The Northeast is famous for its fall foliage, as the lush, green leaves of summer transform into bright hues, turning hillsides and valleys into quilts of scarlet, ochre, and gold. Among the brightest…
Autumn Open House & Garden Party
When: September 19th 2024 4:30 - 6:30 PM
Where: at Northern Woodlands Office
16 On The Common, Lyme, NH, 03768
We have so much to celebrate this autumn at Northern Woodlands. We invite you to join us on Thursday, September 19, from 4:30 – 6:30 PM for an informal gathering to welcome the community to our…
September: Week Three
This week in the woods, we’ve been noticing the abundance of brightly colored berries and other fruit. The Northern Woodlands biweekly What in the Woods is That? quiz features six types of fruit…
Late Blooming Flowers Feed Native Bees
As the height-of-summer floral abundance fades, goldenrods and asters fill the landscape with hits of yellow, purple, pink, and white. Beyond the beauty they provide, these late bloomers are a…
On the Hunt with Rodney Elmer
Rodney Elmer has been chasing game through the forests of Vermont – and beyond – since he was a kid. He’s turned his passion for the woods and hunting into his life’s work…
Runaway Woodchips and Resilience
Our native plant pollinator garden continues to bring many challenges and rewards. After some woodchips washed away during heavy rains, we’ve been very much focused on drainage. In addition to…
Look Berry Carefully
This time of year, many native shrubs and trees produce fruits that attract wildlife and thereby help the plants to spread their seeds. Here are five native species and one non-native invasive…
Black Willow Provides Many Ecological Benefits
I often spot black willow trees as I’m kayaking along a riverbank or lakeshore. While perhaps less picturesque than its (non-native) cousin the weeping willow, black willow is native to the…
September: Week Two
This week in the woods, adult loons have begun their pre-migration partial molt. If you look closely at this adult bird, photographed from a respectful zoom lens distance in Strafford, Vermont,…
New England American-Asters: The Stars of Late Summer
Before the trees put on their colorful autumnal cloaks, the newly rewilded fields at my home turn to gold and purple. New England American-aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) begins blooming in…
September: Week one
This week in the woods, we’ve noticed a lot of aerial feeding activity above fields and wetlands along the Connecticut and Ompompanoosuc rivers, all sites within about 20 miles of the Northern…
How Toxic Are Mushrooms in Connecticut River Valley Forests?
Mushrooms take up nutrients and minerals from whatever they are growing on, for example, wood they’re decomposing or, in the case of mycorrhizal fungi, forest soils and tree roots. They can also…
Have Shifting Seasons Impacted Outdoor Recreation in New Hampshire?
More people are taking an interest in outdoor recreation in New Hampshire at the same time as seasons are shifting, winters are warming, and storms are strengthening. To what extent are these…
What Happens to Forest Carbon in the Sea?
Most of the stories about carbon in the Northern Forest focus on sequestration and storage: all that carbon taken in and held by the region’s trees, plants, animals, fungi, and soils. But…
Tips & Tricks for Splitting Gnarly Firewood
Tucked behind all too many woodsheds are unsplit rounds that stand as evidence of defeat. Many of these blocks have been tossed in frustration after dozens of hits, each one eliciting increased…
Softening Edges
I’ve heard foresters and wildlife biologists talking about “softening edges.” What is an edge, and what does it mean to “soften” one? Why is it important? And how do we…
Deer Drag
Dad and I drag the white-tailed doe to the abandoned logging road as the moon crests the mountain. By the light of our headlamps, we use our knives to carve and empty the deer, our breath freezing,…
Behind the Pages
Approximately 50 people contribute to the words and images in each issue of the magazine. Here are some of our Autumn 2024 contributors. {image2} Noah Davis (“Deer Drag,” page 10) grew up…
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us
In An Immense World, Pulitzer Prize–winning science journalist Ed Yong reveals entirely new ways to think about the world around us. Reading this mind-blowing account of animal evolution and…
A Year of Birds: Writings on Birds from the Journal of Henry David Thoreau
Walden is Thoreau’s most famous book, but for some readers, the journal he kept for his entire adult life is the favorite. Editor Geoff Wisner has selected text from the journal for a delightful…