Once in a great while, the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, a grassroots forest-protection group focused on protecting native fish and wildlife habitat and ecosystem integrity, scores a victory for the voiceless in Idaho’s great North wildlands.  Yesterday, a federal district court judge suspended a large U.S. Forest Service-USDA timber sale in the “Idaho Panhandle” area, which will protect some grizzly bears hanging onto life by a thread in the Selkirk Mountains. Selkirk grizzlies are scarce and endangered, persisting on the brink of extinction. 

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Court-ruling-halts-northern-Idaho-logging-project-16341059.php

“U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled Friday in favor of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and issued a preliminary injunction on the 2,500-acre (1,000-hectare) Hanna Flats Logging Project in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest.” 

                                                                                                                    

Continue reading “Judge Suspends Logging Project West of Priest Lake, Idaho.” →

Home is a place where I am at ease. Like most people, I enjoy company, conversation, playing cards. The pitter-patter of a card game, the things we say while focused on something else are far more interesting than things we plan to say to others. I am most at “home” when with others and absorbed in something else, as with bird watching. Things pass through my mind, and sometimes I give voice, as one day with a group down on Platte River when I repeated the words of a song … out of the blue: “Like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir, I have tried, in my own way, to be true to you free.”

“Where did that come from?”, I was asked. I quickly consulted my phone to find I was quoting a song by Leonard Cohen, but why?

Continue reading “Where is home?” →

“I piss on you all, from a considerable height.” (Louis-Ferdinand Celine)

The photo to the left is of one of the hardest walks we ever did, somewhere in Italy. It is not that it is a great distance or steep climb – most of us could accomplish this and recover quickly. The problem was this: I placed an orange arrow at the very top of the mountain we had to ascend.  Though hard to see, it is Rifugio Lagazuoi, seen above. It is a mountain hotel, where we would be staying in that night. We could see it, and over the entire walk that followed, it never left our sight. It also never seemed to get bigger. This is what made the hike so difficult, a psychological sense that we were not making any progress.

As the photo to the right indicates, we did eventually make it to our destination.

I wish at the outset here to separate myself from men and women who climb mountains. Maybe in another life I will deal with ropes and gadgets designed to suspend people at high altitude, as from the Half Dome or North Face. I have climbed, that is, jumped from rock to rock on minor hills and mountains, pulling myself up, losing fingernails, and I must say it was invigorating. Now, at age 71, I stay on trails. I have never used a rope, helmet, harness in any “mountain climbing” sense, and a carabiner only to suspend a water bottle from my belt or bird feeder from a wire on our property. You magnificent people who do that, go away. This is not written for you, who might echo Monseur Celine above about our efforts.

Continue reading ““… from a considerable height.”” →

I know everyone will hate this idea—and I mean, almost everyone—but, if current recreational trends continue, it might a good time to start accepting that grizzly country should be for grizzlies. Otherwise, it’s a near certainty that there will be more encounters that will equal more human deaths, which will almost always equal more grizzly deaths and further demonization of grizzlies. The the egocentric will hate it.  

https://idfg.idaho.gov/press/man-injured-grizzly-bear-after-encountering-female-cub

Alternatively, should people sign a waiver if they intend to walk, hike, backpack,  fish, hunt, etc. in grizzly country agreeing they will not hold a bear accountable if they are attacked and agree the bear should not be killed?

In Idaho’s Selkirk Range, the Harrison Lake trail was closed because some moron with a loose dog had his camp raided by a moose and shot it. 

Is it time for Glacier Park to control recreationalists, with more rules, like on National Forest land? Is that a good strategy? Or, is a no-use option the only solution? Why not just ban all recreation in griz country? 

There are far too many people recreating in griz country. Humans are a menace to most wildlife. They remain the biggest threat to grizzlies. Just ban all recreation in griz country.  

People in Great Falls showing up recently at a commission meeting to protest more development for recreation, stating they do not want Great Falls to be a recreation destination. They said: “Look at Bozeman and the Flathead – we don’t want that for Great Falls.”

… don’t you think the joker laughs at you? (John Lennon’s songwriting ghosts)

“I would rather have questions that cannot be answered than answers that cannot be questioned.” (Richard Feynman)

7/4/2021 – We are in Yellowstone National Park with our two grandsons, having a very good time. We did not know what to expect, where we would be. In the past we would stay at Pebble Creek Campground, maybe eight miles into the park from the Silvergate entrance. All of the 27 sites were FCFS, that is, first come, first serve. We would look over the board and see what sites were coming available, and arrive at 5:00 AM the following morning to be first in line.

Continue reading “Expert texpert, choking smoker …” →

“We’re living in the first truly global-hegemonic ideological system in human history. We have been for the last 30 years. If you are touchy about the term “global capitalism,” go ahead and call it “globalism,” or “crony capitalism,” or “corporatism,” or whatever other name you need to.”

Manufacturing (New Normal) “Reality”

Continue reading “A new look at “reality.”” →

Earlier this week I bragged to Stephers that, having been at this since 2006, I’ve seen many bloggers burn out. But I keep going. It seems easy to sit down and write. I very promptly ran out of ideas. Karma is real.

The above video features one of my favorite comedians (I have many), Norm MacDonald, telling us that despite pompous pronouncement, teaching is not the hardest job in the world. It is the easiest. To teach a second grader, you only need have a third grade education.

Continue reading “The deadliest game afoot … criticizing teachers” →