Ethan Tapper

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Ethan Tapper

Ethan Tapper is a Vermont-based forester, author, content creator and musician. He is the author of How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World, published in September, 2024.

Contents

Early life

Tapper grew up in Saxtons River, Vermont. Self-described as somewhat aimless in high school, he nevertheless graduated third in his class and received a prestigious Green and Gold Scholarship [1] to the University of Vermont. [2] Unsure of his best course of study, he enrolled in a 6-month wilderness experience that influenced him deeply, leading to years of work as a wilderness guide. When the scholarship required his return to college, he re-enrolled as a forestry major. [2] He graduated in 2012 from UVM's Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources with a Forestry degree. [3]

Forestry

After graduating, Tapper worked as a consulting forester with Fountains Forestry of Montpelier, Vermont. In June 2016, he became Vermont's Chittenden County Forester, at 26 the youngest ever in the 75-year history of the county forester program, a role that he held from 2016 to 2024. [3] [4] In that role, he advised and consulted with local landowners, towns, and businesses on the long-term management of their forests. He also worked to engage local communities in their shared ownership and stewardship of the land. [5] Today, Tapper practices forestry through his consulting forestry business - Bear Island Forestry - and manages his own 175-acre homestead, working forest, orchard and sugarbush in Bolton, Vermont, which he calls Bear Island. [6] He's been endorsed by Audubon as a bird-friendly forester and bird-friendly maple sugarmaker. [7]

Writing

As Chittenden County Forester, Tapper wrote regularly for local newspapers and other periodicals on general forestry topics. [8] Seeking to tell a more broad and personal story, in 2024 he published his first book How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World. [9] The book was well-received, garnered positive attention from statewide and national media, and was endorsed by Bill McKibben, Doug Tallamy and Ben Goldfarb, among others. [10] [11]

Tapper's second book was Willow and the Storm – A Children’s Book About Ecology, Regeneration, Resilience and the End of Life, and was illustrated by Frances Cannon. Willow and the Storm was Tapper's response to the idea that people often misunderstand the often-positive role that death plays in forests, and that this seemed linked to people’s difficult relationship with death in general. [12]

Social media and Public Speaking

Tapper has an active presence on multiple social media channels, including Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok, all using the handle @HowToLoveAForest. Since 2024, he has posted hundreds of videos about environmental topics and has accrued hundreds of thousands of followers and subscribers.

As a service forester, Ethan led hundreds of public events in Vermont. Since the publication of How to Love a Forest, Ethan has traveled across the United States and Canada, delivering hundreds of talks, readings, keynotes and interpretive walks for conferences, conservation organizations and community groups. [13] [8]

Personal life

Tapper has been open about several struggles in his life, including the trauma of losing the vision in his left eye at the age of 19, a chainsaw accident that nearly blinded him in his right eye in 2020 and required multiple reconstructive surgeries, his struggles with ADHD, and his use of Internal Family Systems therapy. [8] [14] [15]

Today, when he is not running his consulting forestry business, writing, or making videos, Tapper lives, works and writes at Bear Island, his 175-acre working forest, homestead, orchard and sugarbush in Vermont. He is an avid birder, a deer hunter, a maple sugar maker, and the front man, singer, and guitarist for the punk band The Bubs, based in Burlington, Vermont. [16] The potential for incongruity in his forestry, writing, and musical lives is not unnoticed by the Vermont press. [17] [8]

Publications

Books

Awards and recognition

References

  1. "GREEN & GOLD". Issuu. Retrieved 2025-04-17.
  2. 1 2 Cyr, Anna (2024-05-23). "Tapper offers relationship advice for forests". The Charlotte News. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
  3. 1 2 "County Forester Ethan Tapper Walks the Talk in the Woods". www.uvm.edu. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
  4. Staff Reporter (2016-06-29). "Tapping into youth". Essex Reporter. Retrieved 2025-04-17.
  5. Forester, Ethan Tapper Chittenden County (2023-01-30). "Cryptic Function Loss according to Chittenden County Forester Ethan Tapper". Colchester Sun. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
  6. Hofacre, Alexandra (2025-03-27). "Ethan Tapper shares journey of environmental activism". The Kenyon Collegian. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
  7. "Audubon Endorsed Forester Ethan Tapper Teaches Us How to Love a Forest". Audubon New York. 2024-10-08. Retrieved 2025-04-17.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "About Ethan". Ethan Tapper | Forester | Author. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
  9. Taylor, Dana. "How do you love a forest? Ethan Tapper has thoughts. | The Excerpt". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
  10. "Something Wild: 'How to Love a Forest' with Ethan Tapper". New Hampshire Public Radio. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
  11. "Something Wild: "How to Love a Forest" with Ethan Tapper | Forest Society". www.forestsociety.org. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
  12. "Willow and the Storm". Ethan Tapper | Forester | Author. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
  13. "Public Speaking". Ethan Tapper | Forester | Author. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
  14. "This Forester's Radical Ideas Could Save Our Ecosystems!". Conspiracy of Goodness Podcast. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
  15. "Adopting a Land Steward Mindset with Ethan Tapper". Wired to Hunt Podcast. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
  16. Hallenbeck, Brent. "'It would seem totally incongruous': This Vermonter is punk musician, forester and author". Burlington Free Press. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
  17. Farnsworth, Chris. "The Bubs' Ethan Tapper on His New Book About Forestry". Seven Days. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
  18. "Vermont County Forester Receives National Award | Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation". fpr.vermont.gov. Retrieved 2025-04-16.