Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana
Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana
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Twice a year, I hike a favorite trail in Oregon’s Cascade Range. I have done this for over 20 years, timing my hikes for early spring and fall. The first hike is for wildflowers, the second is for autumn leaves. In June up high, the forest floor is lit by the spires of flowering vanilla-leaf spangled with starflowers, along with coralroot orchids. The towering conifers and mountain river lined with vine maples and dogwoods are a world apart from the cottonwood-shaded creeks of my home ground i...
A deer stands paralyzed in the middle of a mountain highway, stunned by the lights and deafening roar of an 18-wheeler barreling toward it. At the last second, the deer leaps back into the forest. This time, the deer and the trucker avoid a fatal collision, but this stretch of Interstate-5 in southern Oregon is a known killing field for wildlife and dangerous for motorists. The highway cuts through a critical connection for wildlife moving between two mountain ranges and home to the...
Ah, what a beautiful day! The air has that magical quality it sometimes gets in spring, a caressing softness on the skin. The buds on the plum trees are swelling, and the robins have ascended to the tops of the trees, where they’re singing with abandon. But… it is February. Today’s high temperature was 72 degrees, almost 20 degrees higher than normal and a new record. At this time of year, the mountains surrounding my southern Oregon valley should be deep in snow. The high country lakes should be full, but frozen. The sky should be gray and,...
The grizzly bear. The wolf. The cougar. These magnificent creatures, apex predators, how can we not admire them? People cross the world for the opportunity to see one in the wilds of Yellowstone or Alaska. There, we view them from a distance, free to indulge our awe in safety. It has been a long time since Americans lived in fear of wild beasts. But now that fear has returned. Fear felt not just in the woods, but also in cities and towns: Paradise, California; Talent, Oregon; and now in suburban Superior and Louisville in Colorado’s Boulder C...
