Winter drapes the hills around the cabin in white, softening the world and quieting its noise. The stillness of the season settles around us, inviting us to live each day with intention, guided by…

In the last installment, we investigated a nonrunning chainsaw with low compression. The compression was so low that the chainsaw failed the “hang test” (holding the saw by the recoil…

for Rick (1956–2022) The pine log screams as he pushes it through the saw. A portable mill because he likes to work outdoors, leaning in to northern summer sun, or weighed down with wool and…

“Plunge boldly into the thick of life, and seize it where you will…” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer and polymath, 1749–1832 Ice Cut (Violet Kennebec) is part of a…

Dozens of people contribute to creating each issue of Northern Woodlands. Here are a few of the people whose work is featured in the Winter magazine. {image2} Adelaide Murphy Tyrol (Art Review, page…

Over the past decade, a new generation of forest “bioproducts” has emerged from university research labs in Maine, combining the natural benefits of wood with a dose of high-tech…

Old-growth forests are ecosystems distinguished by old trees and shaped by long periods of natural processes. They differ in important ways from younger forests, offering unique structures, habitats,…

If winter travels take you along the banks of a clean, rocky stream on a warm afternoon, chances are good you’ll encounter stoneflies (order Plecoptera) seeking out others of their kind by…

Having honed his photography skills by focusing on warm weather findings, Brent Haglund found himself, a few winters back, searching for something to aim his camera toward during the colder months. He…

In a world where children are spending more time on screens, Forest Magic offers inspiration for young people to venture outdoors. Susie Spikol is a parent, educator, and author who feels strongly…

Robin Wall Kimmerer’s The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World offers an appeal to readers to acknowledge the gifts they receive freely through nature and their…

Climate change and loss of biodiversity are not far-off crises. They are happening in our own backyards – quite literally – and there’s a lot we can do there to address these issues.…

Non-native invasive forest pests such as emerald ash borer and hemlock woolly adelgid get a lot of attention, and well deserved, for being major tree killers. There are, however, some native pests…

With trees covering 17.5 million acres (90 percent of the state’s landmass), Maine is the most forested state in the United States. Private landowners – corporations, institutional…

At the start of January, cold air slides along the Allegheny Front. Days are short, and the temperature hovers near zero in the valley, even colder on the mountain. Earlier this afternoon I called my…

In late autumn, cold air masses come barreling down from the Canadian Arctic like an atmospheric avalanche, bringing with them a visitor from the North: the rough-legged hawk (Buteo lagopus). Its…

On what he remembers as “a dismal late December day,” with temperatures hovering in the 30s, wildlife tracker and photographer Ben Wymer came across this scene in northeastern Minnesota:…

As much as I lament the exceedingly long nights of winter, I find myself enchanted each year by the sparkle that breaks through the dark of the season. I can, for instance, stargaze before dinner (and…

Following this autumn’s enriching Northeastern Old Growth Conference, a board member asked me how the Center for Northern Woodlands Education fits into the wide range of advocacy groups and…