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For Vermont the early bear season starts September 1, and lasts till the day before the November Rifle Deer Season.
Successful bear hunting usually means successfully finding concentrated natural food sources in or near prime bear habitat. Early in the season, preferred foods include late-ripening berries, black cherries, and standing corn. As the season progresses, wild apples, beechnuts, and acorns become more important.

Stalking bears in a stand of nut-rich beech trees half way up a mountain on a crisp October afternoon is one of hunting's most exciting challenges. The reward in terms of harvested meat is also great. When properly prepared, bear meat compares favorably to pork.

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In September goose hunting starts and every goose hunter grabs their shotgun and heads out to the blind, and spends a good 13 hours in the blind while goose hunting.

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Corn can be harvest by Last August to late Oct

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Fresh apple cider is the best! Who else thinks so?

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Apple Cider: How to make and bottle your own homemade Apple Cider (directions, recipe, with photos and free)

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Homemade Apple cider is easy to make and safely bottle with these fully illustrated, complete, simple recipe and directions. It shows you how to can it and how to make sweet unfiltered apple cider that is natural and without added sugar!

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blue jays are planting acorns but only sound ones and often these are carried several hundred feet from the parent tree 

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blue jays are planting acorns but only sound ones and often these are carried several hundred feet from the parent tree 

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Quarry Operators Fined for Excavating Beaver Dam

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Quarry Operators Fined for Excavating Beaver Dam

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The Agency of Natural Resources announced today that Ruby Construction, Inc., former owner of the hilltop property containing the Mammoth Quarry in the Town of Wells, and the company’s lessee Royal Harrison, were jointly held responsible for a massive discharge of water and sediment into Lake St. Catherine. They have been fined a minimum of $9,000 and are required to appropriately remove the deposited sediment from the lake.

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Broad winged hawks are crossing the Rio Grande. They will reach South America by mid November

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Maple street park is a great place to go trail biking with friends, it is a great place because there is several trails for any kind of rider.  hat you can do is the pump track or you can hit some big jumps, the tracks are varied from really easy to insane. a pump track is a track that you don't pedal and use momentum to gain speed and go faster.

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2000 foot views, need to be athletic and be able to hike

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Indian Brook Park is a  575 acre community park featuring a 60 acre reservoir, trails, a non-motorized boat launch, picnic areas and parking. An ideal location to fish, hike, horseback ride or run! The park is bordered to the northwest by over 600 acres of Winooski Valley Park District land, including Colchester Pond.

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150 Indian Brook Road, Essex, Vermont

A park pass is required (click for link)
2013 Update: At this time we are still working on having a complete Carrying Capacity Study on Indian Brook Park; therefore, we will not be issuing any park passes to new Non-residents. Only those Non-residents that had an ACTIVE pass in 2013 are able to renew this year for a 1 or 2 year pass. Residents of the Essex community are able to purchase a park pass upon proof of residency. Due to the high volume of park passes issued in recent years, the park has taken on a lot of wear and tear. With this study we will be able to determine how many passes to issue in the future based on current usage. As soon as we have updates on this study we will have them available indicating any changes to park use and fees at that time.
Please remember that any active pass holder must have a pass that matches their vehicle plate number. Passes are non-transferable.

Indian Brook Park is a 575 acre community park featuring a 60 acre reservoir, trails, a non-motorized boat launch, picnic areas and parking. An ideal location to fish, hike, horseback ride or run! The park is bordered to the northwest by over 600 acres of Winooski Valley Park District land, including Colchester Pond.
Passes can be purchased at 81 Main Street, Mon - Fri, 7:30 am - 4 pm

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150 Indian Brook Road, Essex, VermontA park pass is required (click for link)2013 Update: At this time we are still working on having a complete Carrying Capacity Study on Indian Brook Park; therefore, we will not be issuing any park passes to new Non-residents.

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HUNTING CAMPING ETC

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flickers are restless and gathered in flocks; look for these plump, brightly colored woodpeckers stalking ants on lawns and greens

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U.S. Forest Service firefighters from Vermont and neighboring states are part of the national effort to fight this summer’s Western wildfires.

About a dozen employe es of the Green Mountain and Finger Lakes national forests have joined their Western count erparts in states including Idaho and California, said Ethan Ready, a spokesman for the Green Mountain National Forest, based in Rutland.

Ready said the national wildfire preparedness level was recently raised from Level 4 to Level 5, the highest level, an indication that the wildfires and other incidents that Ready said could exhaust the Forest Service’s resources during a time of significant fire potential.

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U.S. Forest Service firefighters from Vermont and neighboring states are part of the national effort to fight this summer's Western wildfires.

About a dozen employe es of the Green Mountain and Finger Lakes national forests have joined their Western count erparts in states including Idaho and California, said Ethan Ready, a spokesman for the Green Mountain National Forest, based in Rutland.

Ready said the national wildfire preparedness level was recently raised from Level 4 to Level 5, the highest level, an indication that the wildfires and other incidents that Ready said could exhaust the Forest Service's resources during a time of significant fire potential.

"Vermonters, New Yorkers and personnel from various New England states have been called upon to provide a wide range of fire related duties," he said.

Those duties include initial attack for firefighters and support positions that include public information officers and people who work with aircraft, an important tool in fighting wildfires, he said.

Ready said he has gone twice in recent years to fight fires during the prime fire season, although he said he wouldn't be going this year.

Traditionally, Forest Service employees go on a 14-day assignment, he said, with travel days on either end of the assignment. He said it often takes several days for people to respond to the fire location, flying to semi-remote airports or renting a car and driving a long distance to the fires.

"Over a dozen people have been called and we keep sending more and more out," Ready said. "It's a busy time."

People get a few days for rest and relaxation if they receive a second 14-day assignment.

"People often bounce from incident to incident," he said.

"Often you have to just grab your bags and go and sometimes you only have 24-hour notice," said Ready, who said the fire crews have to put their Vermont lives in order once they are signed up for the firefighting service.

"There's an expectation that you make yourself available," he said, referring to the entire Green Mountain National Forest staff. Each employee has their own area of expertise, which contributes to the overall firefighting effort.

"You don't pick where you go," he added.

Ready said he has done a couple of stints as a wildland firefighter, including one in Idaho.

"There's a lot of different roles people play," he said: They include fighting "small starts" and "new starts."

Forest fires in Vermont tend to be of the controlledburn variety, but Ready said the 400,000-acre Green Mountain National Forest has had uncontrolled fires, most caused by lightning strikes or escaping campfires.

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Vt. forest workers sent to help battle Western wildfires

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U.S. Forest Service firefighters from Vermont and neighboring states are part of the national effort to fight this summer's Western wildfires. About a dozen employe es of the Green Mountain and Finger Lakes national forests have joined their Western count erparts in states including Idaho and California, said Ethan Ready, a spokesman for the Green Mountain National Forest, based in Rutland.

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people usually start cutting wood around September, fall starts and its time to think about keeping warm during the cold months here in Vermont. cutting wood gives you fuel for your fire in the winter, this will insure warmth and comfort

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Vermont losing 1,500 acres of forest every year

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Vermont losing 1,500 acres of forest every year

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The region has been losing forestland to development at a rate of 65 acres per day—and Vermont is losing 1,500 acres of forest every year—according to a new report released today by the Harvard Forest and a team of authors from across the region including two scientists at the University of Vermont.

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Development claims 24,000 acres of forestland a year in New England, according to data from 1990 to 2010. By 2060, that could mean another 1.2 million acres lost, according to a new report co-authored by UVM scientists. (Photo: David Foster)
Vermont Business Magazine Forests and conservation funding is in decline across New England. The region has been losing forestland to development at a rate of 65 acres per day-and Vermont is losing 1,500 acres of forest every year-according to a new report released today by the Harvard Forest and a team of authors from across the region including two scientists at the University of Vermont.

Public funding for land protection has also been steadily declining in all six New England states and is now half what it was at its 2008 peak. Land conservation trends have followed suit.

"Over the last decade, Vermont lost about one percent of its forest cover due mostly to suburban and rural residential sprawl, reversing a 150-year trend of forest recovery and expansion," says co-author Bill Keeton, professor of forestry & forest ecology and Gund Fellow at the University of Vermont.

Conversion to development is the biggest near-term threat to forests, bigger even than climate change, the scientists report.

"If our goal is to make sure our forests in Vermont are resilient and able to adapt to the changes that climate change and invasive species pose, then the first critical step is to keep those areas forested," says co-author Tony D'Amato, an associate professor and director of UVM's Forestry Program. "That is often lost in our discussion of how to manage and conserve in the face of such future uncertainty."

Fading forests

The new report, Wildlands and Woodlands, Farmlands and Communities, documents that public funding for land conservation in New England dropped fifty percent between 2008 and 2014 to $62 million per year, slightly lower than 2004 levels. The pace of regional land conservation has also slowed substantially from an average of 333,000 acres per year in the early 2000s to about 50,000 acres per year since 2010.

"The incremental chipping away of forest and farmland by scattered development is hard to see day-to-day but it adds up over time and represents a significant threat to the region," said David Foster, director of the Harvard Forest. "If we stay on the current path, we'll lose another 1.2 million acres of open land by 2060."

Opportunities

Despite these trends, the authors assert that the targets outlined in their bold vision for the future of the New England landscape are still attainable and they identify opportunities for gaining ground.

"Vermont has led other New England states in terms of forest protection efforts, with combined federal and state spending for land conservation here at a per capita rate 4.6 times that of neighboring New Hampshire, for example," says UVM's Bill Keeton. "With this report we present a clear vision of strong and continued community-level engagement in farm and forestland conservation to compensate for rapidly declining federal and state funding across New England as a whole."

In Vermont, twenty-three percent of the state's land area is currently conserved as forest and farmland. The state ranks first in New England in per capita state funding for land conservation at an average of $6.70 per person per year for 2004 to 2014. Nevertheless, annual land conservation rates in Vermont have generally fallen back to early 1990s levels after a period of elevated conservation in the late 1990s, even as groups report that private landowners' interest in conserving their land remains high.

Report series

This is the third in a series of Wildlands and Woodlands publications led by Foster, Keeton, D'Amato and a team of colleagues. Previous reports defined a regional vision that calls for conserving thirty million acres of forest-seventy percent of the region's land area-and all remaining farmland. The vision proposes that most of the conserved forestland should be managed for wood products and other benefits, with ten percent managed as wildlands.

"Bill and I were also co-authors on the original vision for the New England landscape published a few years back and I also served as a coauthor on the original Wildland and Woodlands vision that was developed for Massachusetts before we explored a more regional approach," notes UVM's Tony D'Amato-who has one eye on the next generation of forestry scientists and professionals. "The message from this report is very consistent with what we teach and research in the UVM Forestry Program," in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources.

Triple the pace

"When we look specifically at forests in New England, it is clear that the impacts of land use will be far greater than those of climate change over the next 50 years," said Harvard Forest ecologist Jonathan Thompson. "This may seem counter-intuitive given the major threat that climate change poses to all sectors of society. But climate change slowly alters the health and types of trees that grow whereas conversion eliminates forests altogether."

The report's authors say it is still possible to attain the Wildlands and Woodland vision by tripling the pace of conservation, reversing trends in public funding, putting more land to work for sustainable farming and forestry, and integrating land conservation with the planning of cities, suburbs, and rural communities to reduce forest loss and promote more efficient use of land for economic development.

"We need to do everything we can-a lot more than what we're doing now," says UVM's Bill Keeton, "to keep our forests, and to keep them resilient."
Source: UVM 9.19.2017

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Report: Vermont losing 1,500 acres of forest every year

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Development claims 24,000 acres of forestland a year in New England, according to data from 1990 to 2010. By 2060, that could mean another 1.2 million acres lost, according to a new report co-authored by UVM scientists. (Photo: David Foster) Vermont Business Magazine Forests and conservation funding is in decline across New England.

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Toxic cyanobacteria bloom has taken over Lake Carmi

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A toxic cyanobacteria bloom has kept Lake Carmi in northern Vermont closed for the past three weeks, and officials are hoping to introduce oxygen into the lake as a short-term fix.

The blue-green algae results from excessive phosphorus in the lake, most of it originating in manure and industrial fertilizers spread by dairy farmers in the area.

The lake has been under a federal order since 2009 to slash the amount of phosphorus pollution from farms, roads and septic systems. Efforts have succeeded in stopping the increase of phosphorus levels, but it will be at least a decade before polluters meet the federal limits designed to keep the lake free of cyanobacteria blooms.

Julie Moore, secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, said past pollution is likely responsible for the current outbreak.

Lake Carmi has been polluted by phosphorus for more than a century. The chemical bonds to silt, and the phosphorus-laden silt has settled to the bottom of the lake, Moore said.

It's not known exactly what dynamics are involved, but when certain conditions deplete the lake of oxygen, phosphorus in the silt dissolves into water. In the spring, as water from the lake bottom circulates to the top, that phosphorus-laden lower layer gets exposed to sun, enabling blue-green algae to thrive, Moore said.

That's likely what happened in Lake Carmi, Moore says. The state hopes to provide a short-term fix by spending $250,000 to introduce more oxygen into the lake, blocking phosphorus on the lakebed from being released into the water.

Lake Carmi experiences cyanobacteria outbreaks almost every year, but this year is especially bad, said Robert Cormier, who lives a quarter of a mile from the shore.

"If you know what split-pea soup looks like, it looks like pea soup," Cormier said of the cyanobacteria bloom. "We are starting to see fish die-offs."

Blue-green algae covers the entire lake surface, he said. The current bloom has lasted more than three weeks, and the state has issued a high-alert warning urging residents to stay away from the water.

Farm closures in Burlington, Winooski and other areas in the past led to an influx of dairies in Franklin County, where Lake Carmi's located, Cormier said. Today, between 30 percent and 40 percent of Vermont's cattle live in Franklin County, "and the land can't handle it," he said.

"We have too many cows for what the land can handle," Cormier said.

About 85 percent of Lake Carmi's phosphorus pollution comes from farms, according to the EPA.

James Ehlers, a Democratic candidate for governor and the director of Lake Champlain International, a clean-water advocacy group based in Burlington, said Vermonters will have to dig deep financially to clean up Lake Champlain.

Big companies are passing the costs of industrial pollution off on Vermonters, when their customers should bear those costs instead, Ehlers said.

"These fields should be taken out of production," Ehlers said. "If we spend any tax money it should be to those whose property values are being destroyed by an industry that enjoys a special privilege - they basically have a license to pollute.

"Vermonters are subsidizing the shareholders of (Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream corporate parent) Unilever," Ehlers said. "The consumers of these products should be the ones sharing in the cost, not the victims."

Ehlers also pointed to Cabot Cheese producer Agri-Mark, a dairy farmer cooperative based in Massachusetts.

Ben & Jerry's spokeswoman Laura Peterson said she believes the company sources milk from farms in the Lake Carmi watershed.

More information about the Lake Carmi outbreak, and up-to-date information on cyanobacteria blooms throughout the state, is available at the Vermont Department of Health website.

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Lake Carmi closed because of algae bloom - VTDigger

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A toxic cyanobacteria bloom has kept Lake Carmi in northern Vermont closed for the past three weeks, and officials are hoping to introduce oxygen into the lake as a short-term fix. The blue-green algae results from excessive phosphorus in the lake, most of it originating in manure and industrial fertilizers spread by dairy farmers in the area.

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Cottontail Rabbit Snowshoe Hare season is last Saturday in September - Second Sunday in March
Gray Squirrel season is September 1 - December 31

COTTONTAIL RABBITS

Cottontail rabbits are primarily found in the Southwestern Foothills and Champlain Valley, including the Champlain Islands. They favor the varied habitat in agricultural lowlands, and are commonly encountered in brushy hedgerows, overgrown fields, briar thickets, and shrub-filled creek bottoms. Kicking up cottontails on a crisp fall day is an excellent challenge, whether hunters elect to chase them with a dog and shotgun or stalk them with a .22 rifle.

SNOWSHOE HARE

Snowshoe or Varying Hare are found statewide, but are most abundant in areas with active forest management, particularly in the Green Mountains and Northeast Kingdom. The greatest concentrations of are found in areas with dense, low-growing softwood stands, such as cedar swamps, spruce bogs, and cut-over areas with thickets of young spruce and fir. Snowshoes have seasonally white coats and large hind feet, adaptions that let them remain active throughout the winter. They are a favorite of hunters with hounds because they prefer to run a hard race rather than hole-up, as cottontails often do when hard pressed.

GRAY SQUIRREL

Squirrels are Vermont's most over-looked game animal. "Bushytails" can be found wherever mature stands of oak, hickory, and beech trees provide them with abundant nuts, especially in the Southwestern Foothills, Champlain Valley, and along the Connecticut River in the Eastern Foothills. Although lightly hunted in Vermont, squirrels are a real challenge when stalked with a .22 rifle, and their delicate meat compares favorably with rabbit.

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Vermonters eager to find refuge from the heat in Lake Champlain are finding dozens of closed beaches instead, from the Canadian border south to Addison County.

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Vermonters eager to find refuge from the heat in Lake Champlain are finding dozens of closed beaches instead, from the Canadian border south to Addison County.

In Burlington, officials have said it's not safe to swim in Oakledge Cove, North Beach, Perkins Pier and Texaco Beach.

Toxic algae colonies have rendered the beaches unsafe, according to state health authorities, who have warned Vermonters to avoid contact with the water and algae blooms floating on the surface.

Cyanobacteria, also known sometimes as blue-green algae, doesn't usually bloom this late in the year, but the unseasonably warm temperatures have created ideal conditions for the organisms to flourish.

Phosphorus pollution from farms, roads and parking lots is the root cause of the toxic blooms.

An unusually rainy spring this year, coupled with a relatively wet summer, brought with it heavy runoff that contained dissolved phosphorus from all of these sources, said Angela Shambaugh, an aquatic biologist with the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation's Lakes and Ponds Management and Protection Program.

Scientists say they expected a particularly bad year for cyanobacteria blooms, but Shambaugh said, "but a cool, rainy, windy summer kept it in check."

At least one other body of water, Lake Carmi, has been under a high alert for cyanobacteria blooms for more than a month.

Dozens of Lake Champlain beaches have recently followed suit, most of them reaching high-alert conditions this week, following an extended period of warm, calm and sunny weather.

A federal order last year required the state to slash phosphorus pollution levels in the lake. A group of lawmakers is figuring out how to pay for mitigation efforts.

Julie Moore, secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, said recently that she's hoping to pay less for the ordered reduction in Lake Champlain's pollution than state Treasurer Beth Pearce has estimated will be necessary, at least in the short term.

Moore, who was responsible between 2007 and 2011 for the Clean and Clear Initiative, a similar effort on Lake Champlain, said there aren't enough projects ready to go.

Lawmakers say Vermonters are alarmed by closed beaches and toxic green slime in the lake.

"This is really distressing to people," said Sen. Chris Bray, D-Addison. "I think Vermonters are saying, 'Jeez, we've been working on this problem for a while.'"

The ramp-up of investment in Lake Champlain that Moore advocates might not address that concern, Bray said.

"What's causing us to take a ramped approach," Bray said, "and how many years are we content to be on the ramp?

"I think, reasonably enough, there are plenty of citizens who are no longer patient about, 'We're going to be improving water quality,' after the investments we've already made, and now that we're making additional investments they want a commitment to clean water sooner, and I think they want to see action on the ground," Bray said.

A legislative working group must produce a report by Nov. 15 that recommends a long-term source of funding to protect water quality.

"I hope they think big, and I hope they take that task on, and deliver a report that suggests a solution for a problem, or challenges, as big as the one we have," he said.

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Vermonters eager to find refuge from the heat in Lake Champlain are finding dozens of closed beaches instead, from the Canadian border south to Addison County. In Burlington, officials have said it's not safe to swim in Oakledge Cove, North Beach, Perkins Pier and Texaco Beach.

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Woodchucks go to there winter quarters grass-lined dens deep enough t stay above freezing
http://northernwoodlands.org/

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The mountains are the best place to enjoy the out doors, you can hike,camp,fish,hunt and much more for little to no cost.

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Pine siskins are nomads and their distribution depends on the availability of food, mostly the seeds of conifers. They may be abundant in a good seed year.  The pine siskin is a North American bird in the finch family. It is a migratory bird with an extremely sporadic winter range.

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" Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) of cervids. The TSEs are grouped together because of similarity in clinical features, pathology, and presumed etiology; the infectious agents are hypothesized to be prions (infectious proteins without associated nucleic acids). Scrapie of domestic sheep and goats, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) of cattle, and transmissible mink encephalopathy of farmed mink (Mustela vison) are TSEs of domestic animals. Several rare fatal diseases of humans are also TSEs; Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) occurs worldwide and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is associated with the agent of BSE where it occurs in cattle, including the United Kingdom and parts of continental Europe. Since the appearance of BSE in the mid-1980s and, especially since the 1996 announcement of an apparent relationship between BSE and variant CJD, there has been considerable media, public, and animal and human health agency interest in TSEs. Consequently, CWD is a disease of increasing concern for wildlife managers both in CWD-endemic areas and across North America. Many biological features of CWD pose significant challenges for wildlife managers attempting to control or eradicate the disease. Perhaps even greater challenges are those associated with balancing complex and often competing and conflicting interests of the general public, sportsmen, the game farming industry, traditional livestock industries, and many state and federal animal health and public health agencies. This is a short review of the biological features of CWD and strategies being used for its control and management. "

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Vermont is ranked first for best fall season

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Vermont is ranked first for best fall season

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Let's just get this out of the way -- fall is pretty damn good just about everywhere. It possesses neither the soul-sucking, toe-numbing misery of winter, nor the "how is it possible to sweat this much?" discomfort of summer. People, for the most part, like fall. Some people really like fall. And who could blame them? The warmer states get their reprieve from the summer heat, while further north there's the joy that comes with squeezing in all the outdoor fun you can ahead of the looming winter. And everyone gets SO many pumpkin-flavored things! Life is good.

But where is life in fall the BEST? In seeking an answer to this eternal, apple-scented question, we weighed factors like seasonal beauty, weather, quality of stuff to do during said weather, and the likelihood that the area athletic teams will crush your soul to the point that you don't feel like doing any of those things.

And with that, to the rankings!

50. Arizona

Yup, it's still Arizona! But, um, with some orange leaves.

49. Nevada

There's a reason Michael Corleone liked to visit Tahoe in the fall: it's beautiful, a postcard image of a gorgeous autumn reflected in a serene mountain lake. It's also a very good place to murder your weak-willed brother. Spoiler alert! Most of the rest of the state? Not so much. Except maybe the fratricide part.

48. Florida

We like to joke about Florida around here, but hurricane season is no joke. However, it's also no good ( donate to Irma relief here). It's at least mitigated somewhat by the opportunity to be on a beach the same week you have Thanksgiving dinner, a consistently competitive college football scene, and the hazy memories of that time the Dolphins went undefeated.

46. Alaska

The snowy peaks are magnificent and all, but when even the bears are like "fuck this noise, I'm going to sleep for a few months" in October, the charms of an Alaskan fall are the sort of short-lived enchantment that we might call an acquired taste.

45. North Dakota

It's not certain, but we're pretty sure the majority of Fargo takes place in early September.

44. Iowa

Autumn in Iowa has gotten considerably better since it became possible to pair it with some ales from Toppling Goliath. But not THAT much better.

43. Kansas

A real conversation overheard in Kansas in October.
Guy 1: Hey.
Guy 2: Hey.
Guy 1: It's neither warm nor cold today. And the leaves on that small cluster of trees next to the flat, flat wheat field appear to be changing.
Guy 2: Yeah.
(15 seconds of strained silence pass)
Guy 1: When do the Jayhawks start playing basketball again?

42. Mississippi

The good news? It's turkey hunting season! The bad news? You're in Mississippi! And fall in Mississippi is like every other season in Mississippi, which means it's always a little bit worse than just about everywhere else in America at any given time. Basically, if you're not in Oxford hanging with John T. Edge or John Currence, or in Jackson hanging with Bruno Mars as if that line in "Uptown Funk" was true, you're tending to the last harvest of okra, tomato, eggplant, and pepper plants; failing your night class at Ole Miss; and shooting turkeys.

41. Alabama

When you're not worshipping or cursing Nick Saban, you'll be watching someone's child reenact Friday Night Lights at a high school football game, pretending that we all don't know everything we now know about CTE and concussions. You'll also be really itchy because, like the leaves of fall, your skin is rust-colored and flake-dry. Fall is especially lonely in Alabama if you're not living in Auburn, Tuscaloosa, or some other college town (shout out to Huntsville! For being wack!). You also need to be booed-up or bogged down with work, because if you don't live in Birmingham you might as well be someone's grandfather -- there's N-O-T-H-I-N-G to do. Ever.

40. Nebraska

On the plus side, Cornhuskers! And also all that corn, which gets husked! On the minus side, most everything involves variations on watching the Cornhuskers or doing things that involve actual corn.

38. Ohio

"We should really go out of our way to visit Ohio for a color tour this fall," said nobody, ever. And yeah, they're missing out on the glorious kaleidoscopic canopies and throngs of old people in the Cuyahoga Valley. But most Ohioans' fall colors are scarlet and gray, and if they're not watching a game they're at Walmart checking for Buckeyes jerseys on the sale rack.

37. Indiana

It would be a few spots higher on the list if Pawnee and its Harvest Festival were real. Yes, there are corn mazes aplenty but none of them involve Lil' Sebastian or Aziz Ansari. Where were we? Ah yes, Indiana! It's flat, it's pleasant-ish, and its collective opinion of its own football prowess is far too high. Indiana and Purdue combine to have an interesting season about once every presidential administration; Notre Dame remains nationally relevant despite not having done anything to earn it in what feels like decades; and the Colts may have permanently ruined Andrew Luck. Happy corn-mazing!

34. Texas

We had a lot of love and snark to extend to Texas, but let's just leave it at this: It's a big state with a lot of very different climate differences, and part of it is reeling from the terrible side of those differences. That makes any gentle ribbing kind of dickish, so please spend the time you would have spent rolling your eyes at our comments about line dancing and electric bull riding and hipsters and Whataburger and donate to Harvey relief.

33. Arkansas

There's a reason that Arkansas is nicknamed the Natural State, but for some reason we just assumed it was because people really like Robert Redford baseball dramas. But it turns out the Ozarks offer up some of the most stunningly beautiful fall color spreads, and the mountainous terrain makes it ideal for getting an aerial view without being some weird asshole taking videos with a drone.

30. Connecticut

Yes, it's New England, but it's definitely the first elimination in the New England fall beauty contest. It's possible you've been duped into excessively inflating its autumnal status due to watching too many Gilmore Girls reruns. Starts Hollow was just a Warner Bros. lot in Hollywood. These are facts. #TeamJess.

29. Utah

Utah's fall weather is basically the meteorological equivalent of James McAvoy's character in Split. In case you didn't see it: Spoiler alert, it's all over the place. Still, getting a look at Arches during the offseason or taking a ski lift tour of fall colors kind of makes it worth the risk of a rapid change in the weather.

28. Tennessee

Though you probably imagine yourself sipping Jack Daniel's on a crisp autumn day in Tennessee, the reality feels much more like George Dickel. There's definitely some scenic driving to be done, particularly on Interstates 24, 65, and 40, heading into Nashville from Chattanooga, Huntsville, and Knoxville, respectively, but Nashville is getting crowded with shrieking bachelorette parties and bad country music singers, and nothing brings out the bad country music like autumn. And seriously -- how many times do you really want to hear Brad Paisley sing live before you become the accidental racist?

27. Illinois

An Illinois fall usually starts out pleasant enough, sufficiently mild to allow for comfortable outdoor drinking and grilling well into October. Then usually right around Halloween the party stops, there's a random snow/sleet storm that, even if it doesn't stick, reminds you of the apocalyptic Game of Thrones situation that's looming. Also, the Bears will typically have proved their futility early enough that Sundays can be used for home improvement projects and other acts of self-betterment, so there's that. Thanks Mike Glennon!

26. Idaho

Look, wiseass, that whole thing about Idaho and potatoes is a pretty outdated stereot -- wait, what? There was just a festival celebrating the potato harvest that included a gigantic mashed potato pit? OK, fine, it's still a real thing. But there's also also a wealth of pumpkin patches! And an entire state's covered in vast and gorgeous wilderness areas popping with fall colors, the kind of wide-open spaces the Dixie Chicks would dream of, were it not for the fact that they're probably not welcome in Idaho. It's legitimately one of the best places to take a fall road trip, with winding roads revealing panoramic explosions of color around every corner.

25. South Dakota

Perhaps it's the duality of SoDak that makes it one of the less-understood states. On the east side of the state, you have the glories of the Missouri River valley, which begets us beautiful fall colors and the majesty of the Mitchell Corn Palace, which depends on the fall harvest for its structural integrity. In the west, you have the mighty badlands and the Black Hills, where Spearfish Canyon, The Badlands, and Custer State Park lend themselves to some of the most unexpectedly stark views in the west. And all over the place, you have one of the weirdest and most unpredictable weather patterns, which means you might be hiking on an atypically warm fall afternoon, then be greeted by a foot of snow the next morning. Which is to say, for good or ill, you're going to get something unexpected, whether it's a vista or frostbite. But the former's so great that the latter is kinda worth it just to get a view like the one at Sylvan Lake in the fall.

22. New Hampshire

There's the rapturous beauty of the White Mountains. There's... not much else. Oh, there's those people in Dixville Notch who get to vote before anybody else, so that's fun? For 12 people. Every four years.

21. New Mexico

It's not quite the vibrant tapestry of some more northern locales, but the bright yellows of New Mexico's aspen trees do offer up a certain flavor of fall beauty that might surprise an outsider. Of course, everyone there is just too damned relieved that it isn't 115 degrees anymore to care too much about your opinion. Throw in a seriously underrated ski scene that gets going in earnest towards the end of the season and you have some surprisingly hot fall action. But not like, HOT hot, because that'd be bad.

20. Missouri

Putnam County Fair! Branson's National Harvest & Cowboy Festival! There's an awful lot of, um, very Missouri stuff going on in the autumn. But there's also a whole lot of gorgeousness to behold along the Missouri River and amid the ample valleys it creates. Plus, the Springfield Oktoberfest is crazy great, and the HOP in the City fest is a must visit: it's a time when Schlafly throws down more than 40 of its brews and cements its status as one of the region's most consistently underrated breweries.

19. Montana

There are few things quite as satisfying as experiencing Montana in the fall, when the tourists have all but departed, the state's legit incredible breweries start thinking to winter workers, and the kaleidoscopic colors and ample wildlife can be observed from an isolated hilltop or reflected in crystalline glacial lakes. The change in the weather also results in much clearer skies, turning the classic Big Sky into something of a high-def planetarium display. The flip side? Remember that scene in The Day After Tomorrow where Jake Gyllenhaal has to outrun an unexpected blast of cold that can freeze people on contact? Sometimes it feels a lot like that.

17. Hawaii

Oh, look, Hawaii's still beautiful and gorgeous and tropical and inviting and idyllic. Screw you you, Hawaii. Never change!

16. Wyoming

Once the RVs clear off the roads after Labor Day, traveling through Wyoming can be a relatively solitary affair, which is exactly what makes it one of the most spectacular places to be in the fall. Have you ever been to Yellowstone at a time where people weren't lined up to take selfies next to the hot springs? Or walked up to Devils Tower without waiting for somebody in a walker to go ambling down the hill? Or stared out at the Tetons without some rich asshole blasting by in a Porsche on his way to Jackson Hole? Because that's what you get during the fall, a time when the wind-swept forests and valleys practically glow as the leaves change. It's essentially an Ansel Adams photo come to life.

15. Rhode Island

Rhode Island is small but mighty when it comes to compelling autumn scenery -- what, did you think those rich folks who built the homes along the Newport Cliff Walk were going to forget the foliage factor? And thanks to its compact size you can cover pretty much all of it in like an hour, which leaves more time for enjoying the fact that it's not too cold yet to preclude the enjoyment of a delicious Del's Frozen Lemonade.

14. New Jersey

New Jersey possesses a wealth of legendary panoramas, Rockwellian small towns, and gorgeous coastal oases. And there's always the bonus of having Bruce come on the radio as you cruise for hours among the expansive, kaleidoscopic tree canopies, and winding back-country roads. But there's also the inedibility that Bon Jovi will come on, too. And Trenton is still in the state. Those are minor issues, sure, but when the autumnal beauty race is this close, a poorly timed "Livin' on a Prayer" and an industrial wasteland can make a world of difference.

10. Virginia

Did you know that apples were first introduced to America in the Jamestown colony in 1607? It's true! So basically you have Virginia to thank for all your adorable apple-related autumn activities. You know, like apple picking. Or drinking all the hard cider you can. Or stress-eating and entire Costco apple pie because you think the world might be ending. But a Virginia autumn isn't solely a time to engage in sacred apple-related traditions. It's also an opportunity to contemplate the timeless, underrated beauty of the Shenandoah Valley, and contemplate what you might have done in a past life to cause Dan Snyder to purchase your football team.

9. Pennsylvania

The prevalence of German ancestry means the Oktoberfest game is strong. The presence of iconic, indulgent sandwiches at either end of the state makes fattening up for winter a joy no matter where you live. The Allegheny National Forest is as lovely as a slice of Dutch apple pie. The rest of the state's not so hard on the eyes either -- hell, even the turnpike looks good in autumn. The NFL teams are... usually pretty good? The college football is... good this year, and we'll just leave it at that so as not to enrage any unhinged Happy Valley residents. Man, that's a weird note to end on. Let's all just share some pie?

4. Maine

The lobsterman are at their most active. The views in Acadia National Park are stunning. The views around the rest of the state aren't half bad, either. The blueberry jam your mom made from the late summer harvest is plentiful, and you don't mind applying it liberally as you'll be clad in your best paunch-disguising L.L. Bean fleece starting right about... now. Yes, the winter misery is looming, but you've handled it before. You'll be fine. Have some more jam. And some more lobster. But not together. OK, maybe together?

3. Colorado

The very presence of the Great American Beer Fest or start of the Broncos season would be enough to start Colorado off in a good place, but you don't live in one of the most majestically beautiful natural states just for some great beer and football. Take, for example, the fact that the abundance of cloudless days, which basically turns one of the country's most vibrant and wise-ranging color displays and makes it glow with blinding brilliance as the sun shines down. Then consider how incredibly easy it is to get to a vantage point - whether it's at the base of a cliff, the top of a hill, or while riding on a ski lift that takes you higher into the Rockies (and usually to a place with a patio bar) - to gaze down on it. Sure, once the snow starts falling it kinda doesn't stop, but that only means you get the best of both worlds in Colorado during the fall, a simultaneous fall wonderland that you can sometimes gaze upon amid a backdrop of snow, turning the snow-blanketed valleys into a color-flecked palette just perfect for the artist we call Mother Nature to... holy shit. Wow, that was some droning! The weed's good too, apparently.

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Mike Jordan is just ready to fall back in bed for another hour and will leave all this leaf-changing weirdness to people who think death's colors are pretty. Catch him lying about leaf-watching @michaelbjordan.

Andy Kryza grew up telling himself that deer just really liked sleeping on the road during the fall. Follow him to Michigan-bred coping mechanisms @apkryza.

Matt Lynch is at his happiest drinking around a bonfire during the months of September and October. Please invite him to one @MLynchChi.

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Every State, Ranked by How Fantastic Its Fall Is

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Let's just get this out of the way -- fall is pretty damn good just about everywhere. It possesses neither the soul-sucking, toe-numbing misery of winter, nor the "how is it possible to sweat this much?" discomfort of summer. People, for the most part, like fall. Some people really like fall.

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Chipping Sparrows that nested further North are passing through on their way to the Southern States

the scientific name is spizella- passrina

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The Blackpoll Warbler is a New World warbler. Breeding males are mostly black and white. They have a prominent black cap, white cheeks and white wing bars.

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When I was growing up, Windham County Forester Bill Guenther used to lead a “Big Tree Tour” every year. At the time, I hadn’t yet fallen into my current tree-crazy state, and I never attended one of Bill’s tours. http://www.willistonobserver.com/seeking-big-tree-champions/