For 12 years, my family has spent a week on the same property in Downeast Maine. In mid-June, with summer draped lazily before us, we travel east along Route 1 and bear right after Bucksport.…
Magazine Series
The Crack in the Limb
Outside my window sits a grand old maple that I have grown to favor, not because it’s mine, but rather, I belong to it—despite our separate homes in nature. I see how it bears the…
1,000 Words
“I have spent many seasons observing several great blue heron nests at this beaver pond in Amherst, New Hampshire. I look forward to these prehistoric-looking birds’ return yearly…
Mountain Birdwatch: Tracking the Northeast’s Montane Species
In late June, the route to the 3,839-foot summit of Plateau Mountain remained closed following a late spring storm that dumped heavy snow and ice, leaving a trail of downed trees that…
Conservation Easements: Connecting Land, People, and Ideas Through Time
A topiary garden. A dairy farm. A meandering river flanked by floodplain wetlands. Hundreds of thousands of acres of managed forest stitching together Maine’s North Woods. An iconic…
Largemouth in Coal Country
By mid-June, green covers the mountainside, paints it a thousand verdant shades, leaf upon leaf upon leaf. Mountain laurel blossoms. Blackcap raspberries ripen. Hidden in the dense woods, a…
Slow Wood: An Excerpt
For environmental historian Brian Donahue and his wife Faith Rand, building a home from wood harvested on their Massachusetts farm represented a small step in mending the broken relationship…
Addressing Deer Over-browsing
Deer browse is having a major impact on my forest’s ability to regenerate. Is there anything that I, as a forest landowner, can do about it? You are not alone! White-tailed deer…
Six-spotted Tiger Beetles: Springtime Sprinters
Many beetles are slow fliers and runners, but six-spotted tiger beetles (Cicindela sexguttata) are masters of speed. A metallic flash of green or sometimes blue may be your only glimpse of…
1,000 Words
“I watched this red-tailed hawk land in a giant oak with a freshly caught rabbit, and the next thing I knew a red-winged blackbird began mobbing it,” said Lee Toomey, who captured…








