of great speakers. In lieu of the usual…

Tom Thomson shared these painterly images of hobblebush in fall color. He took these photos high on Mount Cube in Orford, New Hampshire, where he and his wife Sheila manage their land for both timber…

Years ago, when I was on the Yale campus for a half-year teaching gig, my colleague Yajie Song called and asked, “How’d you like to go to China?” My immediate response was,…

The group of fungi known as stinkhorns are aptly named, as their foul odor is easy to detect. All stinkhorns first appear as egg-shaped structures that can be up to two inches high. When the eggs…

Turning acorns, walnuts, wild rice, and other autumn staples into food requires time, tools, and expertise. For weekend foragers used to picking berries and greens, this labor can make autumn foraging…

On spring evenings, just before dark, I used to hear a faint drumroll coming from somewhere off in the wooded hills. It sounded to me like an old tractor starting up, although it seemed like an odd…

Where I live, autumn typically starts in late August, when pockets of red maples start to turn scarlet around the marshes and lakes. Uh oh. As they say in Westeros, “winter is coming.” But…

Is this a topping of black pepper on the hophornbeam (also known as hardhack) leaves, or something else? There’s a hint in the photo.

There’s a lot to see on the forest floor in October, if you can look away from this year’s brilliant canopy display. Noticed on a recent walk: wildly variegated patches of hobblebush,…

Why did the mushroom go to the party? Because he’s a fungi! “He” also appeared prominently in your September photographs, growing out of logs, leaf litter, and an unfortunate…

This week feels like fall proper. It’s gray, drizzly, 50s; the kind of weather that makes you realize you’d better batten down the house for winter. We’re going to get to the first…

The northern forest has about 195 grasses, of which 145 are native and 50 introduced. They are our second largest plant family, after the sedges. Our grassiest landscapes are farms and roadsides, with…

When gold was discovered in 1849 at Sutter’s Mill in California, the famous gold rush of 1849 ensued with profound consequences for the West and its native population. Sixteen years later, in…

While sampling in the LaPlatte River, students noticed what looked like rough black pebbles about the size and shape of well-worn pencil erasers. I suppressed my mild distress as they started to…