From the Editor (winter 2014)
By Indy Burke
“I’m weary and tired. I’ve done my day’s riding. Nighttime is rolling my way. The sky’s on fire and the light’s slowly fading. Peaceful and still ends the day. And out on the trail the night birds are calling, singing their wild melody. Down in the canyon the cottonwood whispers a song of Wyoming for me.”
– Chris LeDoux
Greater sage grouse: The bird that brought the West together
The greater sage grouse lives in the extensive sagebrush steppe that spans parts of Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, the Dakotas, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Cattle as ecosystem engineers
Climate, soils, topography, grazing, and fire have shaped the composition and structure of vegetation on rangelands in the American West. Collectively, the many possible combinations of these different factors should lead to diverse plant communities and associated diverse wildlife species.
Conservation grazing: Ranchers lead the way
On the Howell Ranch and adjacent properties in western Colorado, cattle are used to create prime elk hunting opportunities. Managers carefully consider elk movements when they design the annual grazing plan for the ranch.
Economics of engineering with livestock: Incentives for establishing biological diversity
Recognizing the importance of agricultural lands for wildlife, a number of programs in the western United States encourage ranchers to manage rangelands in ways that benefit both landowners and wildlife. Financial incentive for improving biodiversity per se is yet to come.
The ecology of fear: Elk responses to wolves in Yellowstone are not what we thought
Wolf reintroduction to Yellowstone National Park in 1995 triggered an endlessly fascinating stream of ecosystem responses. More than a decade and a half later, ecologists are still trying to determine
Elk and wolves in Yellowstone
The Northern Yellowstone Cooperative Wildlife Working Group, an interagency collaboration between Yellowstone National Park and Montana Fish and Wildlife, began counting elk on Yellowstone’s Northern Range in 1961. Counts are taken from the air one day a year.
“Regen”: An ecologist’s retrospective on the wildfires of 2012
My own home was surrounded by one of the massive wildfires that swept the Rocky Mountain region in 2012. While the house and barn made it, many of the neighbors’ homes did not.
Humans: The wildest animal in the forest
Social science bolsters a massive management plan
Federal government fast tracks a Wyoming wind farm
Carbon County’s Chokecherry-Sierra Madre project will be the nation’s largest
Cicadas: Wyoming’s summer songsters
Walk through the sagebrush or a forest in the west this summer and you are likely to hear the raucous clicking or buzzing of cicadas.
Solutions: Collaborative problem solving in the gas fields
A diverse team knuckles down on a daunting natural resource issue
Essay: Conservation is a conservative ethic
“Save the parts,” my dad and grandfather used to say while I was growing up on our ranch. I recall many ranches and farms hoarding a respectable bone pile of motors, bolts, springs, axles and an interesting variety of metal parts.
