News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
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Even as a die-hard vegetarian I can see the inherent value in hunting. Whether hunters realize it or not they willfully or unwittingly fund the thing which is nearest and dearest to my heart: conservation. I readily decline all invitations to sample jerky and elk burgers and I hate to see a duck go down, but I can respect the folks in camouflage who pay up, hunker down, shoot and consume their kill. Through the Duck Stamp Act, hunters fund protections for the habitat of... Full story
We don’t have a wildfire problem. We have a human-made structure problem. The war on fire is the longest continuous war in the United States. After the devastating fires of 1910 that claimed many lives and many millions of acres, the Forest Service fought any suggestion that fire may be beneficial to our forest; they went so far as to adopt adorable fire-ravaged mascots like Bambi and Smokey Bear to place the guilt on society for something which happens naturally. After 1... Full story
I stood waders-deep in an urban stream, running my net back and forth through the water, squinting and studying the sparkling ripples that blinded me. I felt eyes on me; curious park-goers who hoped to interact with me in some way. “Hey, you look like you’d know! Is that a nutria or a muskrat over there?” A man shouted to me and pointed. His granddaughter stared at me blankly and continued to lick her ice cream cone. “Over where?” I looked around. “Over there! What is it,... Full story
“Teacher Scout! Come look! I found something!” a 5-year-old student called out to me. I put aside my lesson plans and went to see what had captured him so completely. “It’s a spider!” Sure enough, the young naturalist was placing his hands gently on the ground so the spider could crawl onboard. For some reason, this particular student never demonstrated the patience and fortitude to listen to anything I had to say about leaf shapes, ungulate tracks, or which berries were ined... Full story
