Readers of Northern Woodlands will be familiar with artist Adelaide Tyrol’s work: her paintings regularly illustrate our Under the Microscope and Species in the Spotlight columns; her work also…

As I was waiting at the shop the other day to pick up my chainsaw, I heard strong words up ahead in line: something about the government and the EPA and ethanol. When my turn came at the counter, the…

While those of us in the print world don’t readily admit it, there’s power in television images that just can’t be replicated in words and still photographs. In light of this, we…

In a state dense with timberland, Maine’s district foresters have a serious challenge providing landowners with timely information about good forestry practices and changes in state law. There…

Three hundred million years ago, dinosaurs roamed the land. The earth they inhabited was hot and humid and covered in vast, swampy forests that today would seem most bizarre. Some of the plants…

Naturalist Mary Holland shared this wonderful picture with us...yup, it's an animal den site. But what kind of animal?

The spin doctors on either side of the bioenergy divide have been hard at work spinning a recently released study on biomass sustainability into whatever the PR equivalent of gold is. A few weeks…

Two months ago a predictable eruption began on the lawn surrounding our house. Rough clumps of rich, dark subsoil appeared upon the still barren ground. “Those **@#$&%** moles again,”…

You can’t shake a stick in New England these days without hitting someone in the energy field who wants to talk biomass. But what exactly is biomass? And is it a green source of energy?…

Reader Susan Elliot took this picture at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center this past weekend while attending the 115th Annual Meeting of the Vermont Botanical and Bird Club. What is it?

Do you remember how wet it was last summer, and how we were all wondering about the affect of the rain on the forest? (If not, refresh your memory with this 2009 blog, where we ponder the unusually…

City dwellers and puddles don’t mix; we country folk are more tolerant. In wet weather we drive through one muddy morass after the next, uttering unprintable words, yet few of us would exchange…

Old-Fashioned Bee Lining Tending a Woodland Garden Income Sources from Your Forestland Which Caterpillar Becomes Which Butterfly? Climbing Bears, Chainsaw Gas Controversy, a $1,600 Maple Tree, and…

My son Seth and I have a tradition. Each summer, we choose a different mountain and a campground near it, pack our gear into my subcompact car, and set off on a father-son adventure. Two summers ago,…

These prices are for #1 hardwood logs, at least 8 feet long, with three clear faces and a minimum 12-inch top diameter. In the timber world, this is a log of average quality, not a prime sawlog and…

The primary goal of natural history illustration is scientific accuracy. Since the work is used to educate, it must portray a species with precision and a high level of detail. If it’s…

Mainers like to brag about our lakes and ponds and rivers and streams, and with good reason. We have lots of all of them, and I haven’t met any I didn’t like. Granted, some of our waters…

Did you know that a chunk of green firewood can be over 50 percent water? Of course you did. You’ve tried to burn that wood, and it was no more combustible than celery. So now you season your…

Black bears are built to climb. Their prodigious upper body strength, coupled with a unique skeletal adaptation, enables bears to scurry squirrel-like up tall trees in seconds. The ursid shoulder…

Across great distances they migrate, powered on a diet of arthropods and a blast of determination. When they stop to visit, they are among the most watchable of all wildlife, feeding and mating in…