Spruce-fir forests blanket the mountaintops and cold valley bottoms of the northeastern United States. In them live a distinctive mix of plants and animals drawn from environments both north and south, forming a broad link between the great deciduous forests of the eastern United States and massive boreal forests of Canada and Alaska. This project explores the natural history of these forests, with a focus on its wildlife, and the ways in which human use, past and present, influence the nature of this wild landscape. In doing so, I look to answer a straightforward yet difficult question: how, in the face of climate change, growing human populations, and globalized commodity markets, can we sustain the many values provided by these forests, both for people and for wild nature?