The Great Outdoors

  • Great News! More oil, gas leases retired along the Rocky Mountain Front

    Ralph Maughan

    In 2006, Congress banned leasing federal lands on the Front, but many leases had already been given- The effort to protect Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front from natural gas development has been and continues to be pretty successful. These oil, gas leases along the Front were the work of two NGOs, The Coalition to Protect the…

  • How sagebrush steppe should look

    Ralph Maughan

    This area hasn’t been grazed by cattle for many years- I took this photo in late May on Pocatello’s West Bench at the base of the Bannock Mountain Range. Because it is a mixture of city land and Forest Service and no maintained fences, it hasn’t been grazed by cattle or sheep for many years.…

  • Mudslides from the 2007 Idaho wildfires begin after unusual June wet spell

    Ralph Maughan

    Article below is about a mudflow near Ketchum, orginating from the Castle Rock Fire area, but there a numerous slides around southern Idaho- June is often a fairly wet month in Idaho, which is mostly an arid or semi-arid state. The end of May and continuing into June has brought a lot of precipitation into…

  • Open Thread

    Brian Ertz

    I was blessed with the opportunity to take a flight with LightHawk this morning.  Man, what a great group.   It was a clear and smooth flight over central Idaho ranges with watersheds in full expression of spring. Time to open the forum up … I hope you’ll contribute.

  • As hunters age, do they support allowing ATVs in more places?

    Ralph Maughan

    White River National Forest, Colorado offers new travel plan that would restrict ATVs- In interesting question is, is ATV use a generational thing or is it related to aging? If Bob Elderkin (in the article below) is in the majority, it is a generational thing, with older forest users, including hunters, being less, not more…

  • Largest herd of gazelles sighted

    Ken Cole

    A mega-herd of a quarter of a million Mongolian gazelles has been seen gathering on the country’s steppes, one of the world’s last great wildernesses. Largest herd of gazelles sighted BBC Earth News

  • Ask Zimo: Beware of dogs guarding livestock

    Ralph Maughan

    You don’t want to alarm a livestock guard dog- While some folks in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming worry about being attacked by wolves, the real danger of attack by a canid is the livestock guard dog.  Your risk goes up a lot if you are accompanied by a pet dog. Pete Zimowsky of the Idaho…

  • Yellowbells (Fritillaria pudica)

    Brian Ertz

    Fritillaria pudica are among the first flowers to bloom in sagebrush country following the receding snow. Indigenous peoples used to eat their starchy bulbs. They’re blooming now ~ this photo was taken yesterday north of Fish Creek Reservoir.  With the moisture remaining following the fresh recession of snow – sagebrush country all over the West…

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‎”At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, “thus far and no further.” If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, “If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour.”

Edward Abbey

“The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans.”

Jim Fowler

“Our forests offer much more than just beautiful landscapes and wildlife. Each one has a different story to tell.”

Raveena Tandon

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