On Sale: Oct 6, 2026
Page Count: 224 pages
Publisher: Timber Press
ISBN-13: 9781643266558

$14.99

$19.99 CAD

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I now believe that there is nothing radical about planting a tree and walking away. I now believe that what is truly radical, truly profound, truly beautiful, is to stay and tend the trees we have planted — to invest ourselves in this endless process of caring for this world and for each other.

Tapper's groundbreaking first book How to Love a Forest (called "beautifully written" by Bill McKibben) offered an optimistic vision for tending the woods. His new book, The Forest Year, lives inside the practice of staying, caretaking, and paying attention. Following a forest and its steward through a year of life, the book explores flowers, birds, forest ecology, and biodiversity while reflecting on what it means to be rooted in place, community, and the ecosystems that sustain us at a time of profound change. The Forest Year is a meditative and lyrical ode to the land, weaving complex scientific and ecological concepts with beautiful narrative prose, making nuanced ideas easy to understand and deeply resonant. Both place-based and practice-driven, Tapper writes not as an armchair philosopher or an academic, but as a working forester stewarding real forests in real time, blending emotional insight with ecological rigor. A moving account of what it means to persist in the face of change and to love a place through work, compromise, sacrifice, and humility, this book will inspire readers to think deeply about where they live and who they are.

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Praise for How to Love a Forest:
"If Aldo Leopold were a 21st century Vermont forester with one good eye and a contemporary understanding of power and privilege, this might be the sort of book he'd write." —Ben Goldbard, author of Eager

“Ecological wisdom abounds in Tapper's story of restoration: wisdom that needs to be spread far, wide, and fast.” —Doug Tallamy, author of Nature's Best Hope

“Eloquent and thoughtful while also being informative and briming with lush descriptions…Readers will see forests through new eyes after reading Tapper's compelling and compassionate call to action.” —Booklist

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Ethan Tapper

About the Author

Ethan Tapper is a forester, author, speaker, digital creator and advocate for forests and responsible ecosystem stewardship. His first book, How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World, was released in September 2024, and since has been named a bestseller by the Northeast Independent Booksellers Association (NEIBA), is in its seventh printing, and was a finalist for the Vermont Book Award. Ethan is a powerful and passionate advocate for forests and other ecosystems, and gifted at sharing his passion and advocacy across multiple platforms: since 2023 he has built a social media following of more than 85,000 across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok. Ethan is also a decorated forester with his own consulting forestry business, Bear Island Forestry, and when he is not writing, on speaking tours and making social media content, Ethan lives and works at Bear Island, his 175-acre working forest, homestead, orchard, and sugarbush, and plays in a ten-piece punk band called The Bubs.

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