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April 2019

Your April photos included strutting tom turkeys, melting ice and Cruiser the puppy’s first day in the woods. Speaking of firsts: in Pennsylvania, a man braved Lycoming Creek on the first day of…

Fish Scales and the American Shad

It’s tempting to simply view fish scales as armor, but there’s more to them than that. They provide camouflage; they also play a role in locomotion. For scientists working on the recovery…

Outdoor Palette: Joseph Salerno

“…Art is born out of life, and life is a mystery, an ongoing transformation.” - Antonio Lopez Garcia Joseph Salerno records the passage of time with a palpable devotion. This series…

Tricks of the Trade: Greenwood Carving - The Five-Step Wooden Spoon

Before free time was subjugated to the mighty X-Box and “reality” TV, entertainment often took the form of functional crafting. Those looking for a break from digital overload – or…

Reading the Rings

An investigation of 23,000 tree cores collected in the 1980s from forests throughout the Northeast has found that trees in the region show a strong ability to adapt to local climates. By examining…

Moose Mortality

The later start to winter in many recent years has provided winter ticks in northern New England with an extended period of time to find a host animal to feed on, and that appears to be the main…

Community Survey

Back at the end of May, we asked members of the Northern Woodlands community for some feedback on our magazine and online offerings. The response was fantastic, exceeding our expectations and then…

Tick-borne Diseases on the Rise

Eighteen years ago, when I moved back to New Hampshire, I rarely came across ticks. The dog didn’t carry them unwittingly into the house, and I could spend the day in the garden or on wooded…

Fox Family Life

A fox went out on a chilly night, and five kits followed her, tumbling out from their burrow and scampering up a wooded hill. She stood on full alert as she nursed them, and shook them off before they…

Tree Flower ID

Three tree flowers, all collected April 25 from one field in central Vermont. What are they?

Native Species

When I venture into the woods – chainsaw on shoulders or skis strapped to boots – I assume that once I enter the natural world, my scattered brain will empty. I expect that worries about…

The Overstory: A Novel

Richard Power’s new novel, The Overstory, a work of fiction that prominently features trees, was released last year to a great deal of fanfare and critical acclaim. It not only made the cover of…

American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West

Wolves, like gun control and the border wall, polarize political opinion, which is why Nate Blakeslee wrote American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West. I own eight other wolf…

Caddisflies: Underwater Architects

If you live near water, then beginning in late spring, you likely will have some fascinating insects flocking to your porch. Caddisflies might pass for gray, brown, or black moths, but they are worth…

1,000 Words

So much for precise bluebird nest box dimensions. Tom Wetmore and Heidi Marcotte of Hartland, Vermont, found a brilliant use for a maple syrup jug that accidentally came too close to their evaporator…

Visiting a Floodplain Forest

Visiting a forest along one of our major rivers, such as the Connecticut River, in late spring, is like entering a special world. Big silver maples tower overhead, with arching branches and roots…

Exploring Alaska’s Chugach National Forest

We flew into Anchorage on a late-July evening. Our first stop the next morning was at an enormous Cabela’s store to buy red-pepper spray to repel any charging bears we might encounter. There, we…

Tracking Tips: Grazing Bears

By the end of April, black bears have shrugged off winter’s dormancy and are getting hungry. They may get lucky and discover a winter-killed deer and get to indulge in its valuable protein. More…

A Tale of Two Seasons

The 2019 maple sugaring season has, for most, just ended in southern Vermont and New Hampshire. And so sugarmakers are tallying up their sap and syrup volumes to see how they made out. My sense, as a…

Oddball Oak in NY

This Bonsai-like oak forest was seen in east-central New York. What caused the seedlings to grow like this?