Out-of-control fungi that kill entire populations across a wide geographic area are usually viewed with utter horror: late blight on our garden tomatoes and potatoes and the white-nose syndrome that…

For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed feeding birds around my home. Hours have been spent with Peterson and Sibley close at hand and DeGraaf and Yamasaki’s New England Wildlife not far…

I grew up in a rural Vermont town, the son of a forester and a public school teacher. The Vermont part’s not important, but the rural part is. Stories around the Thanksgiving dinner table, then…

When I took on the responsibilities as executive director and publisher of The Center for Northern Woodlands Education (our formal moniker), the tangible parts of the organization were laid out on the…

The United Nations has coined 2010 to be The International Year of Biodiversity, so it’s only fitting that insects play a starring role in the pages of our summer issue. Insects, after all, are…

Our friend Bryan Pfeiffer shared this wonderful picture with us. What kind of bug is it? (Hint: you really have seen it before, especially at this time of year.)

As I’m writing this, a bill that would ban felt-soled waders is sitting on Vermont Governor Jim Douglas’s desk. If he signs it – and there’s no indication that he won’t…

Our abnormally early spring caught many by surprise. Take, for instance, Gary Pelton, who manages natural resources for the Army Corps of Engineers at flood control dams on the upper Connecticut…

Early May is a gut-wrenching time for those of us who love ash. The trees take their time leafing out, appearing stone-cold dead for weeks after the maples have flowered and put on their fine show.…

Have things seemed early to you this year? Early buds? Early peepers? Early trips to the drugstore to buy Claritin? Turns out your hunch is accurate, at least about the buds and the Claritin. Tom…

Many mammals, including opossums, red foxes, woodchucks, raccoons, skunks, and cottontail rabbits, use holes for den sites, sometimes simultaneously. This particular hole is only being used by one…

Spring wildflowers live hurried lives. They push out of the ground as soon as it begins to thaw, or soon afterwards, and then some of them disappear for the year – shrinking back into their…

With April turning to May, Vermont and New Hampshire turtles are getting ready for the summer ahead as they begin to appear at the surface of ponds. After spending the long winter hibernating in…

We’re going to purposely ignore the fact that there’s fresh snow on the ground at the moment and offer up a more hopeful look at the forest floor. What kind of flower is this?

It’s not often that we’re presented with an editorial angle that lets us segue into the world of sports, but the rising furor over maple bats in baseball presents just such an opportunity.…

Charles Darwin was fascinated by earthworms. In the 19th century most people thought worms were pests. But Darwin believed they provided an important yet unrecognized agricultural service: they slowly…

For vegetable lovers in New Hampshire and Vermont, there’s a nightmare scenario making the rounds right now. It goes something like this. Last spring, somewhere in the twin states, someone…

I’ve put in my time in the invasives war: digging wild chervil, clipping buckthorn, hacking at Japanese knotweed. I’ve been reasonably relentless, and many times have pointed out these bad…

As our resident tracking expert Sue Morse is fond of pointing out, feet make tracks! What kind of paw are we looking at here?

Spring having arrived, people can expect to be jolted from their early morning sleep by an outrageous burst of hammering on the side of the house. Their rude awakening is not the work of some…