If there is an amphibian that is a master of disguise, it has to be the gray treefrog (Hyla versicolor). The adults of this species are capable of changing color (gray, green, or brown) to match their…

This article is the second in a four-part series that focuses on climate change impacts and adaptation in forests. A companion series published last year focused on forest carbon. Alexandra Kosiba, a…

A couple of years ago, I joined colleagues from University of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management for a day of fieldwork studying brook trout (Salvelinus…

The Summer 2024 issue of Northern Woodlands includes an article by Michael Freeman, describing efforts to reduce the impacts of invasive phragmites (also called common reed), an especially aggressive…

In 2010, my dog treed a young fisher in the woods bordering my neighbor’s Christmas tree farm. I was surprised to spot the animal in this portion of southeastern New Hampshire, within 5 miles of…

Here’s a botanical riddle: What has fruits that look like a juneberry, flowers that look like a blackberry, leaves that look like an apple, and a name that sounds like a cherry? Answer: The…

Richard Silliboy, vice chief of the Mi’kmaq Nation, uses splints of brown ash (also known as black ash) to weave a basket in his studio near Houlton, Maine. Silliboy participates in the Ash…

It is not uncommon to find an apple tree deep in the woods, a reminder that the forest-dominated landscape we know today is relatively recent. In the 1800s, farmers cleared much of the region for…

When the last ice sheet began melting some 20,000 years ago, the climate changed dramatically, and trees responded. As temperature and humidity shifted, tree populations expanded and contracted as…

Angelena Ross has been studying spruce grouse for more than 20 years, first as a graduate student at State University of New York at Potsdam and now for the New York State Department of Conservation.…

In 2004, foresters Laura French and Jeremy Turner connected at a Forest Stewards Guild meeting in Orono, Maine. Turner asked French if she’d like to join him on a hike in the woods. “And…

We know that emerald ash borer is going to kill most of the ash trees in our forest, but is there value in chemically treating a few trees – and, if so, which ones? What about the limited flight…

“Turtles are the most imperiled major group of animals on earth,” writes Sy Montgomery in her most recent book. “Like other wild animals, turtle populations shrink when houses,…

In his stunning novel North Woods, Daniel Mason offers a rich, satisfying tale from the northern forest. The protagonist is a house, and its story extends from the seventeenth century to the future.…

Recently, I taught a chainsaw safety course in which a student asked, “Where does all the bar oil go?” It occurred to me that this is a topic that gets relatively little attention, both in…

In Educating Children Outdoors, Amy Butler presents her concentrated nature education knowledge from 13 years of outdoor place-based teaching in Vermont. Masquerading as compelling nature writing,…

I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for. – Georgia O’Keeffe Kathleen Robbins’ home is near the…

Colorful splotches of paint cover the floor of artist Adelaide Murphy Tyrol’s studio in Marshfield, Vermont. Paint-splattered buckets are stacked beneath a large sink. Brushes of various sizes…

For now, this girdled hourglass preserves Tree’s vertical: a monument to gnawing doubts, camel straws, tipping points and indecision by a certain whittling Beaver. After all, beneath Russian…

As we celebrate 30 years of publication of Northern Woodlands, we also celebrate, with thanks, Elise Tillinghast’s leadership of the Center for Northern Woodlands Education for the past 12…