Site Discussions

Being a woman in the National Park Service from the ‘70s until now I’ve also experienced the culture of white male dominance. It was good to read Starya Mobley experiences, I applaud her tenacity to stick with NSF and her efforts to open doors and mentor other diverse people to seek jobs in outdoor/nature based fields of work and education!

What a powerful essay. It struck a chord with me as I live in New York City, but have spent my summers in Vermont for most of my life. I have recurring dreams that I’m stuck in elevators that burst through skyscraper rooftops and hurl into space. I’ve also had dreams that I wake up and our Vermont meadow is covered with condos. It’s a always a relief to wake up and see that I’m still in bed and that the meadow is still a meadow!

This is not a reply, but a new question.  A friend in Cambridge MA saw a blue circle in the snow far into a woodsy area.  He searched about and found an article on Facebook that said this was rabbit pee, caused by the rabbits eating buckthorn.  Can that be true?  Here’s the article:
https://gardenbite.com/whats-that-blue-stuff-in-the-snow/
I’d attach my friend’s blue pee photo but can’t in this message. 
(I subscribe to your magazine and love it.  Subscription might be in my husband’s name, our address is Goshen, NH although we are in Plymouth for the winter.).

My family had a complete set of deer antlers which we proudly hung on our wall for years but they were sadly lost. My family said the antlers were found in the forest so maybe they were shed as you mentioned happens. Does anyone have any ideas of how I might obtain a set of deer antlers that I could display?

A few years ago, in early spring I was digging into an empty nursery bed when I was surprised to see a live bumble bee emerge.  Soon there were many - I would guess at least 25 - mostly crawling around on the surface.  Fortunately it was a warm day, and I very carefully recovered the bees, desperately hoping I wasn’t suffocating them.  Later in the spring I thoroughly dug up the same spot without finding a single bee, dead or alive, so I hope they all survived and emerged at the right time.  What a thrill!  I always thought they hibernated individually, not in such large groups.

This article on bees is so interesting! I didn’t know about the difference between the nonnative honeybee winter activity vs. how our native bees are so well adapted. I also enjoyed the comparison to the summer garden alive with buzzing as the author notes and brings to life, in contrast to the winter months.

Great article! Ms. Daniel’s VMN videos on YouTube are what inspired me to become a MA Audubon Certified Field Naturalist in Massachusetts.

Peter and all: in this lovely article, you are walking on a definitional boundary that may be trickier than you realize. ‘Herbs’ need to be herbaceous, meaning that a significant part of the above-ground architecture dies back in the winter. Mitella and Orthilla clearly meet that test; the stems senesce after flowering, through the leaves do not, and they are herbs. Scirpoides stems, both vegetative and fruiting, are perennial; it isn’t an herb. What it is then is a harder question. Books like categories; plants ignore them. It has no secondary growth, but does have stems reinforced by lignin and silica. And thus is not anatomically woody, but may be functionally woody. To me, behavior trumps anatomy; it grows like a dwarf shrub and has stems like a dwarf shrub, and so is a dwarf shrub. With best botanical wishes, Jerry J., 8 Feb 025.

I am lucky to have been a participant in the VMN program and to have had Alicia as a teacher. The ‘layercake’ approach provides such a rich lense to see interconnectedness in natural areas and a vocabulary to share it with others.

Allaire’s work really works. It is very inspiring to see the photos and read how these small dam prevented flooding. A lot of other good things happen when the flow of water is slowed down and it replenishes the ground water. I hope to install a beaver dam analogue in western New Hampshire this summer. Please spread the word, and the water.
John Lambert
Charlestown NH

I live in Westminster Vermont, and I have seen a Fisher several times here once having climbed some crabapple trees to get at the berries this was in December of 2024 and prior to that disappearing into a health side in my backyard which is a forest in 2023. I hate to think that these beautiful animals are under threat in this area. In any area. Very good article. If they’re not using tree Den boxes would they burrow into the side of a wooded hillside? It looks like that’s where this one and 2023 disappeared into.

Wonderful. Reading helps us find the value and depth we sense in the landscape.

Years ago when my husband came home from work we just had an afternoon shower and he saw a rainbow that appeared to end in our backyard. He walked towards it until he found himself standing inside of the rainbow. The light was bright all around him and the air felt misty..it was almost a religious experience for him. Unfortunately nobody believed him, including myself..I just wished I was there to experience this with him!

Be friending nature, friending wildlife, like friending people requires us to open up who and what we are while inquiring, observing, learning about our friend to be. We learn to see each other for what and who we each are. With who and what in nature will you find a bond?

Excellent article - makes me wish I could meet her!  Thank you!

I have made two chairs with Mike Dunbar in years past, and now I am about to embark on a solo effort on building a continuous arm Windsor chair ala Curtis Buchanan’s plans. Even though I have been woodworking most of my life, now at 73 I still find the process quite intimating! Oh and great article Mr Long!

Very good article.  It’s detailed and informative.  The step by step information is good for beginners. Thanks for your work

I wish you wouldn’t use the term “continental United States” to refer to the Lower 48 or coterminous states.  Alaska, where I live, is definitely on the North American continent—among other things, it’s the location of our continent’s tallest mountain, Denali (20,310’).  It’s also the location of the US portion of the continent’s third longest river, the Yukon.

I’ve see lots of American Tree sparrows here during their summer breeding season.  They overwinter in southern Canada and points farther south in the coterminous USA.

The term “Continental USA” as applied to differentiate between the Lower 48 and Alaska was an invention of the DoD.  Later, the entire federal government adopted this geographically deficient term for federal travel purposes (lodging, meal, and incidental allowances for DoD and federal civilian personnel traveling to AK are higher than the standard reimbursements for travel in the Lower 48).  Like many things military, the terminology reflects a rather narrow viewpoint, and one that most geographers roll their eyes at.

Hi! I have been reading about the blue feet of the blue-footed booby (a bird found in the Galapagos Islands), and the explanations have focused on the processing of carotenids. Is this type of blue also structural coloration of some kind? I am really curious now! Especially since the carotenids are usually responsible for reds and oranges, not blues.

Enjoyed your article. Thanks. I am seeing ice flowers in south Mississippi (Hattiesburg) on white crownbeard in my forest for the last 4 years. Like Carter, I happened upon them while hiking in 2021. Now I look for them whenever conditions seem favorable and usually find them.