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Winter Wonder

Atop Cannon Mountain (elev. 4,081 feet) in Franconia, New Hampshire, we spotted feathery white formations growing sideways from trees and the railings of an observation tower at the summit. What is…

Into the Woods – by Snowshoe and Canoe – with Bill Novacek

Bill Novacek’s first job out of high school was at a sawmill in the Berkshires. In 1981, he moved north to Coos County in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, where his connection to wood…

There’s More to Fur Than Meets the Eye

A flash of orange streaks across the meadow – a red fox, like a starburst in the snow. Its fur shimmers in the early morning light, and I, bundled in my winter layers and still shivering cold,…

Green Long-jawed Spiders

Winter rambles often take me to East Woods in South Burlington, Vermont. While birders gaze skyward, I find myself drawn to movement on the ground. Snow cover reduces invertebrate numbers, and those…

December 2022

Your December photos included ice bells, fast-flowing meltwater, blaze orange fungi, and winter tree work by beavers and pileated woodpeckers. In Bristol, New Hampshire, Herb D’Arcy discovered a…

A Robin’s Winter Habits

One January day, my husband and I set off on a walk around our neighborhood. The temperature was a bone-chilling negative 19 degrees, and although we worked to get our blood pumping, our fingers and…

J Cantrell

Director of Finance and Operations

J Cantrell is the Director of Finance and Operations for Northern Woodlands.  He has six years of nonprofit experience. You will most likely find him running and biking in the forest.  He…

January Jack-o-lanterns?

We found what looked like tiny pumpkins balanced on 6-inch stems rising from the forest floor. What are these?

Building Community Through Conservation with Jen Plowden

Jen Plowden grew up in the open spaces of western Maine, along its border with New Hampshire. She helped her father log with horses, explored the fields and forests with her siblings, and participated…

Carolina Wrens Move North

I saw a new bird at my feeder last winter. In mid-December, a small, reddish-brown bird with an upturned tail, a white eyebrow-stripe, and a long, slender, downcurved bill was on the deck below our…

Creating a Climate-Resilient Forest at Tug Hill

Just east of Lake Ontario and west of the Adirondacks lies the Tug Hill Plateau, a chunk of sedimentary rock that rises from an elevation of 250 feet at its base near the lake to 2,100 feet on its…

Mount Washington Observatory: Measuring the “World’s Worst Weather”

Rising to an elevation of 6,288 feet, Mount Washington caps New Hampshire’s Presidential Range and is the highest peak in the Northeast. On a clear summer day, hordes of visitors flock to the…

Waxwings: Itinerant, Unpredictable Winter Jewels

Jays, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, juncos, cardinals – these are the staple birds of winter, familiar to nearly all feeder watchers in the Northeast. In some years, nomadic finches such as…

Black Bears Giving Birth

Sometime between the last half of January and the first part of February, black bears give birth to between one and five (usually two) tiny, blind, almost hairless cubs. Measuring about 9 inches long…

Working Lands Aid At-Risk Species

How Private Lands Can Provide Critical Wildlife Habitats

Back in the 1980s, I began a long-term project with New England cottontails to explore the causes of their regional decline and how that situation could be reversed. I found that cottontails were…

Sawmill Thrives in Challenging Times

In 1974, Cliff Allard opened Allard Lumber Company, a hardwood sawmill, on the site of his family’s former dairy farm in Brattleboro, Vermont. The outfit was a simple, four-man operation with a…

Looking Outward from Town Line Tree Farm

Tucked into the northeast corner of Connecticut, Steve and Karen Broderick’s 42-acre Town Line Tree Farm straddles the towns of Eastford and Woodstock. The Brodericks purchased this land in…

Winter Stargazing: There’s an App for That

If there’s a bright side to the lengthy darkness of winter, I’d say it’s the much-expanded opportunity for stargazing. Stars and distant planets glitter in the early morning sky and…

An Exotic Pest Story with a Happy Ending

Winter in the Northeast is a time of dormancy for most insects, but you may have noticed an increase of tan-colored moths fluttering around your porch light as the days grow shorter. These may be one…

Balsam Woolly Adelgid: A Foe to Firs

’Tis the season for balsam fir, the fragrant evergreen that adorns our homes through the winter holidays. Its scent and long lasting needle retention make this the most popular Christmas tree…