Estuary for Young Readers

…the class. But first she asked her usual history questions. “Who can cite for me an important person and date in Saybrook history related to our ferries?” “I know,” little…

On My Mind…

  This article appears in the Winter 2024 issue\n\n On My Mind…\n\n Hydrilla: Lovely aquarium plant or dreaded invasive plant that is killing commerce? Image Credits: Getty Images/hiindy22 (Hydrilla). Forty…

Gardening for Good: Gardening for a Changing Climate

…bud break followed by hard freezes also damages economically important fruit crops. Burning bush (Euonymous alatus) is only one of many non-native invasive shrubs still available commercially. This species and…

Moodus Noises

This article appears in the Summer 2024 issue\n\n It isn’t a groan, nor a crash, nor a roar, But is quite as bloodcurdling to hear, And has stirred up more…

Become an Environmental Activist

…the reach and quality of his research, publications, and field guides on birds and other facets of the environment earned him honorary doctorate degrees from several universities as well as…

Deerfield River

…straightening, a common practice throughout the watershed, further impacted hydrology and natural communities by causing unnaturally high flows, habitat degradation, flooding, erosion, and sedimentation. Whitewater rafters. Hydroelectric development began in…

What’s For Dinner? Summertime, Summertime!

This article appears in the Summer 2024 issue\n\n Summertime, Summertime!\n\n By Melody Tierney\n\n Nothing screams summer like a bowl full of tomatoes freshly picked from the garden. New England comes…

One Photograph: Three “Wish Birds”

This article appears in the Spring 2024 issue\n\n \n\n Three “Wish Birds”\n\n Story and Photo by William Burt\n\n As a Massachusetts boy who had been seeking out new birds for…

The Oyster

…comes to oysters. The female oyster produces hundreds of thousands of free-floating eggs. She does so to overcome the odds facing her brood. Chances are that most of her eggs…

Casting About: The Farmington River

…Epeorus vitreus typically favor fast water. With water temperatures hitting their highest, the dog days of summer bring the diminutive Tricos (Tricorythodes stygiatus). Expect this hatch in the early mornings…

Gardening for Good: Rethinking Weeds

…North American native, evening primrose is a tall flowering plant commonly found blooming in late summer along the tough, droughty, and nutrient-poor borders of our roads and highways. It is…

A Man’s Home is His Castle

…allowed him to escape annoying guests. Upstairs an art gallery held over 100 paintings. From the high tower he could see up and down the meandering waterway from East Haddam…

Diatoms

…a microbial safari one needs only a receptacle to hold a water sample, a pipette for transporting a small amount of the water sample onto a glass microscope slide, a…

Hiking the New England Trail over Mt. Tom

…the NET crossing on Route 141, we reach Mount Tom’s 1,202-foot summit. It’s the highest basalt peak of the Metacomet Range, a 100-mile long chain of mountains and ridges that…

River Heroes

…problems of the poor factory workers of Chicago, studying phosphorous and lead. The Illinois Commission on Occupational Diseases appointed her medical investigator in 1910, a post where she could integrate…

Preserving & Appreciating Estuaries

…courtesy of UConn Avery Point At this writing a remote public comment meeting was scheduled for early August on options for the NERR designation for Connecticut. Additional public comment sessions…

Vermont’s Spectacular Waterfalls

…for 0.5 miles, then turn left on Salmon Hole Lane to enter Jamaica State Park. Website: vtstateparks.com/jamaica.html Ball Mountain Lake Directions: From Jamaica center, follow VT 30/VT 100 north for…

The Fascinating Life Cycle of Dragonflies

This article appears in the Spring 2024 issue\n\n By Kirsten Martin Warm breezes, the shimmer of light reflected off gentle ripples on the surface of a pond, the melodic trill…