We humans are pretty lucky when it comes to winter. When the temperature plunges to 20 below, we can venture bravely forth clad in our stylish new slim-puffy jackets and Ugg boots. But what about all…

How many times in your life have you seen a deer antler? Not hanging on someone’s wall, but out in the woods? If you answered “never,” you’re in good company. Few people have.…

As you stand poised at the edge of the winter woods, it may be hard to imagine that within that stark, white, silent landscape, the resident animals are going about their routine of finding food and…

At the beginning of each winter, I snowshoe past a few rock ledges near my house to see if there are any local porcupines in residence. Some winters there is a lot of activity, but during others, I…

At the age of nine, I bought a mail-order telescope. I practically lived at the post office until it arrived. I soon dropped a marble down the telescope’s barrel (don’t ask), and the…

We brought our just-cut Christmas white spruce inside from the cold, nearby forest. Within the hour, little creatures, abruptly warmed, skittered across the living-room floor as I scrambled in…

Canines, including wolves, foxes, coyotes, and – yes – Spot, have something special that enables them to live in the North: tough feet. If you marvel at Spot’s blissful, extended…

The coldest night of the year. It’s still too soon to know when it will occur this year, but whichever night it is, it’s almost certain to have three things going for it: it will be clear,…

Twenty-five years ago, Sam Doyle of Hanover, New Hampshire, had just met Erhard Frost, a consulting forester from across the river in Thetford, Vermont, who was just beginning his career. Doyle loved…

I know that bucks grunt because, a few Novembers ago, I heard one do it. The sound was both peculiar and somehow unmistakable, residing somewhere in the aural matrix bounded by a Buddhist monk’s…

Are you tempted by the advertisements that promote the availability of so-called “deer feed” at the store? Don’t be, wildlife biologists say: feeding wild white-tailed deer may harm…

The Center for Woodlands Education has received its first-ever gift of land. In August, the family of Edward and Lilian Oresky donated to the Center a 103-acre woodland in East Burke, Vermont. The…

At their best, ski glades are forests with exceptional skiing possibilities. At worst, they are ski trails with damaged and dead trees in the way. They are very different from conventional ski slopes.…

Both the Green Mountain National Forest and the White Mountain National Forest are currently updating their 15-year management plans. Wilderness advocates are pushing for more…

In October, I spent two days at the High Point Market in North Carolina. While we in the Northeast have a long history of making furniture, North Carolina is widely recognized as this country’s…

Owning and managing a piece of woodland is, among other things, an act of faith. Landowners sink their fortune in the notion that this place can provide sustenance, enjoyment, and a lasting legacy.…

This is a wonderful book about three rivers (the Shepaug, the Housatonic, and the Naugatuck), their valleys, and their people. Like a braided stream that occasionally divides into several interlacing…

The importance of forest cover along streams and rivers is not a new idea – we’ve likely all read that trees stabilize streambanks and prevent erosion, filter out runoff from agriculture…

Who knew that cowbirds could make good siblings? Well, decent ones, anyhow. Cowbird mothers are famous for laying their single eggs in the nests of other bird species, sometimes removing the…

Starting in the early 1970s, the design firm of Leathers and Associates in Ithaca, New York, has been hugely successful designing playgrounds for schools and parks that were built by the local…