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To Love a Forest

Ethan Tapper is a forester and author from Vermont. Through his own forest management project, his book How to Love a Forest, and his social media presence, Ethan has created an advocacy platform that emphasizes the importance of responsible forest stewardship.

鈥 Samantha Paul

Ethan Tapper in a Vermont forest.
Ethan Tapper, nationally recognized forester, bestselling author, and content creator from Vermont.
Ethan came to forestry later in life. He didn鈥檛 know when he was growing up that it was something he was destined to do. 鈥淚 loved being in the woods and wanted to be in the woods all the time. I was looking at a paper list of all the majors at the University of Vermont, and I scrolled down, and I picked forestry. I didn鈥檛 know what it was at the time. I just knew that it had the word forest in it.鈥

Graduating with a forestry degree from the University of Vermont in Burlington, Ethan鈥檚 first job was working as a consulting forester on industrial timberlands in the Adirondacks. Next, he transitioned to a smaller consulting forestry company in central Vermont. In 2016, he landed a position as Chittenden County Forester for the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation. 鈥淭he county foresters are service foresters. My job was primarily advising landowners, loggers and conservation organizations on how to care for forests. And through that experience I ended up really diving into how we communicate our work.鈥

Ethan was eager to work with loggers to manage these community forests. 鈥淚 managed about a dozen community forests totaling about 5,000 acres [2 000 ha] in size and I was just realizing that my work was commonly misunderstood. A lot of times people saw the cutting of trees and they assumed that it must be a bad thing. I was realizing that there鈥檚 this pervasive idea in our culture that if you love forests, you leave them alone. And that only holds true if you don鈥檛 really understand how forests work and where they鈥檙e at in this moment in time.鈥

IN THE QUEST TO PROTECT OUR ECOSYSTEMS, WE WILL NEED TO MAKE HARD, UNCOMFORTABLE DECISIONS, SUCH ACTS LIKE LOVING DEER AND HUNTING DEER, LOVING TREES AND FELLING TREES.


鈥 Ethan Tapper

In his role of service forester, Ethan really wanted to do a better job communicating the value of his work, as well as the work of other loggers and foresters. 鈥淢ost people are supporters of forest management. They just don鈥檛 know it yet. And the reason they don鈥檛 know it is because we as a forestry community haven鈥檛 done a good job of sharing that story.鈥 Consequently, Ethan began to change the narrative. He started a YouTube channel, began writing monthly columns in community newspapers and magazines, and organized 300 events over about eight years. 鈥淚 felt I was reaching people in a different way. I was figuring out how to talk about forest management in a way that resonated with folks.鈥

In 2024, Ethan left his job as a service forester to start his own consulting business 鈥 Bear Island Forestry 鈥 and to publicize How to Love a Forest. Since then, he has held more than 100 walks, talks, and other events across the northeastern US. He has built social media channels on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok with more than 75,000 followers (using the handle @howtoloveaforest), and has seen How to Love a Forest sell tens of thousands of copies.

Forest fixer-upper

After advising people on how to manage their timberland for many years, Ethan wanted to own and manage his own forest. In 2017, he bought a 175-acre (70 hectare) forest in Bolton, Vermont that he calls Bear Island. The listing appeared on a realtor website one day, and it was cheap. 鈥淪o, I kind of wondered what was wrong with it,鈥 he said. He found the answers quickly 鈥 terrible access, especially challenging topography, poorly logged in the past, brutally high graded, bad trail maintenance, deer overpopulation, and non-native invasive plant infestations. He was ready to take on the challenge with the goal to restore Bear Island to a healthy, thriving forest.
Bear Island, located in Bolton, Vermont.
A picturesque view of Bear Island, located in Bolton, Vermont.
For seven years, Ethan worked tirelessly on the land. He worked with loggers to create patch cuts, clearing out acres of diseased beech trees, planted tens of thousands of acorns, managed non-native invasive plants, stabilized eroding skid trails, and reduced deer browsing. Throughout this time, he remained hopeful, even when faced with difficult decisions. As a result, he has witnessed a remarkable transformation. 鈥淲ithout intervention, the forest would have just continued to be unhealthy,鈥 says Ethan. 鈥淭he skid trails would have continued to erode, the nonnative invasive plant problem would have continued to get worse. None of the benefits that I鈥檝e now created on this land would have existed.鈥

WE HAVE TOOLS THAT WE CAN USE TO SOLVE MANY OF THESE PROBLEMS RIGHT NOW AND WE JUST NEED TO BE WILLING TO USE THOSE TOOLS AND PUT IN THE WORK.


Thousands of trees on the mountain would not have had the opportunity to grow, spread their crowns, and thrive. Acres of young forest habitat and a variety of canopy gaps have emerged that wouldn鈥檛 exist otherwise. 鈥淭here is 30 acres [12 ha] of a regenerating forest filled with diverse plant understories that would not have developed because they would have been smothered by Japanese barberry and other non-native invasive plants.鈥

Ethan faces new challenges each year, but the work has paid off. 鈥淭o see this dramatic transformation, to arrive at this moment where I just realize how much it has changed is incredibly powerful.鈥

The forester and the logger

Ethan says foresters and loggers must implement the vision together. 鈥淚 think that in its best iteration, the relationship between the forester and the logger is this symbiotic, mutually beneficial partnership. And it really should benefit both parties.鈥

When asked what his biggest learning experience on Bear Island has been, Ethan cites his work with 鈥淩ed鈥 鈥 his Timberjack 230E cable skidder. He says that 鈥渨orking with Red has helped me realize the logistical and economic realities of what it takes to work in the woods. It has completely changed the way that I mark trees and the way that I work with loggers.鈥
Ethan sitting on skidder blade
Ethan operates 鈥淩ed,鈥 his old Timberjack 230E cable skidder, to help manage Bear Island.
Ethan鈥檚 forest management plans focus on the timber resources but are inclusive of the ecology of the land. He likes to take a deep dive into what鈥檚 going on with the forest. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a misunderstanding sometimes that when we do these practices that are more ecologically responsible that they must be more difficult and more of a pain and more expensive. But it doesn鈥檛 have to be that way.鈥

One example is how Ethan deals with one of the big issues in Vermont: deer overpopulation. 鈥淧utting deadwood on the ground is something that we really want to do. So, an example of what I ask loggers to do is, if you鈥檙e working with a hand crew and cable skidder, when you cut the limbs or tops off the tree, just leave them there. Put deadwood on the ground in a way that creates an area where deer can鈥檛 browse. If we make a big, jumbled mess in the forest, we can protect young seedlings and saplings that are going to regenerate, as well as providing all these benefits associated with deadwood, which is this really important habitat and helps build future soils and regulate forest hydrology.鈥

A symbol of hope

Ethan started writing How to Love a Forest in 2016, after realizing that there was no book that captured his understanding of what forests are, how they work, and what it means to take care of them. From 5:00 to 6:00 am each day he wrote for six years. The book takes the reader into the ecological depths of Bear Island, exploring the makeup of a forest community and how it鈥檚 both fragile and resilient. The book helps us realize what it means to care for forests. He explains that in the quest to protect our ecosystems, we will need to make hard, uncomfortable decisions 鈥 acts such as loving deer and hunting deer, loving trees and felling trees.

Ethan鈥檚 experience with Bear Island鈥檚 transformation inspires the book. It is a demonstration of what鈥檚 possible. 鈥淲hen I started with Bear Island, I just saw it as a symbol of everything that was wrong with the world. The land had every problem that a forest could have. And now I see it as a symbol of what鈥檚 possible and a symbol of hope.

TO SEE THIS DRAMATIC TRANSFORMATION, TO ARRIVE AT THIS MOMENT WHERE I JUST REALIZE HOW MUCH IT HAS CHANGED IS INCREDIBLY POWERFUL.


鈥 Ethan Tapper

Ethan emphasizes that we already have all the tools we need. We don鈥檛 have to wait for someone in a lab to invent some miracle cure for our forests. 鈥淲e have tools that we can use to solve many of these problems right now and we just need to be willing to use those tools and put in the work.鈥

Ethan wants the public to better appreciate the work of forestry and logging 鈥 that using a chainsaw or a skidder can be incredibly positive. 鈥淲hen people see loggers at work or when they see those machines running, I want them to appreciate the nuances in managing a forest.鈥 The book is a celebration of nuance.

He wants the public to understand that to save the ecosystems of this planet and all the species that depend on them, including us, we must make complex choices. 鈥淚 have learned that the steps on the path toward a better world are often counterintuitive, uncomfortable and strange. I have learned that what is simple is rarely true, and what is necessary is rarely easy.鈥
Ethan on book tour
Ethan speaking at an event on his book tour in the US northeast.
Ethan comments on how people want to live in a world with clean air and water. But we also desire societies that provide access to economic opportunities, jobs, and local renewable resources to keep us warm and help us build our homes. Achieving all these goals requires compromises. People often wish to have everything without making difficult choices or facing the trade-offs involved.

鈥淭here is such a different way that we can think about the work that we do. It is like when we鈥檙e cutting a tree. It鈥檚 not about what we鈥檙e destroying. It鈥檚 not about what we鈥檙e taking away. It鈥檚 about what we鈥檙e building. And within these forests, we know that the death of a tree can be this incredibly positive thing. It can help the forest heal from the wounds of the past. It can help navigate complex threats and stressors and help the forest to be more resilient in the future.鈥