Mr. Trefry was my seventh grade industrial arts teacher and an avid fisherman. He showed me how to cast lead jigs, which I used over the years to catch a pile of perch. Trefry was paranoid about lead;…
August 2015
A common theme of your August photos was young birds, from a fierce looking rose-breasted grosbeak to four phoebe siblings sitting snug on a perch. Also in this gallery, a funky looking deer, an…
Game Cameras for Northern Woodlands
Welcome to the new Northern Woodlands Game Camera blog! We were inspired by all the great game camera pictures readers have sent us over the years, so we got two game cameras of our own and set them…
Web Exclusives
From nature notes to firewood stacking tips, there's always more to learn about the woods. Check out our exclusive on-line content and sign up for our mailing list to join our network of people…
Technology Tells the Tale
For decades it was hypothesized that blackpoll warblers, tiny black-and-white songbirds that breed in boreal forests and winter in South America, migrate south entirely offshore in a nonstop flight.…
The Diminishing Woodpile
Fall should be a placid time. From my porch I can see ample firewood for this year and next, but it must be natural when you reach a certain age, with most of the adult responsibilities behind you, to…
Chemicals That Bees Need
We hear a great deal in the news about the decline of managed honeybee colonies, but little has been reported about the crisis facing native bumblebees. According to Leif Richardson, a University of…
Extra Genes = Killer Fungus
A scientific investigation into the genetics of 20 fungi that infect trees has turned up an unusual explanation for why one particular fungus is killing plantation-grown poplars. According to Richard…
Apples of Uncommon Character: 123 Heirlooms, Modern Classics, and Little-Known Wonders
Apples are so common that it is easy to mistake them for commonplace. In Apples of Uncommon Character: 123 Heirlooms, Modern Classics, and Little-Known Wonders, Rowan Jacobsen entertainingly proves…
Mushroom Guides for Field and Forest
North American fields and forests harbor mycological treasures, but the good edibles constitute a tiny fraction of the myriad mushroom species. A good field guide is a reliable roadmap to the wild…
Lost in the Woods:A Photographic Fantasy
Lost in the Woods: A Photographic Fantasy is an award-winning children’s picture book that is sure to delight young and old. The photographs will enthrall young children, while adults hoping to…
Bear-ly There
Bear-ly There is a Moonbeam Award-winning book by Maine children’s author and illustrator Rebekah Raye. In this book, Raye deftly blends rich, informative text on black bears with vibrant,…
Outdoor Palette
For 16 years, Adelaide Tyrol has been writing this Outdoor Palette column. Since she’s an accomplished artist in her own right, we thought we’d turn the tables this time and put the…
Snakes and Toads Provide Garden Pest Control
Encountering a snake in the garden causes many people to shriek or even panic. Yet snakes and another often unloved creature, the American toad, are among the most effective forms of pest control. If…
Field Work: At Work Developing Carbon Offsets with Finite Carbon
Carbon has gotten a bum rap lately. Once called the fundamental building block of life, it’s now better known as the thing that’s going to destroy the planet. As if this weren’t…
From the Center
Last autumn, at our first writers conference, we set up a table featuring 10 different brands of maple syrup from around New England, New York, and Quebec and encouraged people to pick their…
Issue 86: Autumn 2015 $6.00
The Blister Rust Battle Resumes, A Cornucopia of Cones, New Fiction by Howard Frank Mosher, Vaccine Ravioli, Ukrainian Forests, Cashing in on Carbon, and much more
Cattails: Nature’s Supermarket
This past winter I spent three months exploring East Africa, traveling through ten different countries and covering over 8,077 miles. I was continuously impressed with how much local guides knew about…
Deerland: America’s Hunt for Ecological Balance and the Essence of Wildness
Back when I was a boy, despite the fact that my father wasn’t a deer hunter, I’d always know when it was deer season. Even though we lived in a town where the largest industry was…