Many years ago I developed the habit of locating a stout walking stick whenever bushwhacking through the woods.The stick’s primary purpose isn’t for balance or support, it’s for…

Here's a little woodland mystery for you. Reader Larry Mulligan has been investigating stone chambers in Putnam County, New York. This picture shows one of about 12 chambers on this particular…

Last night a friend from the next town over asked me whether I’d noticed an abundance of oak seedlings this fall. “Noticed?” Hell, I’ve been going nuts trying to figure out how…

Tom Mortimer of Amherst, N.H., an avid amateur mineral collector, has the most complete collection of New Hampshire minerals anywhere in the state. Most of the time his tabletop-sized display case of…

 Mark Wiener Spiral 45” x 36” acrylic and sumi ink on vellum, 2008 Mark Wiener keeps the door of his studio open seven hours a day, six days a week. Working in the Chelsea…

Logging culture is part of the fabric of rural communities in the Northeast. One might go so far as to say that the logger is a pillar of rural life, in the sense that his trade – like the…

These are difficult times for families and businesses in our region: for loggers and mill workers, for land trusts and small business owners, for educators and small not-for-profit publishers in…

Picture a grassy clearing in the woods, a fox pouncing on a meadow vole, a nest of baby sparrows. Picture a view of distant ridges or a nearby stream. Picture a few kids – maybe your kids or…

As a teenager, Deborah Perkins found hunting repulsive. During her years at Greely High School in Cumberland, Maine, she wrote a passionate essay arguing that the pursuit was morally wrong. Two…

My good friend, ecologist Jeff Parsons, broke trail through 16 inches of fine, fresh snow. The weather was clear, the temperature hovered in the single digits, and the January sun cast long, austere…

As the vibrant colors of fall give way to the more subtle hues of winter, tree bark becomes a focal point in the forested landscape. The splendid contrasts of bark are highlighted by the low-riding…

With deer season in full swing, here’s something to ponder: will Vermont’s antler-restriction law (the ban on shooting spikehorns), which was designed to promote larger bucks with bigger…

With late November’s trees free of leaves, things once hidden have been revealed. Laury Saligman shared this photo of clumps of leaves and twigs in a cluster of trees. What are they?

We opened camp this year on Friday in the midst of a snow squall, though it took less than 24 hours for the weather to devolve into what has passed, in recent years, as the same ol’, same…

While it is well known that wind causes trees to sway, University of Connecticut researcher Mark Rudnicki says that the movement of trees also affects the wind. “Wind gusts have a structure that…

As any biologist will tell you, different species of animal can’t breed with one another. Well, they can, but nature has a way of jumping in and nipping such cross pollination in the bud. For…

Nope, this is not another early snowfall. But what is this fluffy, white stuff on the ground?

When we think about human overpopulation – the ticker hit 7,000,000,000 this past week – we might think globally first: to ship breakers in Bangladesh, or the slums outside Sao Paulo.…

Global travel raises concerns among public health officials that a disease outbreak in one part of the world will quickly and easily spread elsewhere. The same is commonly believed to be true with…

The chemical compounds in lichens have long been known to have antibiotic and antiviral properties. Pharmaceutical companies have been studying these properties for years. But recently, scientists…