THE SUBTLE MAGIC OF ART
I’d just like to acknowledge the time and talent taken by your graphic designers in formatting your print issues. Although I’m not always a fan of some of the graphics chosen to illustrate a story, I really appreciate the layout: the mix of photos and illustrations with text, the details, like the little pinecone graphic in the May 2026 issue. Whoever creates that subtle magic deserves a pat on the back.
Linda Paul
Boise, Idaho
IN PRAISE OF PINECONES
A great round of applause and a huge thank-you to pinecone cowboy Daniel Keeley (Pinecone Cowboys, May 2026). I hope he gets a huge raise for his difficult, dedicated work to reforest our landscape.
The article was very informative and well written. I had no idea all this was happening in the tree canopies of the West. It’s heartbreaking to read the negative results of the loss of government funding, lackluster support from this administration, and what appears to be poor Forest Service management. Will we ever learn the importance of respecting and catering to the needs of Mother Earth?
Katherine Brown
Cortez, Colorado
I was raised in Porterville, California, and spent my early years running around the Sierra Nevada among the giant sequoias. In 1965, I was a foreign exchange student to a family in the Black Forest in Germany. Exchange students were encouraged to bring gifts that represented our hometowns and give them to the local people. Porterville was the headquarters of Sequoia National Forest, so I took several envelopes of giant sequoia seeds. I remember the rangers were dubious about my story that I was going to take the seeds to Germany to plant in the Black Forest. They thought it was the wrong elevation or the wrong climate and soil. Despite the size of these big trees when they are mature, their seeds are almost like dust, and they are very difficult to grow. I do not know how the seeds that I took were harvested. Perhaps some ’60s era pinecone cowboys?
As it turned out, a relative of my host family in Germany was a horticulturalist in a local arboretum, and so I gave him an envelope of the seeds. He was able to germinate them in a greenhouse, and then he planted the seedlings throughout the arboretum. Since then, I have been back several times to see my Riesenmammutbäume (“giant sequoias” in German) and have been interviewed a few times by the local village newspaper. There was always interest in anyone who came to the Black Forest with these unique trees. I can report that “my” trees are thriving in the Black Forest, and today it would take probably a dozen or more people to join hands around their bases. In decades or centuries to come, I hope people will gaze at these enormous and beautiful trees and wonder how they came to be in the Black Forest.
Ken Longley
Kenmore, Washington
NO WATER, NO LIFE
Utah is the worst I’ve seen it in 50 years of living here, and our politicians, developers and realtors are pushing more development (“The winter that wasn’t,” May 2026.) And the market is saturated with existing homes for sale.
Paul Kendall
Via social media
THE MYTH OF ENERGY DOMINANCE
Cogent piece on dependence (“War exposes the energy dominance lie,” March 26, 2026). Put the kibosh on “independence.” I often find myself surprised at the lack of emphasis put on resource conservation as it applies to future use. Do we simply not care?
John Chambers
Via email
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