Can it really be 20 years since Kierán Suckling, Gina Trott, Todd Schulke and Dan Moore descended on Albuquerque like a chapter out of the Old Testament? I remember them showing up, then marching out of, the slow-boat Wolf Coalition meetings. They looked like wild-eyed college kids. But their hastily assembled Wolf Action Group soon had the environmentalists, Department of Defense, and Fish and Wildlife Service not knowing whether to scramble to keep up or head for the hills. It should have been called the Mexican Wolf Strike Force.

I thought they would surely flame out, not mature into the Center for Biological Diversity. It is not often you see such passion mixed with a flair for organization building. Given the Center's ubiquity, though, they seem more like a firestorm than a firebrand today.

Well, hurray and God bless. If they do for polar bears and panthers what they did for the Mexican gray wolf, put your seat belt on. It's going to be a wild ride.

Bill Reed
Albuquerque, N.M.