In spite of the wave of violent destruction that tore through his country in the summer of 1941, Mr. T. Kan, a Chinese forestry professional, reflected in quiet awe as he gazed at the great coniferous tree next to the village temple in Modaoqi, a tiny hamlet in the Eastern Sichuan province of China. …
Where Alderspring Meets Orca
Over the last 30 days, the killer whale (orca) known as Granny cruised silently in the shallow ocean waters along the spring swollen mouth of the mighty Columbia River at the border of Washington and Oregon. Granny is believed to be over 100 years old, and every year, she and others return to …
The Most Dangerous Ranch Hand
A soft wool blanket of low clouds and wispy bands of fog lay over the ranch in the early light this morning. In the dim gray of predawn, I met our head of ranch security on the way to my ranch office, the old bunkhouse. It was Jackie, a.k.a. White Dog, the Great Pyrenees that traverses a big circle …
If a Tree Falls in the Forest…
It started with what sounded like the resounding crack of a high powered rifle as the base of the tree snapped to pieces like kindling. I didn't get to see which way the tree was going to fall because the sound of it breaking was enough to send my horse in a wild and blind gallop through the thick …
On Using Horses for Rock Climbing
My hands instinctively submitted to an innate survival urge to pull back on the reins. The cantankerous mustang mare I was riding certainly wanted to go on, but I had never, ever been down a precipice like this on the back of a horse. An older, wiry cowboy named Rex, with his ancient cowboy …
When Grassfed Betrays Wild
Did you ever have something you see or hear that just doesn't sit right? And it takes a little bit of time to sprout into a nice little bloom of quite unexpected red rosy anger? Well this one took just a little over a month, and it started when I watched another producer's seemingly innocuous video …