‘How to Love a Forest’ a new book from Vermont forester, author, and digital creator Ethan Tapper asks what it means to truly love a forest

Vermont author Ethan Tapper’s first book: “How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World” will be published on Sept. 10 by Broadleaf Books. The launch of “How to Love a Forest” will be celebrated with a book tour throughout New England.

How to Love a Forest, which has received the endorsements of prominent environmental authors such as Bill McKibben, Doug Tallamy, Ben Goldfarb and others, is – in the author’s words – a reimagining of forests and other ecosystems and what it means to care for them. It asks: what does it mean to love a forest? How do we respond to the harmful legacies of the past? How do we use our species’ incredible power to heal rather than to harm? How do we reach toward a better future?

Tapper started writing How to Love a Forest in 2018, after realizing that there was no book that captured what forests truly are, how they work, and what it means to care for them. He wrote the book one hour at a time — from 5-6 a.m. — over the following five years, finally completing it in 2023. The resulting book has been called “tender and fearless,” “a new land ethic for the modern world,” “a manifesto against apathy,” and “a love story for our time, beautiful and revolutionary.”

For over a decade, Ethan Tapper has worked as a service forester and a consulting forester — advising landowners, municipalities, conservation organizations, foresters and loggers and responsibly stewarding thousands of acres of public and privately-owned forests.

Today, Tapper writes, runs his own consulting forestry company (Bear Island Forestry), maintains social media channels with tens of thousands of followers, manages his forest and homestead in Bolton and plays in his punk band: The Bubs.

How to Love a Forest’s book launched with a celebration in Burlington City Hall on Sept. 10.

He then embarked on a book tour throughout New England. Locally, he can be seen on:

Oct. 5 at 6 p.m. at Northshire Bookstore in Manchester

Oct. 19 at 2 p.m. at Norman Williams Public Library in Woodstock

Oct. 19 at 4:30 p.m. at the Vermont Woodlands Association Storytelling Event in White River Junction

Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. at Farm & Wilderness in Plymouth

For more inforomation about his full tour schedule, visit: EthanTapper.com/tour.