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Burrowing owl west of Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo copyright 2016, Chris Madson, all rights reserved) A WHILE BACK, I FOUND MYSELF IN A HOTEL CONFERENCE ROOM WITH THE BLINDS DRAWN, GLASSES AND PITCHERS OF WATER ON the draped tables, a projector for Powerpoint presentations, a flip chart and magic markers in the . . . → Read More: A part or apart? Rebirth Pilot and Index peaks in the Absaroka Wilderness in northwestern Wyoming. (Photo copyright 2018 by Chris Madson, all rights reserved) AT ITS HEART, COMMUNICATION REQUIRES TWO THINGS: SOMEONE TALKING AND SOMEONE WILLING TO LISTEN. A PARTICULARLY artful communicator may beguile a few more passersby to join the audience in the . . . → Read More: The land ethic in the twenty-first century: Part IV What happened? Drilling rig in the Green River basin, Wyoming. (Photo copyright 2015, Chris Madson, all rights reserved) AS THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION DOES EVERYTHING IT CAN TO VITIATE THE NATION’S ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS, GUT FEDERAL agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, roll back regulations intended to protect our air and water, accelerate . . . → Read More: The land ethic in the twenty-first century: Part III The tide goes out
THAT WAS THE WAY THINGS STOOD WHEN A NEW GENERATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROFESSIONALS EMERGED FROM THEIR TRAINING TO DO what they could to sustain the “integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community.” I was one of that cohort. I ‘d done my graduate work in . . . → Read More: The land ethic in the twenty-first century: Part II The rise of the land ethic THE SUMMER OF 1947 WAS QUIETER FOR ALDO LEOPOLD THAN HE’D EXPECTED. He was at the peak of a remarkable career: founder and chair of the world’s first department of wildlife management at the University of Wisconsin; a sought-after essayist and public speaker; one . . . → Read More: The land ethic in the twenty-first century: Part I THIS PLACE IS CLOSE TO THE CENTER OF THE BIG EMPTY IN WYOMING. THE RIDGE TO THE SOUTH IS KNOWN TO A HANDFUL OF LOCALS AS PINE HILL. THE mountain range just out of this picture to the west is too small to be a part of any national forest. It’s held and mostly neglected . . . → Read More: In the wind IT’S THE BUSIEST INTERSECTION IN WYOMING, A CROSSING I MAKE, AT some risk of life and limb, nearly every morning on my way back from running my Brittanies. As I wait for the light to change, my gaze settles on the ground at the curb. Heaven only knows how many times this dirt has been . . . → Read More: Blue grama FOR MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS, MY WIFE WAS ONE OF THE LONG-SUFFERING PEOPLE WHO WENT OUT on an elementary school playground to enforce the house rules on an unruly mob of first through sixth graders. This time of year was particularly challenging. After a summer of more or less feral recreation, the young kids had . . . → Read More: Lessons from the playground GUILT, THE PSYCHOLOGISTS SAY, IS A CORROSIVE EMOTION. SO IS REGRET, THEY SAY. AND I SUPPOSE they’re right. Obsessing over mistakes that have already been made may not be a good recipe for maintaining mental health, let alone finding constructive solutions for intransigent problems. It’s possible that such emotions are best left to old people . . . → Read More: The sins of the fathers . . . Dust storm in northwestern Kansas, April 2016 IT MAY BE MY FAVORITE TROUT STREAM, PARTLY BECAUSE, AS SMALL AS IT IS, IT REGULARLY yields browns and cutthroats over five pounds, and in large measure because it isn’t anything like what most people imagine when they think of trout water. It’s a sun-baked, sand-bottomed . . . → Read More: The price of procrastination |
