Coffee with the ladies

This morning, I saddled a dependable horse and headed for morning rounds at the calving meadow. I want to finish checking on the cows a little early so I can drive up the road to my neighbor’s house for the Shell Ladies’ Coffee. (Shell itself may boast a population of only 50, but we’ve had gatherings with 20 women in attendance.)

On such a beautiful morning, its hard to hurr

The ugly economy of killing wildlife

Most Americans have never heard of the federal agency euphemistically known as Wildlife Services. Yet it was a major force in eliminating wolf and grizzly bear populations in the early 20th century, and today spends over $100 million each year using mostly taxpayer dollars to kill more than a million animals -- primarily birds -- but also bears, bobcats, badgers, coyotes, mountain l

Predator control looks a lot different on the ground

The extremists who are on a mission to eliminate the Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services would do well to spend time with ranchers who live and work on our Western landscape. There, they might gain an on-the-ground perspective other than their narrowly defined agenda. As the old Greek shepherds -- echoing the ancient Greek philosophers -- say, “Everything in moderation.” Y

Guns, guts and cold dead fingers

About a decade ago, while waiting at the town stoplight, I read the bumper stickers on the Jeep Cherokee in front of me. One was familiar: ‘When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.” But the other was new: ‘MY PRESIDENT IS CHARLTON HESTON.”

Charlton Heston was president of the National Rifle Association from 1998 to 2003; he died this April 5 at age 84. Heston won

Wyoming’s air is getting a little thick

Recently, I heard an ozone warning for the first time on Wyoming radio. I grew up in the tiny town of Saratoga and have lived in Wyoming for 27 of my 34 years, and during that time I’ve watched air quality decrease in other places -- like Denver. But I never expected to hear air-quality alerts in Sublette County, Wyo., where hardly anybody lives.

The warning meant that childre

When a dam is demolished, the old ways return

It seems almost unbelievable: A slender, 3-foot-long, three-year-old rainbow trout recently swam from Montana’s Clark Fork River to spawning grounds in the Big Blackfoot River. The trout is the first in more than 100 years to heed the ancient call to ascend beyond the confluence of these rivers.

Since 1907, the lower Clark Fork River has been divided from its upriver tributari