Some of the best views in Vermont and New Hampshire are found at the top of fire towers. But with most of the states’ towers long since taken down, and with those few still remaining now used…

Vermont and New Hampshire are great places to live, if for no other reason than the wildlife. At any given moment, you might glance out the window upon a profusion of lively flowers jostled by…

Years ago, I learned that the large, bulbous, metallic-blue beetles that are often found on the lawn are called blister beetles. When molested, they exude a clear, orange liquid from their joints that…

Our farmhouse looked a lot like other northern New England farmhouses when we first moved in: short on landscaping but long on charm. Green grass grew right up to the old stone foundation. There was…

Lighthouse-keepers were the first to notice. Even in the days before electric lights, lighthouse-keepers who tended flaming lamps atop tall towers noticed that, on some nights, birds would endlessly…

A chipmunk’s is the only life I have ever saved using CPR. The animal had become tangled in some netting around a garden at a summer camp where I was working, twisted the mesh into a noose, and…

Usnea, pronounced ooze-nee-ah and better known as old man’s beard, is the long, lacy, greenish lichen that grows from tree trunks and branches in forests across New Hampshire and Vermont. …

You’ve no doubt heard the sad tale of Vermont and New Hampshire agriculture by now. Farming washed over our states like a tidal wave in the late eighteenth century, covering more than three…

My friend Dan reached out with the long hardwood branch he had found, placing it in the midpoint of the stream we were attempting to cross. He passed the pole-like branch from hand to hand, feeling…

Back in April, I attended the annual winter meeting of the New England Society of American Foresters (NESAF) in Nashua, New Hampshire. This was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with old friends…

As an ornithologist, many times I have witnessed an unusual bird behavior or been astonished by a bird’s beauty. And each time, I have muttered to myself, “if only I had a photograph of…

Anyone familiar with the 1956 Boughton Cobb fern book in the Peterson field guide series will feel at home reading this new edition. The overall arrangement – text on the left, illustration on…

This is a book that cannot easily be reduced to a brief review. It defies such review because it is itself a review of the writings, thinkers, and doers of the American environmental movement and…

Alternate-leaved dogwood can withstand considerable shade and is common in the forest understory, especially where soils remain moist. But in dim light, beneath a forest canopy, it rarely puts on the…

The prices reported here are those that log buyers—mostly sawmills and wholesalers—are paying for logs. Because these are prices paid for delivered wood, landowners need to adjust the…

One often-overlooked component of the chainsaw is the guide bar. If it is not properly maintained, it will decrease the saw’s efficiency and damage the chain. Most guide bar problems are caused…

When a non-native plant appears on the scene, resource managers sometimes suggest introducing one of the non-native plant’s non-native predators to control it. New research by John D. Parker of…

Nearly 10 years ago, an analysis by the Vermont Forest Bird Monitoring Program (FBMP) revealed that Canada warblers were declining significantly on study sites across the state. The warbler was also…

It may sound politically incorrect, but let’s face it: males and females are different. Some human animals strive to bridge those differences, but in most of the animal kingdom, differences…

In leafminers, the larval stage typically is spent in a leaf’s interior between the upper and lower epidermal layers, feeding on the spongy and palisade parenchyma cells. Though this environment…