Forest Wildlife

The Woods in Your Backyard Workbook is available for free download as a PDF with fillable fields. It can be used in conjunction with The Woods in Your Backyard guide or on its own to help property owners assess their natural areas and to determine how to reach their land care objectives.

This webinar series, designed for green industry professionals, was held in two parts (fall 2020 and spring 2021).

This directory is developed by the Woods in Your Backyard Partnership and the University of Maryland Extension's Woodland Stewardship Education program. This directory serves as a way to connect land owners and managers to green industry services providers. The directory has been organized by service and alphabetically. Click or tap on the icons below to access the listings.

New from The Woods in Your Backyard Partnership, the Woodland Health Practices Field Guide provides the latest, research-based information on land-care practices.

Maryland is home to 27 species of snakes, most of which humans rarely see in day-to-day lives. Of these, only two, the Eastern Copperhead and the Timber Rattlesnake, are pit vipers and thus dangerously venomous to humans. Read about the Timber Rattlesnake in this feature article.

The News and Notes roundup for this issue reports that an important tax resource is available for forest landowners; shares information about a new endangered species designation; notes the results of a study about wildfires and birds; and reports that a personal watercraft manufacturer is using wood in unexpected places.

The American beaver was almost hunted to extinction in Maryland and across the continent. Read about this nocturnal herbivore that scientists are helping to conserve, and that in return, are discovering the benefits of having beavers in a variety of ecosystems in need of help.

The downy woodpecker is the smallest of seven species found in Maryland, and can be found in a wide variety of natural and human-made environments.

Say the word “porcupine” and the image that immediately jumps to mind is its quills. However, the quills are only one feature of this rodent. In fact, it is the second largest rodent native to North America; only the beaver is larger. Its range includes most of the continent, stretching from Alaska in the northwest, through the Great Lakes area, to the Canadian maritime provinces in the east and south to Virginia.

Read our features Woodland Wildlife Spotlight, Invasives in Your Woodland, and the Brain Tickler challenge. There's also news about the state Tree Farmer of the Year and much more.