Dead wood, also called woody debris, woody material, or even necromass, is a normal and natural part of forests. Dead wood takes a number of forms, from dead-standing trees (snags) to twigs and small…

If you look beneath the damp undersides of cardboard and other packing materials, you’re likely to find tiny creatures that typically hide under fallen leaves and rotting wood, where…

Eight men living with cancer were lined up in the waters of Grand Lake Stream alongside their fishing guides. The swirling, restorative currents of the stream braided together the lives of these men,…

The yellow lampmussel (Lampsilis cariosa) is a freshwater mussel native to medium and large rivers and lakes throughout New England, including the Connecticut River and Housatonic River watersheds.…

Feathers are the single, universal feature that distinguishes birds from all other creatures in the animal kingdom. These wondrous structures, among nature’s strongest and most durable on a…

When I was young, my grandfather’s driveway was overshadowed by a massive butternut tree (Juglans cinerea) that grew in his neighbor’s yard. Grandpa complained loudly about the mess of…

Jeffrey Peacock learned to fish alongside his artist father, James, on the rivers and lakes of Maine, most memorably on the Kennebec in Georgetown. Following his father’s artistic inclinations,…

A few Northern Woodlands readers have confessed privately that what started as the innocent acquisition of an old axe has evolved into a full-blown obsession. Like any obsession, management is…

Driving through a broad valley in western Idaho eight years ago, my daughter turned toward me and said, her voice deepened with emotion, “I love this valley. It’s so beautiful.” We…

After the Great New England Hurricane of 1938 devastated forests throughout the region, fallen logs were salvaged and sometimes stored in ponds and other wetlands, where immersion in water has…

I recently took a drive along Vermont’s Otter Creek in order to see part of the land-scape explored by photographer Caleb Kenna for his feature in this issue. I didn’t have a particular…

The Charlestown Navy Yard has been a fixture of the Boston Harbor shoreline for more than 200 years. Until its closure in 1974, the Navy Yard was a city-within-a-city, with facilities constantly…

Last September, while kayaking up the Connecticut River, I passed a monarch butterfly heading in the opposite direction. I turned my boat and watched it go, a flickering spot of blaze orange, likely…

Carpenter and writer Adam Miller recently completed the timber framing portion of a barn that is undergoing renovation in Lyme, New Hampshire. The project is part of a small senior housing development…

Native butternut, Juglans cinerea, is steadily disappearing from the woods of North America due to butternut canker, a non-native fungus (Ophiognomonia clavigignenti-juglandacearum) that was…

To say that lightning “splits” the sky is no mere poetry. A single stroke contains about one billion joules of energy, roughly 280 kilowatt-hours of electricity, and could power a modern…

The invitation was irresistible. I was chatting with Dave Small, president of the Athol Bird & Nature Club, who’d just given a winter lecture on moths. The images he’d shared were…

Ernie Brooks got his men out and rolling well before dawn at his Mud Lake lumber camp deep in the Adirondacks. A longtime lumberman from Speculator in Hamilton County, Brooks logged near hermit French…

Poecile atricapillus Winking The wanderer Wonders over my work As I split oak and he in song Marks time. Strix varia Child who Innocence calls Sagelike to the moonlight, Night’s huntsmen fill…

This issue features Lake Champlain Watershed, Framing with Ancient Timbers, Solace Through Fly Fishing, and much more! Order a copy of this issue or visit Subscription Services to subscribe to our…