Flora & Fauna: Masked bandits evolve; 2-purpose turkeys; foraging stats; whales' aging secrets; birds can help farmers

Perhaps one day, urban raccoons will be pets.
(Adobe Stock photo)

Racoons are masked, cute, and affectionately known as "trash pandas," and they are proving to have a real knack for evolving to live alongside humans, reports Axios. "The same evolutionary forces that turned wolves into domesticated dogs over thousands of years may now be reshaping urban raccoons, recent studies suggest." Marcie Logsdon, who works closely with wildlife rehabbers, told Axios, "Raccoons have adapted incredibly well to our presence. . . [They are] bold enough to raid garbage cans but polite enough" to avoid altercations with people.

An agrivoltaic 'trial flock' enjoys solar panel shade.
(Photo by Evan Carpenter, Offrange)

These turkeys have it made in the shade as they peck and strut under solar panels, unwittingly being prepared as a holiday dinner while also participating in a "dual-use agrivoltaic system," reports Jake Zajkowski for Offrange. Evan Carpenter, who is raising the "trial flock," will share bird and energy outcomes with "project collaborators United Agrivoltaics and Cornell University, to study the feasibility and business model of Carpenter’s project to scale dual-use income land."

In the Mid-Atlantic forests of the U.S., researchers Amy Wrobleski and Eric Burkhart explored regional fungi foraging and shared some of their findings with The Conversation. "We learned that harvesters use the mushrooms primarily for food and medicinal purposes. . . . Over 800 harvesters reported that, collectively, they foraged 160 species of wild mushrooms. . . . Morels and chicken of the woods were the two most popular. . . .Other popular species were hen of the woods, oysters, lion’s mane, black trumpet, honey mushroom, turkey tail, bolete, reishi, puffball, chaga, shrimp of the woods and Dryad’s saddle." Mid-Atlantic fungi can be found here. 

Bowhead whale and calf (NOAA Fisheries photo)

At full-grown, a bowhead whale can weigh 88 tons, which is roughly the weight of 15 elephants. But that's not the only outrageous bowhead fact -- the whale can live to be 268 years old. "Some whales caught in the late 1900s had old harpoon points lodged in their blubber that dated to the mid-1800s," reports Carl Zimmer of The New York Times. "A study published in the journal Nature offers a clue to how the animals manage to live so long: They are extraordinarily good at fixing damaged DNA."

K4 Ranches photo

When it comes to raising cattle, a horse is a rancher's best friend. "Using horses to check and gather cattle is typically the only option with rugged terrain," reports Maddy Rohr for Drovers. Diamond A Ranch, a division of K4 Ranch in Arizona, employs a large crew with seasonal cowboys and eight camps with full-time cowboys." Sarah Kieckhefer of K4 told Rohr, "A good horse can go where a pickup, ATV or side-by-side can’t. Horses can cover long distances and a horse allows you to move quietly, ease cattle along and reduce stress, which leads to fewer wrecks and better weight retention.”

Photo by Mike Wagner via Reasons to be Cheerful

American rice grower Mike Wagner welcomes thousands of migratory ducks, geese and shorebirds that "arrive on his farmland after harvest every autumn," writes Elizabeth Hewitt for Reasons to be Cheerful. "Over winter and early spring, the birds clean up leftovers from the growing season. Thousands of webbed feet mix up soil and water, leaving the fields ready for planting when they depart in the spring. And their droppings are so rich that Wagner has cut how much synthetic fertilizer he needs for his crop by more than a third."  

Opinion: The American wilderness is part of what makes Americans different

The Wet Beaver Wilderness in Coconino National Forest in Arizona is one of many designated wilderness areas in the United States. (Photo by Deborah Lee Soltesz via The Conversation)

U.S. state and federal parks are full of breathtaking views, unique plant life and animals roaming in their natural habitats. But their abundant wildness offers more to the country than fabulous hiking trails and jaw-dropping beauty; it's "crucial to American freedom and identity," write Leisl Carr Childers and Michael Childers in their opinion for The Conversation.

When Congress passed the Wilderness Act in 1965, it intended to protect and honor "places that evoked mystery and wonder, 'where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain,'" the writers explain. "These are wild landscapes that present nature in its rawest form."

The law instructs the federal government to "protect these areas 'for the permanent good of the whole people,'" they write. "Wilderness areas are found in national parks, conservation land overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, national forests and U.S. Fish and Wildlife refuges."

How the Wilderness Act came to be is a part of our national history and illustrates how Americans planned to share the country's natural wealth with future generations and the world.

It began with the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission, which was established by Congress in 1958, and a letter penned by the "noted Western writer Wallace Stegner about why he cared about preserving wildlands. [His] letter became known as the Wilderness Letter," Childers and Childers explain. The Wilderness Letter sat dormant until "its publication in The Washington Post on June 17, 1962. . . .Then the letter reached a national audience and captured the imagination of generations of Americans. . . . Stegner’s Wilderness Letter became a rallying cry to pass the Wilderness Act."

Wallace Stegner, right, with his son and wife, on a Yosemite National
Park hiking trail. (University of Utah photo via The Conversation)

With flair and an eloquent appeal, Stegner's letter "connected the idea of wilderness to a fundamental part of American identity. He called wilderness 'something that has helped form our character and that has certainly shaped our history as a people … the challenge against which our character as a people was formed … (and) the thing that has helped to make an American different,'" Childers and Childers write. "Without wild places, he argued, the U.S. would be just like every other over-industrialized place in the world."

Stegner’s letter and the spirit it imbues "still resonate as Americans head for their public lands and enjoy the beauty of the wild places protected by wilderness legislation this summer," they write. "With visitor numbers increasing annually and agency budgets at historic lows, we believe it is useful to remember how precious these places are for all Americans. . . . And we agree with Stegner that wilderness, public lands writ large, are more valuable to Americans’ collective identity and expression of freedom than they are as real estate that can be sold or commodities that can be extracted."

Opinion: Further buffalo restoration in the American West should be all about 'integrity' -- not adding to the economy

Writer Elsie DuBray argues that integrity in relationship is the only path forward for the
 healthy return of more buffalo to the American West. (Photo by E. Dubray via The Daily Yonder)

The American buffalo embodies the mystique of the nation's West — bold, massive and distinct. Despite its near extinction in the 1800s, the return of buffalo to western lands has been slow but steady. The buffalo restoration movement now rests on a precipice between deep respect and planning for buffalo to roam as they once did and capitalistic interests.

Writer Elsie M. DuBray, in her commentary for The Daily Yonder, argues that it is at this unique place and time where Indigenous people must focus on integrity in action and legal advocacy to light the way for buffalo's best chance at dignified survival. An edited version is shared below.

Over the past several decades, buffalo restoration has become part of an emerging national conversation. "According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, 20,500 buffalo exist within U.S. conservation herds and 450,000 in commercial herds," DuBray writes. "PBS reports that 82 Tribes manage 65 buffalo herds and programs, and there is even a federal working group under the Department of the Interior dedicated to buffalo restoration, funded by the March 2023 Inflation Reduction Act as part of a 'restoration and resilience framework.'"

Buffalo restoration means more than numbers.
(Photo by E. DuBray via The Daily Yonder)

While buffalo restoration has come a long way through the incredible efforts of Indigenous people and advocates, some problems have emerged. Dubray explains, ". . . in many instances, these successes have cast a shadow under which a complacency within the larger buffalo restoration movement has developed. The optical 'wins' of X many buffalo here and Y over there, for example, may overshadow the way a buffalo program began answering the calls of capitalism as opposed to the calls of our ancestors' prayers. Or the way we brush aside the moral calamity of a feedlot for buffalo when it means a grocery store thousands of miles away may be able to carry a bison tenderloin."

"When done 'in a good way,' as my people like to say, revitalizing ancestral Indigenous food systems has an almost unparalleled potential to heal," Dubray adds. "But there are consequences when values are compromised, as is seen in recent disease outbreaks that once again threaten the hard-fought buffalo herd numbers to a severe degree not seen since the 1800s. We must make a decision about how we are going to carry ourselves forward within this work, and we must make the right one."

Integrity offers a way forward that is both clear and decidedly tough to follow. It includes "our shared and unique cultural values that define our kinship to the buffalo and, inextricably, our responsibility as their kin to protect, honor, and uphold the integrity of the buffalo themselves," DuBray writes. "What exactly are we restoring if we fail to answer this question of integrity? Buffalo must not become solely about numbers – numbers of buffalo or numbers of zeros they add to a Tribe's economy.

"Buffalo restoration, at its core, is about relationships. I ask, how are we going to honor ours?"

Finally Friday musings: When only big sky and great open spaces feel like home, visiting can be a bittersweet journey

View of the Snake Range inside Great Basin National Park, Nevada. (Photo by Claire Carlson, The Daily Yonder)

A Love Letter to Nevada’s Wide Open Spaces

by Claire Carlson, The Daily Yonder

---

One of my favorite places in the world is a small town called Baker west of the Nevada-Utah border where weird sculptures made of rusting car parts border the road and a joint general store-motel offers anything you might need, including obscure books on the American West and artisan beer and coffee, depending on the time of day and your mood.

Perhaps best known as the gateway to Great Basin National Park (one of the country’s least crowded national parks and my personal favorite), Baker is also at the beginning – or the end, depending on which way you’re driving – of the “Loneliest Road in America,” i.e. the section of Highway 50 that stretches from Baker to Dayton, Nevada.

But this road is far from lonely: small towns like Ely and Austin provide excellent stops for the intrepid road tripper looking to see an abandoned silver mining-era castle or eat at a retro diner that’s retro because it’s been in business since the 1950s, not retro because they decorated it that way. For me, the sagebrush and red-tailed hawks offer more than enough company for the six-hour drive across the state. 

Rural Nevada is a place unlike anywhere else I’ve been. The seventh biggest-by-land state in the country, Nevada boasts an enormous amount of open space once you get outside the metro-areas of Reno or Las Vegas, and it’s one of the only places I’ve been where you could get pulled over for driving under 80 miles per hour. And with the way I like to drive through the state, getting pulled over for being too slow is a real risk, but I can’t help it: rural Nevada is a place I want to linger.

I was born and raised in Nevada, first in Carson City and then Reno. I moved away from home five years ago now, and at best I return once a year to visit. I know I will visit less often as the people I know there move away for their own big adventures. 

The last time I was in Reno, the most noticeable change was the sprawl. The cookie cutter houses and roads spewing all directions felt unbearably suburban. The new Starbucks and Cracker Barrel and In-N-Out burned big on the landscape. It felt unoriginal, overdone, and a little bit lonely. All I could think about was how desperately I wanted to drive east until I made it to the Loneliest Road in America, where maybe, finally, I could recognize the state I so love. 

Suburban sprawl is a dilemma in many cities, not just Reno. I also know that romanticizing small towns, like I am wont to do in Nevada, can detract from the real issues facing rural America. But in Nevada, the difference between urban and rural is stark, and more and more, the places that feel most like home in Nevada aren’t the cities but the wide open spaces outside of them. 

This article first appeared on The Daily Yonder and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Rural highways and byways can offer spectacular views in the fall -- take time to soak in the sights at these four stops

'Tis the season for troves of colored trees, exploring harvest bounty and letting crisper air fill your lungs. Wherever you roam this fall, may it be filled with the beauty only rural road trips can offer. "Traveling byways is a great way to sample local flavor and have authentic place-based experiences," reports Kim Kobersmith of The Daily Yonder. "The four trips below all lean into unique ecosystems, habitats, history, and culture, making for particularly lovely autumn destinations."

Pine Barrens National Scenic Byway: "Pine barrens are unique ecosystems with nutrient-poor sandy soil, acidic water, and fire-adapted plants, according to the Pinelands Preservation Alliance. The byway traverses the Pinelands, the 1.1 million acres of pine barrens in New Jersey, the largest forested area on the eastern seaboard between the Everglades and Maine. This special place is an International Biosphere Reserve, and in 1978, Congress designated it the nation's first National Reserve to protect its unique natural and cultural resources. . . . Pine barrens is home to pygmy trees and Warren Grove Recreation Area, where one can take "a surreal walk amongst the lilliputian trees. . . eerily quiet, except for the occasional bird song and the steady susurration of the wind in the pines."

Raking cranberries at a century-old bed (Wisconsin Rapids
Area Convention photo via The Daily Yonder )

Cranberry Highway: Located in central Wisconsin, the highway is the "largest cranberry-producing region in the United States. Along with a taste of the harvest in fall, from late September through October, the century-old cranberry beds and surrounding trees are alight with seasonal color.

The drive is a self-guided agri-tour. Local stores sell everything cranberry, from sausage to hand cream, and farm-to-table restaurants incorporate the fruit in bread, cocktails, and salads."

Cherokee Foothills National Scenic Byway: This history byway sits at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and offers "leaf looking," nature exploration and rich history. "Several stops have mountainous overlooks. A fall raptor migration can be seen from the heights of Caesar's Head State Park, and the granite view at Table Rock State Park is iconic. Several waterfalls can be accessed from the drive; Wildcat Branch Falls can be viewed from a paved turnout, and a short roadside hike leads to Issaqueena Falls.

A boat trip on crystal clear Lake Jocassee leads to several streams that drop into the water. . . .The route also winds past Cowpens National Battlefield and Kings Mountain National Park, where visitor centers interpret the importance of these pivotal revolutionary-era battles. The only remaining covered bridge in South Carolina, Campbell's, is right off Route 11."

Ducks in the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge (Fish and Wildlife Service, Mary Hyde via The Daily Yonder)

The Klamath Basin: The basin is a "crucial migratory stop on the Pacific Flyway, hosting nearly 80% of migratory birds that pass through the region. This outdoorsy-focused trail leads to hikes, kayak-friendly lakes and wildlife drives throughout rugged southern Oregon and northern California. The 300-mile route has 47 stops, including six National Wildlife Refuges and three National Park Service sites. More than 350 species of birds have been identified in the mix of mountains, marshlands, grasslands, old-growth forests and shallow lakes that converge here.

"In northern California, large Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge is a migratory hotspot for snow geese and sandhill cranes. It has a visitor center, hiking and canoeing trails, and a 20-mile gravel drive open to the public for wildlife viewing. Nearby Lower Klamath Lake was the first wildlife refuge in the U.S., established in 1908."

To find a national or state scenic byway near you, search nsbfoundation.com/travel-byways.
To explore other National Wildlife Refuges this season, read fws.gov/story/fall-wonders.

Flora and fauna: Terrier sniffs out turtles; mow less and pick more flowers; vultures threaten livestock; snap-pea science

Dory searches a leatherback nesting site for the exact location of eggs.

(Walt Disney World Resort courtesy photo via National Geographic)

One terrier can sniff out turtles in a single bound. She "identified 560 sea turtle nests from three species," reports Elizabeth Ann Brown of National Geographic. Named "Dory," this pup's success rate is considered "shocking. . . and could be a game changer." Dory has joined the ranks of "'conservation sniffers' who help scientists get a more complete picture of sea turtle nesting habits."

Did you know that the snap pea was invented? "You'd be forgiven for thinking that sugar snap peas have occurred naturally forever," reports Korsha Wilson of Saveur. "But this specific breed was invented by Dr. Lamborn in 1979, after years of trying to create a commercially viable snow pea with a smoother, straighter pod."

Wildflowers attract insects and butterflies. (Courtesy
photo, Natalie Gilliard via The Washington Post)

Mow. Water. Mow. Water. The cycle can take a toll on summer hours. One couple solved their mowing angst by planting a wildflower garden, reports Cathy Free of The Washington Post. "Growing a wildflower meadow or planting other alternatives to grass is part of a movement to use fewer resources, foster community relationships and help reverse the loss of insects."

Over the past few decades, the eastern monarch population "has dropped precipitously." What were once vast butterfly flocks have dwindled -- "at least somewhat connected to the loss of milkweed plants, where the butterflies lay their eggs," reports Ethan Freedman of Ambrook Research. "The benefits of new habitats planted near agricultural fields might outweigh the risk of pesticide exposure in monarch butterflies — but don't assume that's true for all insects."

Scarabaeus viette (Wikipedia)

This little six-legged creature is a hard-working farmers' helper. "The formidable dung beetle is one of many insects that help process cow pies and maintain balance in your pasture," reports Michael Johnson of Ag Week. "The presence of beetles, which eat and carve out caverns through the drying dung, means that the dung is being processed. . . . That's important on these pastures. . . . Rancher Thomas Stattelman understands that microorganisms are important. He does not use any commercial fertilizer and has not sprayed any chemical on the pastures in the last six years. He said he uses no fly control, either."

Black vultures will kill and eat newborn livestock.
(Photo by Noppadol Paothong, Mo. Dept. of Conservation)

Often considered bug and seed-eaters, many birds are actually carnivores. "Ranchers across the Great Plains are battling black vultures, a federally protected bird that has a reputation for killing newborn livestock," reports Xcaret Nuñez of KOSU in Oklahoma. "While the birds play a major ecological role, their expanding population is becoming a big nuisance for producers. . . . Black vultures aren’t an easy bird to scare away, and because they’re protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, producers can’t legally kill the scavenger bird without federal permission."

Forest Service creates tools to give rural towns a better chance at wildfire resiliency grants; Oct. 31 next deadline

Smoke plume from Cal-Wood fire near Boulder, Colo.
(Photo by Malachi Brooks, Unsplash)

Rural communities looking to shore up financing wildfire prevention projects may have an improved chance of gaining grant dollars during the second application window of a federal grant program. The application period is open until Oct. 31, reports Claire Carlson of The Daily Yonder. Smaller communities often lack the capacity, such as additional staffing or grant expertise, to apply for and win grants despite their need for assistance.

Applying for a grant means communities must gather and supply data, which takes time smaller staff may not have. To combat this obstacle, the Forest Service has piloted the Community Wildfire Defense Grants Tool, which calculates the wildfire risk of every U.S. county. "The tool shows whether the county is considered low-income and has had any previous disasters, and if it’s ‘underserved’ as defined by the federally managed Climate & Economic Justice Screening Tool,” Carlson writes. Using the grant tool helps communities focus on getting and organizing data with few frustrations and fewer labor hours.

A second strategy deploys "'community navigators,' which are organizations that work directly with underserved communities to identify funding opportunities and help them through the grant application process," Carlson explains. "The navigators will also train community leaders to do this work on their own in the future." 

Grants requiring matching dollars from local coffers have kept poorer, more rural areas from accessing federal money, but waivers are an option. "Match waivers will be made available for communities that are underserved as defined by the Climate & Economic Justice Screening Tool or are nationally recognized tribes or Pacific Islands communities," Carlson adds. "The grant program is giving up to $250,000 to each community to develop wildfire protection plans and up to $10 million to each community to implement wildfire resiliency projects."

The CWDG calls for "community wildfire protection plans to focus on community-wide efforts to decrease wildfire risk, like improving emergency communications or identifying water sources," Carlson reports. "A comprehensive toolkit on how to create a community wildfire protection plan can be found here. For more information and access to the application, visit the Forest Service’s website."

Flora/fauna quickies: Watching hybrid hogs from Canada, snaring pythons in Florida, protecting pets from coyotes

A long-exposure image shows Phacelia flowers waving in the wind. (Photo by Justin Benttinen, National Geographic)

Super. Fantastical. Fabulously. Epic. California is about to bloom! The state has received abundant rains and Mother Nature is planning a luscious “sea of flowers” this spring. Here’s how to soak in this increasingly rare phenomenon. California is also having an epic 'supershroom' season. These mushrooms are breaking records.

Invasive and "highly intelligent," a hungry, hybrid breed of pigs, created by matings of wild boars and domesticated sows, has gone feral. They are making their way from Canada, where they were bred for cold-hardiness and released when the hog market fell, and have been found in North Dakota.

As we ease into spring, it might be time to think about honey bees. You know, those highly social insects with a work ethic that makes even the most industrious human look lazy. Want to know how to become a beekeeper? Try a Cooperative Extension Service website. Want to read a wryly humorous book on beekeeping? Pick this one up.

Pythons are an invasive predator in the Florida Keys that have proved difficult to catch; however, researchers devised a way. They began "strapping GPS collars to opossums and raccoons. When one was eaten by a python, researchers programmed the device to notify them from within the snake’s stomach," reports Kyle Melnick of The Washington Post. "After roughly six weeks of searching for the python that activated the alarm, research technicians located the 66-pound snake hiding underground. . . . In her stomach, researchers discovered the collar — confirmation their plan worked."

A nuisance-animal bill aims to make farmers "honest folks," or at least that's what Iowa Rep. Dean Fisher thinks. House File 118 would allow farmers to trap and kill wild animals — such as groundhogs, opossums, raccoons, and skunks — without first contacting the Iowa Department of Natural Resources if they are a “nuisance.” Of course, there's controversy, “Because there’s a culture of breaking the rules or the law, we change the law?” said Rep. Elinor Levin, D-Iowa City." Story by Iowa Capital Dispatch here.

"Goran the bull escaped from his barn one Easter Sunday," chaos ensued, and everybody came to watch. Read selections from The Fearless Little Farm Boy by Astrid Lindgren, illustrated by Marit Törnqvist.

Coyotes are on the move. (Photo by Carolyn Cole, Los Angeles Times)

If you have pets, perk your ears up and prepare to protect them from coyotes. "Wildlife officials warn people to protect their pets during coyote mating season, which lasts from January to March. During that period, the males are particularly bold and aggressive," Sandy Banks of the Los Angeles Times reports, The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources warns, "Coyotes roam more to search for suitable partners and to establish territory, and as such, they find themselves in rural and urban areas."

Falco the Owl update: he will remain free and under observation. Falco is the Eurasian eagle owl that escaped from the Central Park Zoo in New York City after his enclosure was vandalized. Zookeepers tried to capture him "but Flaco eschewed the bait, and instead adeptly navigated the park and supped on the park’s many rats," reports Dina Fine Maron of National Geographic.

Wyo. wildlife conservation gets a boost from tourism-industry donations; hunters no longer solely responsible

Wyoming has an appealing mix of land, sky, wildlife, and geography. (Photo by Nomadsunveiled)

What do you know about Wyoming? Wide open spaces where striking wildlife can be spotted? All things photo-worthy? Wyoming has begun using tourism funding to support those spaces and creatures, and that is "changing the face of wildlife conservation funding," reports Kelsey Wellington of Writers on the Range. "It’s based on the state’s startling mountains, rivers filled with fish and forests where bears and wolves roam — everything that makes Wyoming unrivaled."

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is largely funded by hunters and anglers, "but as we all know, hunters and anglers aren’t the only people fascinated by wildlife," Wellington notes. "The number one reason people travel to Wyoming is to view wild animals, and wildlife watching alone accounts for almost half a billion dollars in state revenue. It also employs over 10,000 people. . . . Yet the tourism industry contributes very little when it comes to funding wildlife conservation."

Now some in the industry are voluntarily donating to the cause, thanks to Taylor Phillips, owner of EcoTour Adventures, a Wyoming wildlife tour company who "felt this gap was unfair and wanted to do something about it. Since founding his business in 2008, Phillips donated over $115,000 to nonprofits that work to conserve the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem," Wellington reports. "Phillips expected other wildlife-tourism businesses to catch on, but very few did. Phillips partnered with Chris McBarnes, president of The WYldlife Fund, a partner foundation to the state game and fish department," which helps fund wildlife projects. They created Wildlife Tourism for Tomorrow, which "funds conservation by targeting businesses and people that depend on wildlife to make their living. These are the companies that run wildlife tours, and the hotels, restaurants and shops that cater to wildlife watchers."

Wellington writes, "Since October of 2021, Wildlife Tourism for Tomorrow has raised over $200,000 for Wyoming’s wildlife from over 70 businesses and dozens of individuals, and has given $84,900 in gifts for wildlife conservation projects. Trout Unlimited received a gift of $20,000 in 2020 for a project to keep spawning cutthroat trout from getting trapped in an irrigation system." Trout Unlimited’s Leslie Steen told Wellington, “I’ve seen wildlife tour trips in the area and it is really neat to think that those same businesses are now giving back to native fish.”

Exurbia, the housing beyond suburbia, is encroaching more on wilderness, and that means more animal-human conflict

By Mary Jane McKinney

Neighborhood Watch groups are typically on the lookout for crime. In my West Texas village, “If you see something, say something” has a different meaning.

The housing developments surrounding us on all sides have altered the environment and hunting grounds for thousands of animals we don’t usually see crossing our yards. We’re used to seeing deer, squirrels, rabbits, hawks, feral cats, and an occasional skunk or armadillo. Lately, it’s been like watching an episode of "Wild Kingdom."

Mary Jane McKinney

A few days ago, I spotted a large gray fox sniffing around a lantana bush 20 feet from my backdoor. I ran to the phone and called my cousin B.W. who lives on the property next door. A few hours later, he caught the fox in his chicken pen and shot it.

The phone alerts also work for nocturnal (possibly rabid animals) that appear in the daytime. A skunk or opossum spotted in the bright sunshine signals danger. At twilight, when nocturnal mammals emerge to hunt, we’ve seen a parade of porcupines, civets, and raccoons. The worst incident so far involves a rabid bobcat that squeezed through a small pet door in Currie Jones’s garage. The bobcat was chasing two dogs around the garage when sharpshooter Jones managed to kill the bobcat without shooting the dogs or plugging holes in his wife’s SUV, or his Ram pickup.

The collective sleep of our community is being disrupted by the nighttime screams of rabbits being carried off in the talons of owls. Some of the clever nocturnal creatures have managed to find a way under houses where they bed down for the night. How do we know they are there? We hear them, and many of them give off a musky odor, especially if they have been socializing with skunks.

All over Texas, residents in new developments have had to cope with coexisting with wild things. Exurbia, the housing beyond suburbia, is encroaching on more and more wilderness. Animals go where they can catch and kill food. A survival twist is that animals are acquiring a taste for human food. Why kill a small animal if you can eat garbage, pet food? When B.W. found the fox in the chicken pen, she wasn’t attacking the chickens yet. She was feasting on some leftover chicken casserole tossed in the pen for the chickens.

It could be worse. We haven’t seen coyotes, black bears, eagles, or feral hogs yet. And we don’t have to deal with alligators like Florida residents do. But the pastoral calm we enjoy has been disturbed. We’ve had to change our way of life. No more going away for the weekend and leaving pets enough food and water on the back porch. Now, we have a neighbor feed pets while we’re away, and put away the dog’s bowls when they are through. No more tossing scraps in the chicken yard, and no more leaving fruit and vegetables at a neighbor’s door. Now, we ring the bell and hand over the home-grown produce in person.

The irony in this situation is that the new homes being built on 2- to 5-acre lots in the wilderness are for people who want to live in the country, away from the stress of the city. We wonder how the new people will react to the new stress of dealing with wild animals. The city transplants often install swimming pools and ponds, both magnets for wild animals. Just as the natives here have a lot to learn about our wild reality, so do our new exurbanite neighbors. If the wild animals continue to multiply, we may have to fight fire with fire and invest in a few llamas and donkeys to guard our block. Now, that’s a Disney movie!

Mary Jane McKinney of Christoval, Texas, writes her "Plain English" column for Texas newspapers.

Big conservation and historic-sites bill passes Senate 92-8

"The Senate on Tuesday passed the most sweeping conservation legislation in a decade, protecting millions of acres of land and hundreds of miles of wild rivers across the country and establishing four new national monuments honoring heroes including Civil War soldiers and a civil rights icon," Juliet Eilperin and Dino Grandoni report for The Washington Post.

The measure enjoyed broad bipartisan support, passing 92-8, and is expected to pass the House after the mid-February recess. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pointed out, "It touches every state, features the input of a wide coalition of our colleagues, and has earned the support of a broad, diverse coalition of many advocates for public lands, economic development and conservation."

The bill designates 1.3 million acres as wilderness, bans mining on more than 370,000 acres around Yellowstone National Park in Montana and the Methow Headwaters in Washington, and permanently funnels offshore drilling revenue into the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which it reauthorizes. The Congressional Budget Office projects that the bill would save taxpayers $9 million.

The bill creates five new national monuments: St. Francis Dam Disaster in California, Jurassic in Utah, the home of civil-rights leaders Medgar and Myrlie Evers in Mississippi, and the Mill Springs Battlefield and Camp Nelson, both Civil War sites in Kentucky. (President Trump made Camp Nelson, where black troops were recruited and trained, a national monument last year.) The bill significantly expands five national parks: Death Valley and Joshua Tree in California, and Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield, Ocmulgee Mounds and Fort Frederica in Georgia.

"The bill reauthorizes and funds the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act through 2022, which provides habitat protection for more than 380 bird species, and codifies a signature program of President Barack Obama’s," the Post reports. "The Every Kid Outdoors Act, allows U.S. fourth-graders and their families to visit national parks free."

Penn State Outing Club no longer allowed to go outside

A Pennsylvania State University club for outdoors enthusiasts is no longer allowed to go outside, on the grounds that it's too risky. In the words of columnist Dave Barry, we are not making this up.

"After a two-month review that did not include consultation with student Outing Club leaders, the university’s offices of Student Affairs and Risk Management made the determination that the hiking, canoeing, kayaking, trail building and camping activities the student-led club has long engaged in are too risky," Don Hopey reports for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "The club is one of the oldest entirely student-run organizations at Penn State."

Penn State spokesperson Lisa Powers said the university evaluated risk at all campus sport and recreation student groups, and said "student safety in any activity is our primary focus." The other two outdoors groups, the caving club and the scuba diving club, were also deemed too risky. The Alpine Ski Racing Club, the Archery Club, the Rifle Club, and the Boxing Club passed.

Outing Club leaders said they have fully complied with more stringent safety standards introduced in the past year, but protested that the risk assessment office did not talk with them about perceived dangers. Timothy Hackett, the club's outgoing treasurer, said he knows of no student injuries on any Outing Club trips within the past four years, Hopey reports. Powers said the risk assessment was proactive, and not based on previous injuries.

The university has a similar program called Outdoor Adventures, which Powers said has better trained and more experienced leaders, but Richard Waltz, the Outing Club's 2017-18 president, said Outdoor Adventures trips cost more. "The two programs offer very different experiences," he told Hopey. "The Outing Club is very accepting and welcoming of students who may be out experiencing nature for the first time in a meaningful way. Participants learn organically and develop more of a mentor-mentee relationship over the years."

The Outing Club's board said in a statement that they'll keep working with advisers and university staff to find a way to keep going.

Trump slashes 2 Utah national monuments, draws lawsuits from Indians and environmentalists

Yesterday in Salt Lake City President Trump reduced the area of two major national monuments in Utah and split them into five new monuments. No president had ever done such a thing, and Native American tribes and environmentalists quickly filed lawsuits to stop it. "Several high-value sites the original monuments were designed to protect are left out," Brian Maffly reports for The Salt Lake Tribune.

Bears Ears National Monument, created by Barack Obama as he left office, was slashed from 1.35 million acres to 202,000 acres, and split into two new monuments: Shash Jaa (Navajo for Bears Ears) and Indian Creek. Grand Staircase-Escalante, created by Bill Clinton in 2001, was reduced from 1.9 million acres to 1 million, and was split into three new monuments: Grand Staircase, Kaiparowits  and Escalante Canyon. "Trump’s order specifically authorizes grazing in the Bears Ears area as well as motorized recreation and American Indian gathering of wood and herbs, and it asks Congress to pass legislation to mandate co-management by tribal leaders," Thomas Burr and Lee Davidson report for the Tribune.

The original Bears Ears National Monument (light pink) and new ones in red: Indian Creek at top, and Shash Jaa at bottom. Brown dots are sites proposed for oil and gas development. (Click here for interactive map)

Formerly protected areas that were cut from the monuments include Cedar Mesa and Elk Ridge. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said more than 400,000 acres of Cedar Mesa is "inaccessible wilderness" and can't be effectively monitored and protected by the Interior. He said that as a wilderness, it is protected more than it would be as a monument. The Kaiparowits boundaries were drawn in jagged lines apparently meant to free up some of the plateau's rich coal seams to mining.  Paleontologist Jeff Eaton, who has worked on the plateau for more than 30 years, told Maffly that the new boundaries for Kaiparowits were a "land management nightmare." Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, wrote on Fox News that national-park lovers should applaud Trump's move because over-reaching monument proclamations "have strained land management budgets and limited public access to beautiful places."

The original Grand Staircase-Escalante (light blue) and new monuments in dark blue, L-R: Grand Staircase, Kaiparowits, and Escalante Canyons. (Click here for interactive map)

Zinke said no land removed from monument status will be sold or transferred, and will return to its previous status as wilderness, national forest, or land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. "Raising the possibility of drilling and mining inside that monument’s former boundaries, 10 environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit in Washington, D.C., alleging the Antiquities Act does not allow presidents to diminish or rescind monument designations by their predecessors," Burr and Davidson report. A similar claim is made in a suit filed by five Native American tribes: Hopi, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute, Pueblo of Zuni, and Ute Indian), Courtney Tanner reports for the Tribune.

Experts warn of latent mental health concerns following fires like the ones in Smoky Mountains

Trevor Cates stood amid the ruins of the fellowship hall of Banner
Baptist Church, which he attends, at Gatlinburg. (Getty Images)

Survivors of fire, in addition to facing the long road to recovery from structural damage, are often in need of mental-health services, experts tell Jeff Martin of The Associated Press. "In some ways, escaping a fire-filled forest as thousands did recently in and around Gatlinburg, Tenn., can be more traumatic than hurricanes, floods or earthquakes," Martin reports. "One reason: Flames spread so rapidly that people had no time to prepare."

Becky Stoll, vice president of crisis and disaster management at Centerstone, one of the nation's largest behavioral health care providers, told Martin, "To have your life turned upside down is much more difficult than if you had time to brace for it, and in this case I don't think people had time to brace for it." Also, the visual image of seeing the flames causing damage can be hard to shake, said Valerie Cole of the American Red Cross.

Cole said that while some possessions can be salvaged from disasters such as earthquakes and tornadoes, a fire usually leaves nothing behind but ashes, Martin writes. She said after a fire survivors typically are thankful they are alive and focus on basic needs, but down the line, maybe six or nine months later, is when people begin to get frustrated or disillusioned. That can cause post-traumatic stress, leading to increased rates of suicide, depression, anger and substance abuse. (Read more)

Fire ravaging Great Smoky Mountains and Gatlinburg eased but not stopped by overnight rain

Wildfire spread from the Chimney Tops in the Great Smoky
Mountains National Park to nearby towns. (WATE-TV image)

Rain last night and this morning has done little to quell a wildfire that started in the Tennessee part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and led to the mandatory evacuation of more than 14,000 visitors and residents in the parkside town of Gatlinburg and nearby communities, Amy J. Vellucci and Jamie Satterfield report for the Knoxville News-Sentinel. Officials from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said "there was 'little hope' that the rainfall would bring relief anytime soon."

"Emergency responders have struggled to make a dent into the fires that have devastated Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and surrounding areas in Sevier County since high winds helped the flames spread Monday evening," Vellucci and Satterfield write. The Tennessee National Guard said it has made plans to dump water onto the flames from a helicopter. A state forestry officer said winds in advance of the front that brought the rain reached sustained speeds of 30 to 40 mph, with hurricane-force gusts, sweeping the fire from the park into the town. Three fire victims were in critical condition at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, the News-Sentinel reported. UPDATE: The victims have died, The Associated Press reported. A fourth victim has been identified. UPDATE, Nov. 30: Three more victims have been identified, and some people are missing, authorities said. UPDATE, Dec. 1: The death toll reached 11.

Fire on Crockett Mountain above Sky Lift and The Gatlinburg Inn
(Photo circulated on social media)

News reports said more than 150 structures had been destroyed, including all 100 buildings of Westgate Resorts. The Dollywood amusement park in Pigeon Forge was evacuated, but no damage has been reported. Newmansville Volunteer Fire Department Lt. Bobby Balding told the News-Sentinel, "The center of Gatlinburg looks good for now. It's the Apocalypse on both sides (of downtown)." Gatlinburg Chief Greg Miller said, "This is a fire for the history books."

UPDATE, Nov. 30: Hotels and other downtown businesses are reopening, as soon as gas service can be restored. Authorities said 700 buildings or other structures had been damaged or destroyed.

More homes being built in potential wildfire areas, but few fire departments prepared to fight blazes

Results of a fire in Yarnell, Ariz. (AP photo)

More than one-third of new homes built since 2000 are in areas where the potential for wildfires is greater, Eric Sagara, Emmanuel Martinez and Ike Sriskandarajah report for Reveal, part of The Center for Investigative Reporting. While more people are living in these areas, often called wildland-urban interface (WUI), few fire departments are trained, or prepared, to fight the growing number of wildfires.

Since 1990, 8.5 million more homes are in WUI areas, reports Reveal. "The major reason is that the border between nature and urban development is constantly shifting as new homes push out into the wilderness." In South Carolina, for example, 63 percent of residents live in WUI areas. The state had more than 78,000 wildfires from 1992-2003.

"More than half the wildfires between 1992 and 2013 occurred in Southern states, including Texas, Georgia, Florida and North Carolina," reports Reveal. "Fires there typically are smaller, with an average size of 27.6 acres. Fires in Western states are roughly six times larger. In California, the Sand Fire tore through more than 41,000 acres of land in a matter of days in late July, destroying 18 buildings and killing one man."

"As climate change continues to bring warmer, drier conditions to most of the country, many experts agree that wildfires will be both larger and more frequent," reports Reveal. At the same time, "only about a third of fire departments that cover WUI areas have the specialized training and 30 percent have the necessary equipment, according to a 2011 study from the National Fire Protection Association. Most of these departments must rely on help from other state, local and federal agencies during a wildfire." (Read more)

Increases in gun sales boost a program that pays states to manage and restore wildlife, buy land

Increases in gun sales, often spurred by public shootings and calls for more gun control, benefit state wildlife programs. The 1937 Pittman-Robertson Act, which provides federal aid to states for management and restoration of wildlife, is funded through an 11 percent excise tax on sporting arms—shotguns, rifles, ammunition, bows and arrows and other outdoor equipment—and a 10 percent excise tax on handguns.

"With gun sales soaring, Georgia is receiving record amounts of conservation money from Washington," Dan Chapman reports for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Georgia, which has received more than $221 million since the program's inception, got more than $15 million from the program last year, a 300 percent increase from five years ago.

Mike Worley, president of the Georgia Wildlife Federation, told Chapman, “You see spikes in gun sales every time you have a horrible event anywhere in the country. You don’t know if they’re first-time buyers or gun enthusiasts who want to add to their collection before any restrictions are put in place. And any increase in guns and ammunition sales indeed benefits wildlife and wildlife habitat production across this country.”

The funds pay up to 75 percent of cost approved projects, such as improvement of wildlife habitat, introduction of wildlife into suitable habitat, research into wildlife problems, surveys and inventories of wildlife problems, acquisition and development of access facilities for public use, and hunter education programs, including construction and operation of public target ranges. (National Shooting Sports Foundation graphic)

Hunters mainly benefit from the program, Chapman writes. "Earlier this month, for example, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources set aside a few million dollars to buy 3,400 acres of prime deer-hunting land along the Flint River an hour south of Atlanta. "Yet nothing prohibits Atlanta hikers or birders from enjoying an expanded Sprewell Bluff Wildlife Management Area. The public property will also serve as critical green space in a state woefully lacking publicly owned and accessible land."

Mississippi has received more than $116 million from the program, reports Mississippi Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources announced last week that funds from the act partially helped pay to acquire 2,900 acres of mostly forested land that will be used for hunters, anglers and wildlife watchers.

Resurgence of gray wolves in Great Lakes bad for deer, good for wildflowers and maples, study finds

A resurgence of gray wolves around the Great Lakes is helping to boost wildflowers and maples, says a report by researchers at the University of Notre Dame and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. That's because gray wolves are the natural predator of herbivores such as white-tailed deer. An increase in gray wolves means deer stay away, allowing wildflowers and maples to flourish.

"In scientific terms, it’s not a question of deer getting smart. Rather, they adapt their behavior in wolf-heavy areas to improve their chances of survival—and incidentally improve the survivability of the maples and forbs, or herbaceous flowering plants," reports Eric Freedman, director of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University, for the center's Great Lakes Echo. "On a practical level, that means deer have adapted by spending less time foraging in 'heavy wolf use areas,' the study found."

By the late 1950s, hunting had eliminated gray wolves in the study area, along the border of Michigan and Wisconsin, Freedman writes. "They stayed extinct in the area until MDNR discovered a new pack around 2000-06. The department’s winter 2015-16 survey found a 'minimum population or 618 wolves in the Upper Peninsula [of Michigan] ... White-tailed deer populations in Great Lakes forests increased dramatically without grey wolves," and that had big impacts on forest sapling growth and diversity of non-grassy herbs. (Read more)

Study: Rural Western counties with most federal land are in better economic shape than rural peers

Rural counties in the West with more federal or protected land are in much better economic shape than rural counties in the region with less federal and protected land, says a report by Montana non-profit Headwaters Economics. The study, which looked at data from 1970 to 2014, found that rural counties with more federal and protected land "on average had faster population, employment, personal income and per capita income growth than their peers with the lowest share" of federal and protected lands.

From 1970 to 2014, rural counties in the top 25 percentile with federal land saw a population growth of 124 percent, compared to a 26 percent growth in the counties in the bottom 25 percent. Employment in the top counties increased 242 percent, compared to 73 percent in the bottom counties and personal income increased 333 percent in the top 25, compared to 122 percent in the bottom 25. Per capital income was much closer, with an 81 percent increase in the top 25, compared to a 78 percent increase in the bottom 25.

Differences were similar for counties with protected land. Population grew 122 percent in the top 25, compared to 47 percent in the bottom 25. Employment increased 263 percent in the top 25, compared to 98 percent in the bottom 25, personal income increased 380 percent in the top 25, compared to 154 percent in the bottom 25 and per capita income increased 97 percent in the top 25, compared to 78 percent in the bottom 25.

"The study looked at all 276 Western counties without a city of 50,000 or more or with population density below 1,000 people per square mile, designated as 'non-metro' by the U.S. Census Bureau," Krista Langlois reports for High Country News. "To be fair, the overall gains are thus skewed by a few very wealthy counties, like Colorado’s Summit County (home to ritzy ski resorts) and Teton County, Wyoming (home to Jackson Hole), which had personal income growth of 2,757 and 2,253 percent, respectively." Study author Megan Lawson "says that when she took the top 5 percent—the Vails and Aspens—out of the equation, the difference in economic growth between counties with the highest and lowest protected federal land decreased by about 16 percent. But the overall gains were still significant."

Lawson told Langlois, “We’re data-driven, and our reflex to hearing (recent anti-public lands) rhetoric is to look at the data. There are certainly rural places that are struggling, but that’s not the primary story we’re seeing across the West.”