Columns

Let’s tell the truth about those big, bad wolves

The return of wolves to the West has always been contentious, and the deaths last fall of more than 40…

Hans Veth via Unsplash

Wildlife watching has been getting a free ride

There’s a new initiative in Wyoming that’s changing the face of wildlife conservation funding, and it’s already seen huge success…

Elk in pine forests on South Rim of Grand Canyon/courtesy NPS

Living with grizzlies as neighbors

When I was working with a Kenyan outdoor instructor in Wyoming’s Wind River Range a couple of decades ago, he…

Grizzly bear seen near B Bar Ranch outside Gardiner, Montana, photo credit: Hank Perry www.naturalrealmpictures.com

The fading miracle of migration

For the past few weeks, dozens of turkey vultures have been circling on thermals over my house in Oregon, preparing…

Snow Geese take flight in Oregon, photo by Pepper Trail

She mistook a dog for a wolf—and fired

The story of a Montana woman who recently killed and skinned a domestic dog, then proudly posted photos on her…

Wolf watching at Slough Creek, Yellowstone National Park, courtesy of NPS

Wild horses need to stop ruling the range

They are icons of America’s past, symbols of our pioneering spirit. Eyes flashing, nostrils flaring, tails obscured by a cloud…

Donald Giannatti via Unsplash, Wild horses Monument Valley, Utah

Wild horses deserve a home in the west 

I live in a rural county heavily dependent on ranching and agriculture, and though I often hear people talk about…

Wild horse 5939 available for adoption/courtesy BLM

Will salmon finally win this year?

For the last 35 years I’ve been covering what we call the “salmon wars” in the Pacific Northwest, writing so…

We need every tool to fight today’s fires

We know now that the largest recorded fire in New Mexico history was started by an escaped “prescribed burn,” or…

Bison — back where they belong

Early in the Covid-19 epidemic, I visited the Bison Range on the Flathead Indian Reservation in northwestern Montana. But the…

Bison by the Midway Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park

This grizzly family comes with paparazzi

My neighbor is famous. She has 50,000 followers on Facebook and a recent post on her page there had 4,200…

Mother grizzly 399 and her four cubs

Wildlife Fauxtography

I’m disgusted with American journalism. It’s boring. I blame editors for assigning uninteresting stories, and people interviewed for being evasive….