Nature
Nature is part of everything we do around here – no matter where you are, you're only a minute or two from the great outdoors. This section is about the flora & fauna that we encounter on a daily basis, as well as the photography, art, poetry, and conservation ethic inspired by these encounters.
Mammals
Coyotes are awesome. Savvy, playful, tough, and, yes, wily. If you don’t know this yet, if you still think suffragettes are subversive and coyotes wicked and worthless, Michael Huff wants to set you straight. He likes coyotes. Lives coyotes. Watches them, shoots them, respects them. Read more >>
Montana FWP explains the delisting.“We didn’t work on this for over 30 years to see the bear disappear.” Read more >>Other Animals
As the summer sun beats down, everyone knows to apply sunscreen and drink plenty of water—but what about parasites? Those nasty little bloodsuckers are out there, waiting to use your body (and your dog's!) to fuel their own. Read more >>Annual average grizzly-inflicted injuries in the backcountry: 1Number of snake species in Montana: 10Venomous snakes species in Montana: 1 Read more >>
A few years ago, I passed a slowpoke on the road in front of me, returning to my lane just in time to see eyes staring down my headlights. Before I could swerve, the impact crushed the hood of my Honda CRV like an aluminum can. The car sputtered and stopped. Read more >>Fish
Two memories often percolate through the stratified bedrock of my accumulated fishing experiences, seeping into consciousness cold and clear like a mountain spring. Read more >>Plants
Briana Wile’s Mountain States Foraging (Timber Press, $30) is the only guide I’d want in my pack on a back Read more >>
Categorizing conifers.Think all conifers are pretty much the same? Think again. Next time you’re in the woods, use these simple ID-techniques to better understand your environment. Read more >>
When you look at the tree-covered mountains of Montana, you can’t help but notice patches of red scarring the green hillsides: these are whitebark pines, and they’re dying at an alarming rate. Read more >>
Until recently, scientists thought all the work Mother Nature put into creating fall’s astonishing colors served no ecological purpose—but they were wrong. As the nights grow noticeably longer and temperatures drop, the chemical that makes leaves green—chlorophyll—breaks down. Read more >>Conservation
We’re down to the final days of the 2017 Legislature, and this past week was a good one for wildlife and habitat. Read more >>Paint & Poetry
Atop the ridge I sit and overlookThe valley floor. Amidst the sprawling fieldsOf green and yellow grass, among the grovesOf spruce and Douglas fir, within the boundsOf earthen mounds that reach toward the sky,There lies a gray expanse of artifice. Read more >>
Shakespeare wrote “thy breath be rude,”but I think thy breath has little attitude.Dullness, neglect, but not vulgarity—of emotions you haven’t even slight sincerity.While your chill betrays some tempered winds,your stillness renders still their sin. Read more >>
The last of the geese have frozen over in my backyard,covered in a foot of snow. I dig one out each weekand thaw it in the fridge—with a high success rate;even the runt is able to take flight after a few days at 50 degrees. Read more >>
Ahead of me Hardscrabblecracks knuckles against clouds.Behind the Bridgers splaycrags in the oystery air.I move to a tango.Skies and poles glide, cut, break.I am partnered by the windagainst whom I tangle, kick.A flake catches my lash, Read more >>
I killed it, I did not mean it, but it’s deadNot a comrade, nor from a cliff. I looked back with dreadSquashed down flat, bang in my tire track. Swerve, I tried!In my head, the taste of the dead. Blood flicks my underside Read more >>
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