Vermont’s annual, statewide Summer Free Fishing Day is Saturday, June 9, and it will be highlighted by a free family fishing festival in Grand Isle as well as opening day of the state’s regular bass fishing season. “Vermont’s Free Fishing Day gives resident and nonresident anglers the opportunity to go fishing without a license for the… Read More »
By Meghan McCarthy McPhaul “Mom, there’s a really big crow in the compost,” my son said one day early this spring, followed closely by, “Wait. What is that bird? It’s huge!” I peeked out the back window to find a bird, huge indeed, a red head atop of cloak of black feathers, sitting on a… Read More »
A pair of fox kits play around after dinner Sunday evening on Shelburne Point.
This bobcat was caught in a series of photos on a game camera set up under a bridge in Brandon, Vt. recently. The cameras are part of a partnership among Vermont Fish & Wildlife, The Nature Conservancy, and VTrans to better understand wildlife movement around road crossing structures. “This bobcat passing under the road highlights the… Read More »
By Susan Shea One summer we had an ongoing battle with a woodchuck. Unbeknownst to us, it had dug a burrow in an ideal location – in the center of our dense raspberry patch, about 10 feet from our vegetable garden. The woodchuck then dug a hole under the garden fence and feasted on beans,… Read More »
by Madeline Bodin Janet Hayward Burnham, of Bethel, Vt., was driving to the bank one day when she saw a tree on the side of the road that looked like it was covered in decorative webbing, “cans and cans” of it, as if for Halloween. But it was June. Burnham is an illustrator, children’s book… Read More »
Hikers seeking higher ground should be aware that some clifftops and overlooks have been closed to human visitors temporarily to protect spots where peregrine falcons are nesting. State wildlife officials have posted a dozen locations from Bolton to Fairlee where the majestic birds are raising their young. “Peregrine nesting is well underway this spring,” said… Read More »
It’s springtime and Vermont’s turtles on are on the move. The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department is asking for the public’s help in keeping them safe. Female turtles are looking for places to deposit their eggs, sometimes choosing to lay them along the shoulders of roads, which can end tragically. “Turtles often cross roads as they… Read More »
Jim Fuller, a former park ranger at Vermont’s Grand Isle State Park, described this interaction with a tourist from New Jersey after he confiscated their out-of-state firewood. Ranger Jim: “We are trying to keep the forests clear of invasive insects.” Tourist, as beetle fell from firewood: “You mean like that one there?” In this instance,… Read More »
Motorists in the areas of Plainfield, Groton, Calais, Williamstown, Washington, and Barre may notice new flashing road signs reading “Don’t move ash firewood beyond this point.” The signs are part of an inter-agency partnership between the Agency of Transportation, the Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation and the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets to… Read More »