Forester, influencer and author Ethan Tapper on why ‘it's our responsibility to carry hope for each other’

Ethan Tapper is a forester, philosopher, bestselling author and social media star. The chainsaw-toting, ATV-driving Vermonter has an audience of some 400,000 followers for his folksy and instructive videos on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. His previous book, “How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World,” won the 2025 New England Book Award in nonfiction and was a regional bestseller.

The 37-year-old former Chittenden County forester lives in a 175-acre forest in Bolton that he calls Bear Island. It’s a central character in his writing.

When Tapper purchased the forest in 2017, it was “some of the most degraded areas of forest that I'd ever seen,” he said. He began clearing brush, removing trash, planting trees and enabling new growth.

Tapper and I walked through Bear Island in late September as it was erupting in fall color. He told me that he “just sort of gave this forest a chance. And as I find again and again and again, you give it a chance, and life finds a way.”

Tapper has a new book out this week, “The Forest Year: Finding Hope in a World Worth Saving.” In it, he explores the power of staying and paying careful attention to the environment around you. Tapper tells the story of how deepening a relationship with the natural world is a model for how to take care of oneself and others.

“I've chosen roots over wings,” he said as we hiked to a clearing with views of the surrounding peaks. Staying close to his forest has “given me the freedom to be here and to invest in this place and really live with the seasons, live with this forest.”

His deepening awareness of his environment has had multiple benefits. “It's also made me a better forest steward and a more curious and interested person.”

Tapper has worked as a professional forester since 2012. He received a bachelor’s degree in forestry and a master’s in natural resources from the University of Vermont. After working as a county forester for the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation for eight years, he left to start his own consulting forestry business, Bear Island Forestry, in 2024. In his spare time, he dabbles as a rock star — literally — as the lead singer in a punk rock band called the Bubs.



We stood next to a pond that reflected the brilliant red, yellow and green around us. “The process of being here with Bear Island has been an extremely hope-filled process,” Tapper told me.

“Hope is a self-fulfilling prophecy, because when you feel hope and you give other people reason to feel hope, they do stuff. They take action. They make hard choices. They stand up. …

“We live in this world which, despite centuries of degradation (and) exploitation, we're surrounded by all of these species and all of these ecosystems that still work.”

He added: “It's our responsibility to carry hope for each other. We hand this mantle of hope to other people and we change the world. And I think we have to.”