It was in early summer of 1988 that we stepped out of the Dodge 4-wheel drive pickup high up on the shoulder of Ramsey Mountain in Idaho's Lemhi Valley. I was an aspiring forester, working for the US Department of the Interior, and I had two line officer/supervisors in tow for a tour of our latest …
Trial By Fire
After sculpting a perfectly designed-in-the-dirt ergonomic chair under a thicket of Douglas-fir regrowth, I reached into my saddlebags for a quick bite to eat. The living green conifer shade I had found to enjoy my lunch under somehow escaped the fate of most of the blackened skeleton forest around …
Knapping that Weed in the Bud
Through the insufferable boil of rolling dust I looked up and spotted daughter Melanie. She had showed up in our badly warped game of leapfrogging our way on foot down remote forested roads and had mustered all the strength she had to continue the struggle about 20 feet down the steep slope. She …
Hail and Hearty
Dear Friends It was the unsettling low roar that got my attention. When first perceived, my mind simply put it in the folder marked 'wind in trees.' But then the rational mind took over with a nagging thought: there were no trees on this part of the range. The nearest forest or creek-side aspen …
When Aspen Trembles
This past week, a gentle breeze rolled down the rocky canyon and caressed the newly minted leaves of the aspen trees as I worked in the shade. They shook—trembled as if with fear. Quaking aspen—Populus tremuloides. A long winter had me forgetting the about this telltale behavior, a sort of …
There’s a Storm Coming
It's been an eventful (full?) week with long days (often into the night), tumultuous weather, and a new summer horseback crew learning the ropes. Yesterday, a couple of aspiring range riders inadvertently overloaded the fenced corridor that led to the ranch's livestock scales, causing a cattle surge …