The sound startled my daughter and I as we walked through the mid-afternoon forest. A loud echoing hoot shot across the valley. The sound was coming from a dense patch of hemlock trees up the hill. It was close, very close. Scary close to someone who didn’t know what they were hearing, like ...

Thanksgiving has just passed, so let’s talk turkey. Anyone who has ever tried to get a good look at a wild turkey knows they have incredible eyesight. One moment you’re looking at a big bird; then you blink your eyes, and it’s gone. You swear you didn’t move a muscle, but obviously you ...

Winter isn’t the time of year most people associate with hiking, but if you’re properly prepared and equipped with some basic knowledge, it’s a fine time to take a walk in the woods. What you wear on a winter hike can really make the difference between a miserable or even dangerous ...

I can clearly remember the first time I found myself in a grove of giant sequoias. On the first night of a camping trip, a group of us went out on a night hike under an almost full moon. We had the trail to ourselves and the entire experience was overwhelming in the best possible way. I also ...

According to data from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, hunting is fading as a recreational activity. In 1980, Americans bought 16.3 million hunting licenses. By 2018, that number had dropped to 15.6 million. During that same time period, the total U.S. population grew from 227 million to ...

When I first heard Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy Executive Director John Jablonski say that “mud is pollution,” I was completely confused. The word pollution brings to mind Love Canal, acid mine runoff, Erin Brockovich and the Cuyahoga River burning in the 1960s. But not mud. ...