A Howl of Delight....and Ultrarunning

....because wolves have returned to California!!

Image and article credit here.  

From the article:

California’s first gray wolf pack since wild wolves disappeared from the state nearly a century ago was spotted in the woods in the northern part of the state, wildlife officials said on Thursday.

The pack appears to include a wolf photographed by state fish and wildlife experts last month, then believed to be alone.

“This news is exciting for California,” Charlton H. Bonham, director of the Department of Fish and Wildlife, said in a statement. “We knew wolves would eventually return home to the state, and it appears now is the time.”

Pictures of the wolves – five pups and two adults – posted on the department’s website show the family in a meadow with tall trees behind them.

Officials said the pups appear to be a few months old. Officials learned of their existence thanks to cameras posted in remote parts of Siskiyou County near Mount Shasta, which snapped images of the pups and adults, the statement said. Officials have named the group the Shasta Pack.

I view it as good news--great news, actually--but some folks disagree, thinking the wolves will pose a danger to humans and their animals.  I've seen wild wolves at Yellowstone in the winter and it was one of the most thrilling days of my life.  To encounter one in the backcountry while running would be amazing. 

The Cutest Babies in the World

I've been a member of the National Wildlife Federation for a number of years now.  Each month their magazine, chock-full of great photos and in-depth articles, never fails to delight.

The August/September issue contained a great article about Red Wolves--with photos, of course:

[Red Wolf pups, image credit National Wildlife Federation]

Never heard of Red Wolves?  Many people have not.  From the NWF website:

Smaller and ruddier in color than their gray wolf cousins, the red wolf is one of the most endangered canids in the world. Though red wolves once ranged across the southeastern United States, years of hunting and habitat loss had driven the species to the brink of extinction by 1970.

As part of an ambitious captive-breeding program, the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service captured the 14 remaining red wolves they could find in the wild. These wolves are the ancestors of the 100-120 animals that now live in North Carolina, the first animal to be successfully reintroduced after being declared extinct in the wild.

Within their ecosystem, the wolves play a valuable role in keeping numbers of prey like deer in check. In turn the smaller prey populations are less likely to balloon out of control and consume all available nutrients in their habitat. Additionally, though no studies have conducted to quantify this, the wolves’ preference for nuisance species, like nutria and raccoons, helps to reduce damage to crops and other human activities.

Anyway, before the summer's out our family will be making its annual vacation pilgrimage to North Carolina's Outer Banks.  This summer we plan to make an excursion to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, where these few dozen red wolves run wild and free.  They have a ranger-led red wolf program for visitors that we will attend, upon which I will report back later.

Wolves...and Ultrarunning

From the New York Times (12 April 2011):

Congress for the first time is directly intervening in the Endangered Species List and removing an animal from it, establishing a precedent for political influence over the list that has outraged environmental groups.

A rider to the Congressional budget measure agreed to last weekend dictates that wolves in Montana and Idaho be taken off the endangered species list and managed instead by state wildlife agencies, which is in direct opposition to a federal judge’s recent decision forbidding the Interior Department to take such an action.

While the language on the Rocky Mountain wolves was a tiny item in budgetary terms, environmental groups said it set an unnerving precedent by letting Congress, rather than a science-based federal agency, remove endangered species protections.

I've seen wild wolves in Yellowstone, and it was one of the highlights of my life.  I don't often get to run out west where wolves exist, but is one of my dreams to see one on a trail somewhere.

That probably won't happen just because my work trips won't put me at the right place at the right time.  But it definitely won't happen if our Congress keeps putting politics ahead of science, children, common sense...and a sense of wonder at things wild and free.

 

Ultrarunning...and Sarah Palin

I'm still trying to figure out the phenomenon that is Sarah Palin. Politics aside, I guess I simply cannot for the life of me how anyone could have regarded her as a suitable vice-presidential candidate. Or now regard her as a serious presidential candidate, in view of her fundamental lack of experience in world politics.

Digby at Hullabaloo had a great post on 12 July that gets to the heart of the matter (excerpt below, you should click over and read the whole thing):

Reality Entertainer of The Year

I find it very telling that the Villagers don't get what's going on here. She is not a serious politician. She is a political celebrity/entrepreneur, collecting money from her fans to fund herself and sell her brand. To the extent that she is working for anyone but herself, she's working for The Republican Party, bringing together some of the disparate strands of the conservative movement, striking the pose of the "outsider." But that is the extent of her serious commitment to politics.

....snip....

Palin is a "reality" entertainer. Look on the covers of the celebrity magazines and you'll see lots of them. There's a lot of money to be made by someone like her in merchandising alone, much less personal appearances, books etc. I'm guessing she'll find herself on the personal growth/religious circuit too, along with her reality show on TV.  

Maybe some readers of Mister Tristan, or many readers, love Ms. Palin and are disinclined to agree with the observations made above by Digby (with whom I agree). That's OK, in a free country we must have room for differences of opinion and preferences for people who represent your interests.

However, when it comes to Ms. Palin, I must confess to a bias, and this relates to ultrarunning, in a way. Sarah Palin believes that it's OK to hunt wolves from helicopters.

Let me say that again, bold and blue and in italics: Sarah Palin believes that it's OK to hunt wolves from helicopters.

Anyone who believes that is an acceptable practice is a despicable human being, and therefore I absolutely and automatically distrust any other opinions espoused by that person.  It’s like I've figuratively put my fingers in my ears and loudly bleat "La-la-la-la-la" to avoid hearing anything else that Ms. Palin may say, on anything. I've simply lost all respect for any opinion she may hold. To place such an individual in charge of our nation's wilderness areas, land use policies, National Parks, trails, endangered species, energy policies, etc., is utter folly.

To bring this back to ultrarunning, if you love trails, you gotta go with a true environmentalist, someone who understands why wolves matter. And Sarah Palin is not that person.

 


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