Magazine Series

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…