What's Your Nature?

Become a Nature Up North explorer to share your encounters with wild things and wild places in New York's North Country. Post your wildlife sightings, landscape shots, photos from your outings, and even your organization's events!

Just Our Nature Posts

Lyme Disease Ecology Part One: A Ticky Situation

By Jacob Malcomb on
Blog: Just Our Nature
All year round we await the North Country summer – when the landscape is green and lush, the days are long, and shorts finally seem like a viable clothing option. In early summer we can easily tolerate a few mosquitos and black flies in exchange for the abundance of outdoor opportunities that our region offers. But over the last decade, Lyme disease has emerged as a serious concern for northern…

Sun Time and Screen Time: Infusing Technology in Outdoor Experiences

By Krista Sonia on
Blog: Just Our Nature
Technology has been around for ages! The use of a fishing rod can be traced back to 2000 BC1, the first plows were used around 4000 BC, and a granary to store excess food was built in 6000 BC2. Even as far back as the Stone Age there is evidence that humans were applying knowledge and using tools to solve problems3. All of these feats can be filed under the overarching term technology …

Fight Those Late Winter Blues

By Jacob Malcomb on
Blog: Just Our Nature
  Has winter weather got you down? Do you find yourself daydreaming about warm spring days? North Country folks may be known to embrace winter, but even the hardiest among us aren’t immune to the late winter doldrums. Fortunately for us, a growing body of evidence suggests that the cure for cabin fever may be just outside our (frosted) windows, in the snowy fields and forests across the…

Let's Talk Turkey!

Wild turkey hens
By Erika Barthelmess on
Blog: Just Our Nature
In honor of Thanksgiving, I’m going to pause and give thanks for a North Country native, the wild turkey. Likely you’ve seen these large birds traveling in flocks along the side of the road. But did you know that they were once rare in these parts?  And across the country? The abundance of wild turkeys across North America is a real conservation success story. And, oddly enough, the story of…

Sugar Maple Monitoring

By Jacob Malcomb on
Blog: Just Our Nature
Few trees are as quintessential to our North Country character as the sugar maple.  They are vital to our forests, providing habitat for many other species.  In the fall we watch in admiration as sugar maple crowns turn to brilliant shades of yellow, orange, and red.  Maple wood is sought after by homebuilders and craftsmen for its toughness and the beauty of its grain.  In…