Category: Nature

My 2026 Arbor Day Story It’s become a Monroe Wildlife Area tradition. Each spring the month of April is tree planting season. 2026, however, I vowed would in one key way be different. With three decades of past years’ plantings established in ground, I was going to significantly cut...

Well, that’s it. Seven cedar post mounted signs installed in seven days. Now the Monroe Wildlife Area’s National Wildlife Federation “Certified Wildlife Habitat” status is official. It only took 35 years! Thirty five years spent clearing miles of tangled barbed wire and long since abandoned rusted farm debris remnants....

It seems most of the country is experiencing a record breaking heat wave. Not so the north country. With daytime temps in the 30s, overnight temps below freezing, and more snow in the forecast, as we head towards April, March is clearly intent on reinforcing its role as winter’s...

A Limerick Collection There once lived a lumberjack named Lefty Leroux Whose proper first name wasn’t Lefty but Lou One night Lou drained his flask Had a fight with his axe Rendering his right handed digits too few ********** One of the many exercises I’ve enjoyed throughout my career...

What the Hell Just Happened?!? A January 2026 Pictorial Retrospective ********** It all began innocently enough as we trekked towards the new year. All had been quiet on the western front as December ushered in winter. We got our first real snow near the end of the month. It...

As I sit here basking in the warmth of my woodstove as the thermometer plummets to 28 below zero & we all wait for winter’s next windswept storm surge of ice, cold & snow, I thought I’d share a humorous take on a familiar tome. Because a little levity...

Adventures Await As we bid farewell to 2025 and welcome 2026, I wanted to share an exciting Monroe Wildlife Area announcement. For those who haven’t yet heard the news… Through the National Wildlife Federation, The Monroe Wildlife Area is now officially CERTIFIED ! This has been an undertaking I...

A Whitetail Christmas Wish Deer Santa Claus, I’ve been a good buck this year So I’m making my list In hopes that as your sleigh passes overhead You will grant my one wish I’m not asking for fancy sleigh bells or jingles I don’t want clothes or toys Save...

Author’s Note: I penned the first drafts of this story as a poem in the summer of 1983, while working out of Lake Colden’s Interior Headquarters as a trail hand on the NYSDEC trail crew, during one the two summers I served as assistant to Lake Colden’s caretaker. I...

I’ve got some nutty 2025 news thatI have not previously shared. My 15 year wildlife food source tree diversification program has finally, this year, produced its 1st tangible results. In the form of my 1st ever hazelnut crop! When Robin & I 1st purchased our home over three decades...