Hikers in the mountains of the Northeast spend most of their time in the forest, emerging above the timberline for the occasional long view, then plunging back again into the greenery. The forest is…

My inbox has been full, of late, with press releases about the Sportsman’s Heritage Act, a hodge-podge of a bill that recently passed the House of Representatives. Some environmental groups…

Our popular What in the Woods is That? contest is a bit different this time around, with a video of editor Dave Mance III quizzing you on your firewood identification skills. Do you know what you’re…

If you’re one of the 10 to 20 percent of the population who’s afflicted with seasonal allergies, you know that spring is in the air – literally. While the itchy eyes and runny nose…

Songbirds pouring from the skies before dawn. Thousands of hawks gliding past a mountain summit. Rare oceanic birds blown in to shore. Birdwatching like this doesn’t necessarily begin when you…

The emerald green stems of newborn ostrich ferns (Matteuccia struthiopteris) poking out of the decaying leaves on the forest floor are one of the early signs of much-awaited spring in the Northeast.…

An encounter with fairy shrimp is one of the great joys of visiting a woodland vernal pool. These small, shrimp-like crustaceans are as ephemeral as some orchids – appearing in abundance one…

A Vermonter went out to collect eggs and was surprised to find a guest in the coop. Who is this intruder?

When we think of non-timber forest products, we tend to think of wild edibles like fiddleheads, or maybe balsam fir needles for the incense market. We certainly don’t think of a forest growing…

Rugged overthrust ridges, deep shady valleys, mysterious caves, lush forests, buried rivers, and barren wastelands. Weird, wonderful, and sometimes sinister creatures prowl the land, lie in wait for…

When Charles “Duke” Besozzi looks at a big tree, he sees bowsprits, masts, and decking in its contours. This is a change from what he used to see when he was a commercial logger for the…

Old-growth forests, sometimes simply called “old growth,” are just that: really old woods. Accordingly, they are marked by the presence of exceptionally old, typically large-diameter…

In case you missed it, there’s a natural gas explosion going on around us, not of the smoke and flames variety but rather of exploration and discovery. Enough natural gas has recently been…

The Northeast’s recent blast of summer-like weather set in motion some early spring buds and blossoms. To what plant do these speckled leaves belong?

So, sugaring season ended very abruptly and I'm letting myself off the hook for petering out on my maple blog by concentrating on the reflective nature of that act. Sugaring ended. I stopped…

In the late 1920s, Franklin and Leslie had a lean-to camp in the Toma country, smack in the middle of nowhere at all, back then. Timber got moved on water in those long decades before the lumber…

Whether we see them slinking silently through the shadows of a quiet forest, darting across the road, or standing alone in a yellowed field, the sight of a whitetail buck touches some ancient and…

The onset of spring brings many changes to our part of the world. The longer days and higher temperatures entice plants to emerge and trees to bud. On our lakes, the ice begins to melt. We anticipate…

There have been several interesting cases involving media ethics in the news cycle of late. In January, theater artist Mike Daisey’s one-man show highlighting unsavory aspects of Apple’s…

These three trucks, featured in Northern Woodlands’ new book, More Than a Woodlot, are all filled up and ready to go. Top to bottom, which is the load of pulp? Which is the load of sawlogs?…