Cutting wood is inherently hazardous work. Even if you’re using state-of-the-art techniques and practices, stuff still happens, as the saying goes. A quick word on chainsaw injuries and why you…

Editor’s Note: these are challenging times in the timber industry. Most mills have cut back on production; some are simply not buying logs. Many loggers have had to reduce crew size or find…

Wangari Maathai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for teaching women in her native Kenya to plant trees. Of course, her work is much more complicated than that, but her call for democracy and…

Plant life is an essential foundation of wildlife habitat. Whether in a northern hardwood forest or an agricultural landscape, plants form the base of the food chain, the structure of the habitat, and…

"Plants are in the business of making themselves inedible,” says Tom Vogelmann, a plant biologist at the University of Vermont. Being unable to run and hide from predators, they’ve spent…

The Vermont State Fair is an extravaganza of carnival rides, livestock shows, demolition derbies, harness racing, live music, yummy junk food, art exhibits, vegetable and pie competitions, pulling…

The Northern Forest Canoe Trail is a roiling, serene, deep, shallow, narrow, and broad “trail” that follows a tortuous (some would say “torturous”) route across five…

In August 1, 1991, Hurricane Bob swept into southeastern New England with sustained winds of over 105 miles per hour. In its aftermath, we found that many large oaks in our family woodlot in Westport,…

The Algonquin called them “moos,” a word for “twig eaters.” In winter moose munch on the buds and new growth of aspen, willow and other trees; they may even use their lower…

There’s something about the beginning of things; Bohemian poets are always reveling here: new lovers, fresh starts, changed perspectives. For those of us with underdeveloped Bohemian…

Without legs, wings, eyes, tentacles, or antennae, an earthworm appears almost too simple a creature to do anything. Yet, just for starters, they have well-designed tools for motoring: tiny clusters…

As Charles W. Johnson began in our April 20, 2009

“Fee-beee.” The chickadees that wintered near our house have added this familiar spring tune to their repertoire.  The male birds are singing to proclaim territory and call amorously…

Chokolokaloka. There are so many bird sounds in a spring forest, it can be hard to pick out just one. Chokolokaloka. But he’s there – hear him? A male (“tom”) turkey. And…

Our first showy tree blossoms of spring are popping out all around us now. Alternatively known as shadbush or serviceberry, assorted varieties of Amelanchier are dressing up the edges of roads and…

An apple orchard in late May, just as the trees’ deep pink buds expand into pale pink blossoms, is one of the most beautiful places on earth. I won’t tell about the smells or the songs of…

The United States has been under assault for decades by a wide variety of alien plants and animals, and it is not often that one of these aliens faces a counterpunch. But in a collaborative project…

Many of us foresters have experienced the frustration of seeing our work come to naught because forestland we’ve been managing gets subdivided or because a new landowner was more interested in…

If you’re building a log cabin or some other sort of log structure, your instructions will likely tell you to peel the logs first. Peeling the bark off logs increases the longevity of the wood…

With the sun finally warming the land, the buds have awakened are doing their things again. Filled with promise, they burst forth, tender leaf tips lengthening and flowers unfolding. In my mind, few…