About Withywindle

Dedicated to promoting environmental awareness and literacy.

Withywindle Nature is: Withywindle Books founded in 2005, Withywindle Blog, founded in 2007, and Withywindle Nature Programs, founded in 2011.

Cynthia Menard is the founder of Withywindle Nature and all it’s projects. She has her Masters of Science degree in Conservation Biology from Antioch University New England, and has been working as a professional Naturalist for over a decade. She has studied tracking at the Walnut Hill Tracking Center, and gone through naturalist and ecological monitor trainings at Mass Audubon. In addition to her independent work, Cynthia has also worked for Vermont Audubon, Mass Audubon, the Nashua River Watershed Association and the YMCA, among others (see below). Although she loves teaching about all aspects of the natural world, her specialty areas are wild canines and tracking. Cynthia currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Environmental Education Society (MEES), is the Vice President of New England Environmental Education Alliance (NEEEA) board and Co-Chaired the three-day 2011 NEEEA Conference.

While working on her Master’s degree at Antioch, Cynthia co-coordinated a trip to Yellowstone National Park to study wolves and other large mammals within the Yellowstone ecosystem. Her thesis focused on tracking the movements of coyote, bobcat, fisher and whitetail deer in a northern Massachusetts sanctuary, and mapping wildlife corridors from northern Massachusetts into southern New Hampshire.

Website Design and Management

Cynthia is also available as a website designer and manager. Her current web projects include the Withywindle Nature site, and the soon-to-be-released (est. May/June 2012) new site for Zaza Ink. If you’d like more information on what Cynthia can offer you for your site, contact her at: cynthia@withywindlenature.com.

Cynthia lives in northern Massachusetts with her husband, two sons and their German Shepherd. Her passions include playing the fiddle, birding, hiking, paddling and being with her family. She would be happy to work with you to create a program to meet the specific needs of any public, private or school group. You can contact her by email at: cynthia@withywindlenature.com.

Organizations Worked With:

Vermont Audubon Society

Mass Audubon

Nashua River Watershed Association

Massachusetts Environmental Education Society

Friends of the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge

New England Environmental Education Alliance

Great Falls Discovery Center

The Trustees of Reservations

MetroWest YMCA Family Outdoor Center

Northeast Wildlife Trackers

Cynthia has had several articles published in Massachusetts Environmental Education Society’s quarterly journal, The Observer:

A bibliographic record of Cynthia’s Master’s Thesis can be found at: http://voyager.antioch.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=32983

A local news article reviewing a presentation by Cynthia at the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in 2008: http://www.wickedlocal.com/wayland/news/x833724005/Wolves-in-New-England#axzz1cTUJcmfZ

A short write-up of a presentation by Cynthia on the History of Wolves in New England given in 2011: http://www.northeastwildlifetrackers.org/2011/2011SpeakerBios.pdf

Withywindle Nature also has the assistance of Obo Menard; he is the primary nature photographer (you can view and purchase his photography at the Art Gallery on the Withywindle Books site), book hauler (when selling at area conventions), Withywindle promoter and tireless assistant.

What’s Withywindle?

The name Withywindle comes from Cynthia’s initial business venture, Withywindle Books. The Withywindle is a river that runs through the Old Forest of the Shire in J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy. As Withywindle Books started out primarily as a fantasy & sci-fi focused bookstore, the name was a good fit. But the name Withywindle has connotations for the natural world as well as a fantastical one, and so Cynthia chose to use it also for the natural history programs she offers.