Yesterday's hero (famous writer, movie star, politician) is the villain of today. There is a lot of that going around — even with trees. Take kudzu. That was like the Fatty Arbuckle of introduced species; everybody "knew it." My area has seen some heavy snow and quite a few high winds in the past month. Anybody with a chainsaw and a wood chipper has lots of new close friends. At one nearby house, the snow broke a big old Russian olive tree, and while the people there decided to keep its thick trunk as a sort of lawn ornament, I ended up with the branches. I rarely turn down free firewood. I h ..read more

• Watch the video trailer for a class on animal trailing and tracking taught by Casey McFarland,  "but also, by extension, appreciating our connection to the natural world and how to view it more discerningly." At the website, select "Nature Watching: How to Find and Observe Wildlife." and click the "Start Free Trial" button. See what you think. • This small fact has been in the news of late. I read it at The Hill in February: Plastics recycling is a bigger scam than 'cigarettes are good for you.' Coincidentally, the reccyling facility that I used went from "accepting plastic" to "separa ..read more

When I started camera-trapping for omivores like bears or foxes, I tried baiting them with dry cat or dog food. I figured it would not hurt anyone who ate a few kibbles. Camera-trapper Chris Wemmer, who has just written a book on the topic, said he used punctured tuna cans in rock piles and such places to intrigue certain animals and make them pause to get their pictures taken. As I read the regs, hunting over bait is illegal, but camera-trapping is not. Nevertheless, I quit using the kibbles after a neighbor's far-ranging dog showed up at one of my sites on an obscure game trail — and then k ..read more

Photo from 1918 of the Mahon Ranch, west of Buena Vista. Pictured are Martha Mahon, her daughter Cassie and Cassie’s husband George Fields with crates of head lettuce. Courtesy of Buena Vista Heritage Museum. An article in the SkiHi News from Grand County, Colo, (Motto: 'The wolves are here, now where are the bucks?") notes the area's success with growing lettuce in the 1920s. When some of the first settlers arrived in Granby, they realized the sunny days and cool nights were perfect for growing lettuce. The humble lettuce thrived in the mountainous landscape. . . . The Moffat Railro ..read more

Colorado is looking to bring back the wolverine, thus successfully "retconning" that Cold War movie hit Red Dawn. (Supposedly set in Colorado, it was actually filmed in and around Las Vegas, New Mexico,  just like the Longmire TV series decades later.) This, not C. Thomas Howell, is a wolverine. (Photo by Chris Stermer/ California Department of Fish and Wildlife.) _ According to Colorado Public Radio, Colorado’s wildlife specialists are nearly finished with updates to a plan that could return a carnivorous mammal to the Centennial State.  Aside from the first five ..read more

Pygmy Owl, abducted by aliens and examined. A game warden called from up in the county seat. Someone had brought him a Northern Pygmy-Owl (correct ID on his part) that was "in danger" on a highway.  We met on a side street, and he transferred the owl to my carrier. And there was a second passenger, a small lizard. Apparently the owl was about to eat dinner when the well-meaning two-legged came long.  It was kind of astonishing that a lizard would be out and about. The sun was shining, but air temps were only in the mid-40s F at best. (Did the owl find it on warm asphalt?) Th ..read more

Colorado Parks and Wildlife has now published a GPS map for Colorado wolves. Understand that while every wolf wears a GPS collar, including the ones that wandered in to North Park and were darted, collared, and released -- and including the 15 new ones coming in -- the magic map does now show where they are right now. It shows what drainage they have been in lately. The website says, Currently, the collars are programmed to record a position every four hours.  Once four locations have been recorded, the packet of four locations is then transmitted via satellite to CPW biologists.&n ..read more

  In early January 2024 Mario Angeles video'd these two lynx near Silverton, Colorado. That is a special moment, all right. Between native populations and (mainly) reintroduction, Colorao's lynx population is estimated at only 150 and 250 animals.  And while it's not a lynx — not down here in the foothills where there is little snow on the ground — the scout camera right up behind the house did pick up a bobcat this month. This is good bobcat habitat though, rocky and brushy, but you do not see them very often ..read more

Gov. Jared Polis was on hand Dec, 18, 20203 to release Oregon wolves in Colorado, but some Coloradans deeply involved with the project never were invited. Some officials and Western Slope residents are annoyed that Colorado Parks and Wildlife seemed eager to please Governor Polis (if not Marlon Reis, his animal-rightist husband) while forgetting promises to them. They were never on the guest list or even informed about last month's wolf release. According to the Sky-Hi News in Grand County, Two [CPW] commissioners in particular, Marie Haskett from Meeker, who represents sportspersons ..read more

Click to enlarge (Source: Bloomberg) Stefan Soloviev is only the 26th largest landowner in America, so he has a way to go to catch up with John Malone or Ted Turner. Stefan Soloviev (Business Insider) I do remember when he bought the grandly named Colorado Pacific Railroad, all 122 miles of it, in 2018. But there was more to come, much more. The New York businessman, still in his 20s, started buying land. Then he went to see it, in this case, in Prowers County, southeast Colorado, which includes the town of Lamar. “It was 6 miles off the paved road and I’m driving and everyt ..read more