Rewilding Ourselves and the Land - Wildlands NetworkWILDLANDS NETWORK Reconnecting Nature in North...

W I L D L A N D S N E T W O R K R e c o n n e c t i n g N a t u re i n N o r t h A m e r i c a ™

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Black Diamond Putting Conservation Commitment Into High Gear

The last decade has seen rock climbers, hikers and skiers powering the conservation movement like never before. By their very love of being in nature’s grasp, many now give pause to their pace, slow their fast track to consider what it’s going to take to keep their natural playground alive. They have

become citizen scientists, philanthropists, a voice for wildlife; collectively they are an artery that can help keep North America’s wild heart pumping.

Wildlands Network, in fact, has found its vision for continental conservation bolstered by this diverse community, thanks in large part to outdoor gear manufacturer Black Diamond (BD). Last year, the Salt Lake City-based company stepped up to support our TrekWest campaign, providing gear and encouragement. This year they hosted our Western Wildway Network annual summit meeting at their contemporary world headquarters where the relaxed atmosphere welcomes dogs, and an

I N S I D E

Notes from the Director

Meet our Conservation Scientist

Wolf OR-7’s Amazing Journey

Focus: The Grand Canyon’s Future

and more…

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P rotecting wildways at a continental scale is a moral imperative but also a vast challenge; after all, it’s never been done before. Pollen and fossil records tell us that during past periods of

climate change, species needed to move long distances north and south, as well as short distances up and down. Still, modern civilization continues to put countless obstacles in the way of the inter-regional migrations that species may need to make to adapt to anthropogenic climate chaos.

We easily see the barriers, but where, so far, do we see success-ful wildway implementation on the ground? If we look closely, we can see parts of it many places, but the whole—almost nowhere. As I trekked from Florida to Quebec in 2011 and from Sonora to British Columbia last year, I found many pieces of rewilding. I saw

Rewilding Ourselves and the Land

wildways being implemented at local levels, sometimes growing to regional levels. This is vital work but not yet adding up to enough.

It takes a community to save a corridor. And it will take many communities saving many corridors to achieve our goals of protecting and reconnecting Nature across North America. It will require more citizen engagement from local to continental scales and in myriad ways—artistic, scientific, athletic, political, technical, social …. It will ultimately require converting from an exploitative economy to a restoration economy where everyone could have meaningful work and all species would thrive. As now with the best grassroots conservation and rewilding efforts, but greatly expanded, let’s strive to realize these possibilities:

Citizen scientists and trackers will figure out

©K

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M. C

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2 W I L D L A N D S C O N N E CT I O N S P R I N G 2 0 1 4

IN THE DEPTHS OF WINTER, Seattle has just over eight hours of daylight. The sun comes out of hiding around eight a.m., slowly lightening the relentlessly cloudy sky, and then recedes again, much too soon. My daily ritual, an early morning walk in the woods with Jack and Penelope, my ir-repressible Springer Spaniels, relies on the light of my head-lamp to illuminate the roots and puddles. By March, winter is relenting; sunrise is an hour earlier, only to be temporarily, yet frustratingly, delayed when we “spring forward” in time, and what I “gain” is another hour of morning darkness!

This temporal change slows our pace; after a few hundred years of genetic domestication, Jack and Penelope prefer the beam of my headlamp to the darkness of the thickets. But this human manipulation of time cannot slow the deep and steady rhythm of nature; in the dark, the smells of renewal reach us, and as daylight dawns, the evidence of life is visible everywhere. Fresh shoots and buds accompany the raucous caws of ravens as they move into the crows’ turf, crows already upset by the increased activity of barred owls and resident bald eagles. The sights, smells and sounds of spring invite our energetic movement forward, into the light.

My last article, “From Crisis to Rebirth,” published in our Fall 2013 newsletter, hinted at our plans—building a stronger, expand-ed community, leveraging our relatively limited resources into a force of far greater magnitude. Indeed those plans are emerging. In February, we welcomed John Davis into a new role—from intrepid Wildways scout to our Northeastern staff person. His focus is to bolster advocacy for returning big predators—cougars and wolves—to our eastern ecosystems. This couldn’t have hap-pened without the support from new friends, two private founda-tions, and an old friend and long-time supporter who is providing financial, office and administrative support for John.

Looking a bit further south, we welcomed our new Con-nectivity Policy Coalition Coordinator Susan Holmes. Previous-ly a Wildlands Network board member, she brings more than a decade of experience navigating the wilds of Foggy Bottom and the halls of Congress. Susan’s hire is a collective effort of a dif-ferent sort: We joined with Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y) and Center for Large Landscape Connectivity (CLLC) to jointly fund her position. Strengthening bonds with

our friends and uniting in common goals makes us all stronger. In fact, this effort has set the stage for a new initiative: the same three organizations have joined with Defenders of Wildlife to hire a Forest Service expert who is helping us create plans to assist both the Forest Service and citizens groups to implement new forest service regulations calling for the protection of wildlife corridors in our national forests.

From the borderlands of Arizona and Mexico to the Cana-dian border north of Montana, we are engaged in discussions with other conservation groups about how we can collectively go further, faster. And our efforts are being informed by the sharing of business strategies from leaders in the outdoor industry, like Black Diamond; leaders in legal services, like Perkins Coie in Seattle who is providing free legal advice on business structures; and leaders in Communications, like Pyramid Communications, which has also generously donated its time and strategic advice.

Recently, thanks to the generous support of another Seattle philanthropist who came across our Western Wildway Initiative by reading Mary Ellen Hannibal’s book Spine of the Continent, (“Spine of the Continent” and “Western Wildway” are inter-changeable) discussed in last Fall’s issue, we convened a group of ten thought leaders, including our guiding light Michael Soulé, (who never lets us forget to whom we answer). We brought together experts in federal policy, private lands conser-vation, restoration, communications and marketing, rural com-munity conservation efforts and citizen science. Two months of preparation culminated in a two-day session with one “simple” goal: to determine what it will take to realize Michael’s vision of a protected, connected Spine of the Continent at an accelerated pace. The result: we have a plan and a new model for collec-tively moving forward. We believe it is possible to realize this vision, but it won’t be easy.

Our plan for the future is complex and strong; yet, the machinations of men, much more sinister than a changing of the clock, could impede our path towards continental con-nectivity. But, like the early leaves of a great oak tree, this new growth of Wildlands Network has a deep root, and our vision taps into a community that deeply believes in Dave Foreman’s self-willed beasts, the wildeors and the wildeorness upon which those beasts depend. And each day, as more people hear those ancient howls, our strength grows. Like a spring, it upwells from deep within us.

For the Wild,

Greg Costello, Executive Director

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Cameras Connect Community to Wildlife

Wildlands Network and two local partner organizations are conducting extensive camera trapping along the banks of the Northeast Cape Fear River, not far from Wilmington, NC. The river seemed to have high potential for serving as a habitat corridor for a variety of species that might want to move around Wilmington. So we are now using 24 professional wildlife cameras to document patterns of wildlife abundance at different points along the river. So far, the results confirm heavy use of the corridor by black bear, bobcat, coyotes, wild turkey, deer, and a range of other species. We hope to use this information to build public support for protecting the NE Cape Fear, which is facing twin threats of rapid urbanization spreading out from Wilmington and plans to build one of the largest cement plants in the country on its southern shore (read more at www.stoptitan.org). We also plan to expand this model of corridor validation to other key linkage areas along the Eastern Wildway.

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Sometimes the phone and the computer are all you have to go on when you’re a virtual staffer trying to connect with your virtual colleagues.

Over the phone, Ron Sutherland was thoughtful, reserved. In pictures, his boyish smile made him appear to be a lad trapped in a six-foot-three body. When I actually met him for the first time, I wasn’t prepared for this genteel North Carolina boy’s enor-mous wit and keen sense of humor—both sneak up on you and strike much like the snakes he adores.

Spoken like a true Monty Python fan, Ron says, “I’m not old, I’m 37!” Young looking, he is also a man young at heart. His scientific passion is expressed through to-day’s technology: self-edited music videos, camera trap images (as seen below) and GIS maps.

Ron grew up in Cary, NC, one of the fastest growing towns in America. While that town was a frontrunner in establishing greenways, it also grew from 7,000 to 120,000 at the expense of forests that got torn down to make way for homes. He remem-bers the hardest loss was the one closest to home, “We had a nice little forest behind the neighborhood that got torn up to make way for a church parking lot expansion. That was a bitter

lesson in the way the world was headed.”He didn’t know then that this lesson would hit

close to home, once again. If you haven’t heard about the Hofmann Forest controversy, Ron’s the guy to inform you. “The Hofmann Forest is this somewhat mysterious 80,000-acre tract of land owned by NC State University and located just west of Croatan Na-tional Forest in eastern North Carolina. I had been watching the property for a long time, always think-ing about how it could be restored to better wildlife habitat, and connected using corridors to Croatan

and the adjacent marine base, Camp Lejeune.Then out of the blue the Hofmann sale was announced. Ac-

cording to Ron, “A few months went by and still nobody seemed to be doing anything about it. There was sadness and shock, but North Carolinians are a bit numb right now because of all of the attacks that have been made on our environmental laws since 2010. So I decided to call up a forestry professor and got involved.”

An investment prospectus that was leaked to Wildlands Network revealed that the putative Hofmann buyer is planning on converting the land into one of North Carolina’s largest corn farms, presumably to feed more of the state’s huge popu-

Meet Wildlands Network’s Dr. Ron Sutherland


lation of corporate-owned hogs. “This troubling revelation hasn’t stopped the sale yet,” Ron says, “and it has helped us recruit more partner organizations to get involved. He encourages readers to check out the campaign Facebook site, Save Hofmann Forest.

Of the many strategies Ron and the forest conservation team have pursued to stop the sale, one of the most visually im-pactful was lining up 600 pine seedlings in front of the NC State Chancellor’s home, in peaceful protest. Recently he climbed aboard a Southwings plane with photographer J. Henry Fair to document the region from an aerial perspective. The results also will give powerful visual testimony to the campaign.

Activists often come from green childhoods. For Ron, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. His parents both worked hard for state government, pointing him toward a career in helping the public interest. Thanks to them, he was able to see a lot of wild areas across the Southeast while growing up. When visiting rela-tives in Florida, he got hooked on turtles, snakes, and alligators.

Activists also often become biologists. And sometimes their mentors choose them. PhD advisor and WN Board Member John Terborgh is a huge inspiration to Ron. He explains, “John’s such a talented scientist, and at the same time so passionate (and so realistic) about conservation of wild places and wildlife.”

Any given day one might find Dr. Sutherland presenting at conferences and meetings, out checking his camera traps or back at the office—fertile ground for Ron to teach great interns

and a number of excellent masters student assistants from Duke University’s Nicholas School.

In his line of work, developing and keeping up with GIS mod-eling is paramount, Ron explains. “The technology keeps changing so fast, as with all aspects of society these days. Many improve-ments are on the way in terms of computing power, satellite data availability, tracking capacity for smaller and smaller animals, etc. But all of that technology doesn’t necessarily mean we’re winning or even keeping up—that is the challenging part of life these days.”

But a family guy will tell you, in his children lies hope. Ron now shares the same love of nature with his wife and three children ages six, four and two. “We love getting them outside … our latest trip was camping in Redwoods National Park. ‘Big trees!’ was all my two year old daughter kept saying for days; how inspiring is that for a conservationist?”

Indeed, hope is one of the most defining aspects of Dr. Sutherland. Behind the guy who enjoys hiking and playing with his family, riding his bike to and from work, swimming, play-ing water polo, gardening, and woodworking, there is a deeply committed conservationist and a brilliant mind to carry the way forward in realizing the Wildlands Network vision. “I enjoy every minute I get to spend thinking about how to reconnect our major wild places in the Southeast, about connecting the Eastern Wildway and changing things for the better.”

—Lisa Lauf Rooper

When the lone Wolf OR-7 crossed the border into Califor-nia he became the first known, free-roaming wolf in the state for nearly 90 years. The last wild wolf in California

was killed in 1924. This May, a team composed of a wildlife tracker, storyteller,

expedition filmmaker, National Geographic Young Explorer, outdoor educator and conservation adventurer will retrace Wolf OR-7’s route across Oregon and Northern California, by foot and mountain bike. Inspired by the lone Wolf OR-7’s epic jour-ney from his pack in northeast Oregon into California, a Wild Peace Alliance expedition team, with support from Sculpt the Future and Xplore, will retrace his tracks. The expedition will cross mountain ranges and high desert to raise awareness for human/wolf coexistence and to celebrate the wild lands where Wolf OR-7 travelled and where he still roams.

Wolf OR-7 continues to leave more questions than answers in his wake. The expedition team will compile questions posed by

Following the Journey of a Lone Wolf

students and the public throughout the expedition and will carry the top 20 questions to wolf scientists, conservationists, ranchers, hunters and others who have direct experience with wolves.

David Moskowitz, one of the team of six adventurers, wildlife tracker, and author of Wolves in the Land of Salmon, explains their mission in more detail. “Parts of the landscape that Wolf OR-7 discovered on his journey are much as they were when wolves last patrolled these areas a century ago, while others are almost unrecognizably different. Our aim is to see for ourselves what the modern world looks like for a contemporary wolf and share what we discover with folks following along from home.”

Wildlands Network will be supporting the effort in every way possible; we hope you will too. Please visit their website at or7expedition.org or their Kickstarter campaign page at: http://kck.st/1qLtQ8P to produce educational products to raise aware-ness for coexistence with wolves.


WI L D EARTH F O C U S

BY KIM CRUMB O

Like so many wild areas, the Grand Canyon is the most beautiful place on Earth. Ed Abbey agreed (“There are many such places”) as did the woman poet Sappho in 600 BCE—“the most beautiful [thing] is whatever one loves.” I devoted most of my adult life to running, devouring actually, Grand

Canyon’s tumultuous, sometimes peaceful river and hiking its spectacular, sometimes god-awful trails. My first encounter with the Canyon in 1970 entrapped me with its deceptive invulnerable, timeless

and rugged aridity and its immense depth and solitude. Later, I began to understand there is a tremen-dous breadth of life inhabiting its expansive, sometimes near vertical deserts, countless inner canyon streams and springs, and ancient rim land forests, meadows and grasslands.

I have since witnessed the endangered peregrine falcon ascend from near extinction to recovery, in numbers sufficient to let me dare hope for the chance to someday marvel at their muscular, aerial dis-plays. Even now, once again, the greatly imperiled condor graces the skies above the Canyon (though its survival is still threatened today from eating carrion left behind by careless hunters who have poisoned

The Monumental Future of Our Grand Canyon

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W I L D EARTH F O C U S

it with spent lead bullets). Deer abound … rattlesnakes, God bless them, do too. With stunning aerial dexterity, goshawks master the dense old growth forests in pursuit of endemic tas-seled-eared squirrels, terror-stricken grouse, even an occasional unwary hiker who trespasses too near this fierce raptor’s nest.

But in my wanderings I also learned that something es-sential was missing. Where were the carnivores—big cats, the wolves, and yes, the grizzly bears—that once haunted this majestic national park?

Wild ecosystems in the West evolved through the interplay of vegetation and native wildlife where large carnivores, such as mountain lions, grizzly bears and wolves, served as “keystone species,” in a complex ecological process described as “trophic cascades.” Deer and elk evolved to become alert and swift, and bison powerful. Forests, grasslands and riparian plants adapted and thrived in part because predators controlled herbivore numbers and discouraged lingering in sensitive areas.

Though many a reader has been told the Yellowstone National Park story, it bears repeating. After wolves were exterminated there, years of overabundant elk had degraded willow, cottonwood, aspen and other habitat on which many other species depend. Once the wolf returned to assume its natural essential role, those vegetative communities rebounded. Wolves helped reduce elk numbers. But most dramatically, they changed elk behavior by making them more wary, causing them to avoid hazardous areas such as dense riparian willow and cottonwood groves that could conceal predators. Thus those biologically diverse communities were allowed to recover.

When willow return, neotropical birds return to find food, shelter and nesting sites. Beaver, dependent on cottonwood and willow, return to build dams. The resulting ponds provide havens for native fish, and so on. While more research is needed to determine to what extent large predators benefit ecosystems, it’s clear that the preservation or recovery of large carnivores is essential to maintain and restore the resiliency of wildlands, especially in the face of a rapidly changing climate.

Black bears are rarely observed today on either rim of the Grand Canyon, and the last Canyon grizzly died on the North Kaibab in the 1880s. Most people are surprised to learn that jag-uars, always uncommon in the United States, once roamed the southern Colorado Plateau as far north as the Grand Canyon. A female and her cubs were reportedly killed on South Rim sometime between 1885 and 1890. Another was shot near the hotel district around 1915, and the last known Grand Canyon jaguar perished inside the National Park in 1932. Wolves also haunted Grand Canyon’s South and North Rims and the adjoin-ing North Kaibab Forest before the early twentieth century.

Mountain lions, most likely the earth’s most adaptive big cat, once inhabited America from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts. As with the wolf, superstition as well as hatred of gov-ernment agencies and public land management by some, fueled wholesale slaughter. Ultimately mountain lions were extirpated from most of the eastern United States, with the exception of a small population of Florida panthers. Unlike the wolf, the mountain lion’s secretive and solitary habits allowed it to survive in western strongholds and, for the time being, cougars appear to be holding their own.

Mountain lions persist throughout the Park in numbers sufficient to often reveal their secretive presence with tracks, scats and an occasional kill site. Seldom, however, do they reward even the most persistent observer with so much as a brief glimpse. Even so, this million-acre national park cannot provide sufficient refugia to assure long-term protection of this magnificent creature. Genetically viable, ecologically effective cougar populations require many millions of acres of connect-ed, adequately protected habitat.

The Canyon as Negotiable Natural BarrierIt would seem that the mile-deep Grand Canyon and the Colo-rado River clearly present a formidable barrier to wildlife move-ment; however, biogeography demonstrates that along their length, they can be filters (granting some species full access and others not). Species dependent on cooler environments, such as the tasseled-eared tree squirrel, simply cannot survive the inner canyon’s desert. The Canyon and the River can also serve as a climate refugia or a wildlife corridor.

The Colorado River apparently separates bighorn sheep—a species wonderfully adapted to the steep, harsh canyon envi-ronment but a lousy swimmer—into two separate populations. On the other hand, mountain lions cross the Canyon and its famous rapid-filled river, and mule deer readily negotiate the many routes through the eastern Canyon and frequently swim the calmer river stretches. I’ve spotted deer and lion tracks throughout the Park, including along the Colorado River. Wolves, most likely following the deer in the cooler months, would not find the Canyon impenetrable.

Wolves, The Legendary WanderersWolves are capable of traversing thousands of miles through of-ten unforgiving territory in search of a mate, prey and security. For example, Pluie, the wolf that inspired the Yellowstone to Yu-kon wildlife corridor initiative, traversed back and forth across a 45,000-square-mile region of western Canada and the Glacier National Park region. In 2008, a young female embarked on


an epic 3,000-mile journey from Yellowstone to Colorado. Her lonely passage led her across Wyoming (and Interstate 80), through Utah, and finally to Colorado. Beginning in 2011, an Oregon-born male wolf today continues an even longer trek back and forth into California.

The Last Grand Canyon WolfIt was a late-fall evening in the North Kaibab’s ancient forest, sometime around 1928, as 15 weary cowboys and 3,000 cattle crowded the fragile mountain meadow at Crane Lake. By all accounts, the Plateau’s wolves all perished through ruthless extermination by government hunters early in the 1900s. But that night, the wolf ’s icy howl shattered their pastoral slumber, and the pursuit began anew.

Tradition and manly pride demanded that our fear-less horsemen hotly pursue the supposed villainous creature, although the inevitable chase began in an unusual way. “Uncle” Jim Owens, a villainous creature in his own right whose foul habits included killing most of the mountain’s predators, lost control of his lion hounds near Bright Angel Point at Grand Canyon. The dogs discovered the wolf ’s scent and left Jim in the dust. Four days later, the exhausted, thoroughly pummeled hounds returned. During the chase, the wolf escaped to tempo-rary refuge on the Paria Plateau a few miles east of the Kaibab.

Once robust grasslands, the Paria Plateau and the adjacent House Rock Valley had rapidly deteriorated under intense graz-ing by domestic stock. The Plateau today is a vast if not endless expanse of rolling sand dunes and slickrock surrounded by thousand-foot cliffs and sliced by the deep, extremely narrow canyon called Buckskin Gulch. The relentless chase ended with the wolf trapped between riflemen and a slender chasm hun-dreds of feet deep and, in places, less than 20 feet wide.

The cowboys knew the frightened, desperate animal had run out of tricks and places to hide. All its cunning and strength could not elude the bullets nor leap the abyss. A single cowboy followed the animal’s fresh tracks along a steep ridge leading to the absolute barrier of Buckskin Gulch. For the frightened wolf there was no way out. His rifle ready, the cowboy slowly rounded a ledge separating the two. A few final steps and before him, in mocking silence, lay a 16-foot bridge of juniper logs and rawhide spanning the gorge. Our wolf was long gone, most likely headed north for the Escalante region of southern Utah.

The cowboys made two important discoveries that day. First, they found the mysterious route the Robbers Roost Gang used to rustle cattle out of the area. The second discovery was a grudging respect, maybe a little admiration, for the lone Grand Canyon wolf.

The Next Grand Canyon WolfIn 1976, the federal government listed Mexican wolves as endan-gered and managed to locate seven, perhaps the last surviving in Mexico, to form a genetically precarious captive breeding program. Twenty-two years passed before captive wolves were finally freed into the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area of central east Arizona.

The she-wolf ’s journey began within the Blue Range, a gorgeous, vulnerable wildland of rivers, alpine peaks and tragic history. It was here that the Apaches were driven from their home-land; here where commercial game hunters and others extermi-nated the endemic Merriam’s elk; here where an ignorant trapper tormented and killed Old Bigfoot, the great Escudilla grizzly bear, the last such creature inhabiting this enchanting landscape; and here where Aldo Leopold extinguished the Fierce Green Fire in one wolf ’s eyes and eventually gained insights into the essential ecological role these creatures play. It is here where the Mexican wolf resumes its tenuous and rocky return to the wild.

In the year 2000, before heading north toward the Grand Canyon, our girl undoubtedly traversed the high headwaters of the Little Colorado River. This extensive network of north-flowing streams and canyons encircling the grand escarpment of the Mogollon Rim forms the spectacular, dramatic southern boundary of the Colorado Plateau. Given her unrelenting rov-er’s spirit, it should come as little surprise that she (and another wolf) turned up in the Flagstaff vicinity two years after her ini-tial liberation. Sadly, not all paths are safe for travelers. Evading capture, our determined sojourner continued northward, even-tually traveling over 200 miles, including a dangerous cross-ing of Interstate 40. Our intrepid lady survived until a vehicle struck and killed her in the fall, 12 miles north of Flagstaff, and less than a two-day’s trot to Grand Canyon National Park.

Although missteps in management and illegal killings proved costly, the Mexican wolf community now consists of about 80 wolves in the wild. For the time being, any wolf stray-ing outside of the confines of the recovery area are trapped and survivors returned to either the captive breeding impound-ments or, in theory, back to the Blue Range. A new recovery plan now under development offers alternatives that would, if implemented, save the world’s most imperiled wolf and allow its return home to Grand Canyon National Park.

The Wildlife Imperative of ConnectivityLike the story of the critically endangered Mexican wolf, Grand Canyon National Park—an American wonder but also a World Heritage Park— is a story both regional and global in scope. It’s also one in which Jane Goodall recently saw the signs of hope for endangered animals in the natural world. Conservation scientists



identify three huge challenges to nature, and they are the same ones threatening the precious Grand Canyon region, referred to by the Pauites as Kaibab, or “Mountain Lying Down.” They are climate disruption, the global decapitation (predator extirpation) of ecosystems and habitat degradation caused by fragmentation. All respond to the same treatment: landscape connectivity. “Nature’s aspirin,” coined by Father of Conservation Biology Michael Soulé, is simply the freedom to disperse, particularly for strongly interact-ing species such as wolves, whose disappearances are likely to trig-ger ecological cascades, but whose repatriation can restore critical interactions and processes (e.g., Yellowstone National Park).

Most conservation biologists and many land managers agree that maintaining or restoring wildlife connectivity is critical to conserving global biodiversity. They are of one mind that protected wildlife corridors constitute the strongest tool for protecting vital wildlife habitats and migration routes threatened by fragmentation and climate change. In addition, the potential for ecosystems to adapt to climate change depends on the ability of species to move and ecological processes to operate across broad landscapes.

Along the entirety of the Rocky Mountains, there is a ris-ing community, of which I am a part, intent on social change. We are re-constructing the world’s most extensive network of protected, connected landscapes—the 5,000-mile-long Western Wildway, or The Spine of the Continent. Our vision, “the most ambitious wildlife conservation project ever undertaken,” is a coordinated international conservation action that will protect, connect, and restore a contiguous network of public and private lands along the Rocky Mountains and associated ranges, basins, plateaus, and deserts from Alaska’s Brooks Range to the Mexi-can Sierra Madre Occidental.

And as one might guess, my most beautiful place on Earth plays a critical role in completing the Western Wildway. Wild-life scientists identify two major wildlife corridors within the Western Wildway, linking the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area of east-central Arizona and west-central New Mexico with the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The first connects the Colo-rado’s Southern Rockies and Utah’s High Uinta Mountains with Yellowstone. The second embraces the Grand Canyon ecoregion and Utah’s High Plateaus. Both are considered hot spots for threatened and endemic species and critical wildlife corridors connecting what conservation biologists call a mega-linkage, in this case: the Blue Range Wolf Recovery Area connected to the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Parks (see map, page 7).

Monument Making, a Way ForwardThe Grand Canyon and it’s surrounding, unprotected lands are the critical link in the Blue Range-Grand Canyon-Yellowstone

megalinkage. The nearly two million acres of imperiled public lands adjacent to and draining directly into the Grand Canyon comprise dramatic escarpments, plateaus and canyons affording spectacular landscapes. They also support a unique diversity of native species consisting of at least 22 sensitive species includ-ing the endangered California condor, mountain lions, prong-horn antelope and mule deer.

The region’s forest also shelters one of North America’s highest concentrations of the uncommon northern goshawks. Other important bird species include: golden eagles, rough-legged hawks, ferruginous hawks, northern harriers, western burrowing owls and the threatened Mexican spotted owl. Car-nivore scientists also consider this region essential for eventual recovery of the critically endangered Mexican wolf.

As the Southwest faces climate change and increasing prob-ability of prolonged drought, preservation of remaining intact ecosystems is critical not only for wildlife, but for humans as well.


Grand Canyon’s best defense against climate change is to protect and restore ecological resiliency to the Park’s vulnerable adjacent public wildlands, including old growth forests, grasslands and wildlife corridors that provide native species safe passage to the other wildlife core areas of northern Arizona and southern Utah.

Adjacent but integral to Grand Canyon National Park lies the Kaibab Plateau, the Southwest’s largest unprotected old growth ponderosa pine forest. Emblematic of this “endangered” ecosystem type is the handsome Kaibab tree squirrel found only here and whose continued existence depends on extensive but shrinking habitat threatened by continued logging and climate change. Mature, natural forests are resilient to disturbances because of their native biodiversity. This resilience includes regeneration after fire, resistance to and recovery from pests and diseases, and adaptation to climatic changes in radiation, temperature and water availability.

Conservation of naturally evolving old-growth forests re-quires protection and restoration of native species biodiversity (including wolves) as well as a return of natural fire regimes. Destructive uranium mining-driven industrialization, contin-ued logging of ancient trees and inappropriate livestock grazing are the primary threats surrounding Grand Canyon National Park that need to be eliminated to restore resilient habitats and give species the fighting chance they deserve.

In 1908, Theodore Roosevelt, exasperated by faint-hearted congressional reluctance to protect the threatened Grand Can-yon, proclaimed the area a national monument, laying the foun-dation for the eventual National Park. Unfortunately the plan left out most of the forested Kaibab Plateau and other ecologically critical lands. Given the current political environment, protecting this iconic wildland surrounding Grand Canyon National Park as the Grand Canyon Watershed National Monument comes down to Presidential authority—the best, perhaps only, option.

The looming threats from logging, mining, and climate chaos, compel conservationists to work tirelessly with the Obama administration and Congress to permanently protect America’s Grand Canyon from these and additional threats that could push wildlife over the brink. The Sierra Club, in close cooperation with Grand Canyon Wildlands, has elevated Grand Canyon Watershed National Monument designation as a top national conservation priority. Among our specific objectives for this treasured landscape are:

◾ Protect and restore core areas and critical buffer zones and migration corridors on public wildlands surrounding Grand Canyon;

◾ Secure action from President Obama to protect the old-growth


ponderosa pine and mixed conifer forest of the Kaibab Plateau and the forest south of the Park (South Rim Headwaters);

◾ Reduce non-climate stressors by shielding more than one million acres of Grand Canyon’s watershed from uranium exploration, including Kanab Creek, Grand Canyon’s South Rim watershed and House Rock Valley;

◾ Work with Native communities to prevent resource develop-ment harmful to Traditional values and places; and

◾ Ensure that resilient habitats principles are incorporated into new resource management plans for the Grand Canyon ecoregion, including the provision for permanent, voluntary retirement of grazing permits.

Our Grand Journey Ahead When I was a young man, I left an unjust war with Vietnam’s rivers, wildlife and people in turmoil. My assigned task as a Navy SEAL completed, I returned, not as a wounded warrior, but as a grateful survivor who wanted the adventure to con-tinue, but without war’s agony and killing. I latched on to a job escorting souls down the wild Colorado River, all of us in search of adventure, purpose and perhaps some peace. Though a river flowing to the sea remains a powerful metaphor for life as it should be, not all rivers reach the sea.

While Earth stumbles along on it’s sixth great extinction epi-sode (this one human-caused and not from a meteorite), over six billion human beings grapple with life’s meaning as collectively we play a cosmic version of 52 card pickup with the only planet we have. The global crisis is daunting, but the challenge for those of us whose sanity and well being require wild nature as it should be lies before us—it’s a challenge we’ve no choice but to face. We simply must demand protection and restoration of wildlife con-nections between our national parks, wilderness and other criti-cal conservation areas. Designation of Grand Canyon Watershed National Monument by President Obama is an essential, achiev-able step in that great journey. If our beloved Grand Canyon—the most beautiful place on earth—and her nurturing wildlands are not worthy of protection, what in all creation is?

Kim Crumbo is currently the Director of Conservation for the Grand Canyon Wildlands Council. He served 20 years with the National Park Service in Grand Canyon as the river ranger and later as Wilderness Coordinator. Before his experience on rivers and in wilderness activism, he spent four years with the Navy’s SEAL Team One completing two combat deployments to Vietnam.

Please visit the Grand Canyon Wildlands Council’s website, sign up, and they will let you know soon how you can help.


The Carnivore Way by Cristina Eisenberg

What would it be like to live in a world with no predators roaming our landscapes? Cristina Eisenberg argues compellingly for the necessity of top predators in large, undisturbed landscapes, following in the

footsteps of six large carnivores-wolves, grizzly bears, lynx, jaguars, wolverines, and cougars. The Carnivore Way offers a compelling blend of evocative storytelling and cutting-edge science. Available at www.islandpress.org, discount code: 2WILD.

“Ecologist Cristina Eisenberg travels wildlife corridors between Alaska and northern Mexico. Examining the science and public policy surrounding these majestic creatures, she argues that we need to give them room to roam—and we can do it in a way that allows us to peacefully coexist.”—Conservation

Big, Wild and Connected by John Davis

This short e-book series recounts John Davis’s adventures hiking, biking, and paddling from Florida to Quebec to determine whether it’s too late to protect a continent-long wildlife corridor that could help to protect eastern nature into the future. A must for every nature-loving Easterner! Available at www.islandpress.org.

“Inspired by John Muir’s A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf, John Davis walks, bikes, and kayaks on a ‘voyage of recovery’ from the Florida Keys to southeastern Canada. He bears witness not only to wilderness that still sustains bears, panthers, and bobcats but also to the possibilities for connecting further wildways in the eastern United States. His inspiring journey reminds us all that we must rediscover the wildness we still have before we lose it forever.” —Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club

The Colorado River in Grand Canyon by Larry Stevens

This is a comprehensive guide to the natural and human (and conservation) history of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. Designed for running the river, for scribbling notes about rapids, camps or unexpected sightings and events, or for exploring from afar, it helps inform and remind us of the vast temporal and spatial scope of Grand Canyon.

Wildlands Network supporters receive a 10% discount off the price of $26.95. Shipping is additional. 100% of proceeds go to Grand Canyon Conservation. To purchase your guide,

visit: www.grandcanyonwildlands.org/buyriverguide.html or contact Grand Canyon Wildlands Council at [email protected] for a discount link or to order quantities above 10 books.

Now with the re-release of his beloved river guide, The Colorado River in Grand Canyon, Stevens has provided us with a testament to both the Canyon and his enduring love for this great gorge. —from “In Guide We Trust,” a book review by Tom Myers, Grand Canyon Physician

If we are to achieve continental-size connectivity of our wildlands in North America, we must continue to garner support for Wildways. The following are three books written by respected author friends who share our passion for these large connected pathways for wildlife. Through their voices, more and more people are learning about how and why connectivity is a stronghold for our native lands, water systems and wildlife.

Books that Bring Wildways to Life


Working With Communities Building Relationships and Results from the Inside Out

Our conservation community often thinks of success in terms of our own stated goals. That seems logical, of course. We ask ourselves the question, “How do we convince others

that our goals are worthy of attention and support?” Underlying this question, however, is an assumption that many communi-ties inherently probably don’t support the values that we support —clean air, clean water, robust wildlife, and conservation. As a result, we believe it’s our job to educate and build support for our goals by pushing from the outside into these communities.

At Future West, we fundamentally shift this approach and turn it inside out by asking “What kind of future does the local community want, and how can we assist them in a way that also achieves our own organizational goals?”

In fact, if you were to sit down and talk to most people in the West’s rural communities—whether they are private land-owners, county commissioners, acequia mayordomos (protec-tors of ancient irrigation ditches), or local residents—you would quickly realize that the hearts and minds of our rural western-ers are solidly rooted in conservation and stewardship. Most communities we work with at Future West will, in fact, fight passionately for the protection of their natural resources and quality of life.

If then, a rural community doesn’t need convincing, what’s the next step for a conservationist to take? In our experience, it is listening. An incredible amount of knowledge, understand-ing, compassion and opportunities arise from a conservationist who is willing to sit and listen to a community’s challenges and desires. When we listen, we open our minds to the possibility of a conservation outcome that includes a diversity of perspec-tives rooted in the most solid foundation possible—local desire and motivation.

So, at Future West, as we act on our mission to help com-munities create the future that they want, the first thing we do is learn from the community what challenges it is facing, and then we look for ways we can help.

This creates a fundamentally new model for conservation—one that topples the traditional campaign on its side and instead builds from the inside out—not the outside in.

It is in this space of mutual understanding, that we discover common ground that provides a strong foundation for partner-ships with all political parties, conservation groups, businesses, local citizen and private landowners.

Two examples of successful outcomes from working “inside out” include the Montana Headwaters Abandoned Mine Recla-mation Project and the Chama Peak Land Alliance.

In the case of the Chama Peak Land Alliance, the private landowners in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico had already written a vision statement for conservation-minded landowners working collaboratively across their property lines. This nascent vision was then supported by conservation groups and nurtured into a 501c3 non-profit organization with regional recognition and standing. Landowners are now providing their leadership and vision on a variety of local issues ranging from land stewardship, to wood utilization, to energy development. Interestingly enough, the origin of this land alliance was the meeting of two seemingly polar opposite stakeholders—an envi-ronmental law center (Western Environmental Law Center) and the ranching community. Future West now provides staff capac-ity and institutional support to the Chama Peak Land Alliance.

The Montana Headwaters Abandoned Mine Reclamation

Western Wildway Conversations As the Western Wildway continues to gain momentum, and the many conservation organizations in its realm grow ever closer to restoring, connecting and protecting its precious biodiversity, the Western Wildway Network tent grows ever bigger. We hold great respect for Future West and its ability to find common conservation ground, literally and figuratively, in western communities. Recently we asked our colleagues to enlighten on us on how they walk the talk that can create positive conservation outcomes.

Site work on the Montana Headwaters Project


When we tie our regional work into the big vision of a connected wildway, it’s clear why people get so excited and want to be a part of this amazing initiative,” said

New Mexico Wildway’s Jan-Willem Jansens. This comment set the stage for this year’s 9th annual Western Wildway Network (WWN) Summit.

Recently, 32 representatives of the WWN growing cadre of partner organizations met in a spirited two-day planning session at Black Diamond headquarters in Salt Lake City. It was not only the largest gathering of network members to date, but also the first-ever meeting venue hosted by a long-hoped-for collabora-tor: the outdoor recreation industry.

Black Diamond CEO and founder Peter Metcalf and support-ing staff made presentations on how the company’s unique corpo-rate networking model can inform non-profit groups wishing to combine or share resources and embraced the mission of landscape connectivity.

The dedication of TrekWest adventurer John Davis and cinematographer

Project is an initiative that grew organically out of strong partner-ship between Madison and Jefferson counties and the conserva-tion community in southwestern Montana. At first, the counties and conservation groups were wary of one another, as the close ties between strange bedfellows seemed risky. But that skepticism soon faded as the win-win benefits of cleaning up the environ-ment, and in this case, re-mining gold and providing local jobs to boost to the economy became an obvious platform for success.

The common thread throughout Future West’s work, and that of many other collaborative conservation groups, is always asking first what a community needs, and then supporting this vision, which often has many elements that also support our own mission and work. In most cases, it is through asking and listening that the greater conservation community will realize that there is an incredible amount of common ground that can be tilled and planted to grow projects of lasting merit.

Listening is critical, but it must then be followed up with

sincere dedication, a daily attention to details and opinions, and a constant attentiveness to the various perspectives being held in common. Each partner must be allowed to hold dear the unique differences of opinion it brings to the table, while also allowing the space where differences fade to meld with like-minded views at that table.

This approach is not without its challenges and setbacks, however. Future West often finds itself at the center of a project where each stakeholder is pulling in opposite directions. We feel as if we are on the “edge” of success or failure at each moment. This is both thrilling and daunting. However, we believe that it is in this risk taking that great achievements may be realized. Just as the ground on which a wolf, grizzly bear, mule deer and elk all walk may indeed be common, so it is between commu-nity stakeholders. One needs only to look at it through a variety of lenses and step back with inquiry, sincerity and hope.

—Monique DiGiorgio and Dennis Glick, Future West

Western Wildway Partners Chart Actions at Annual Summit

Ed George—who filmed the entire 5,000-mile journey for a feature-length film on the Western Wildway—was celebrated. In fact, the WWN members pledged full funding to complete production of the film.

In addition to partner programs and a year-two wildlife corri-dor campaign session, “citizen science” programs—well-developed volunteer tracking and inventory procedures—were discussed as a strategy to boost to the WWN’s corridor protection initiatives.

“Resource sharing, idea sharing and coordination of ef-forts are building a faster more efficient team on the ground,” noted Wildlands Network’s Western Director, Kim Vacariu, who heads up facilitation and organization of the network. “In addition, we’ve exposed our work to a greatly expanded group of organizations and individuals through TrekWest, which is critical at this stage of our initiative.”

Western Wildway Network representatives gather for WWN’s Annual Summit at Black Diamond, Inc. headquarters in Salt Lake City.

“


where animals are moving and what obstacles (e.g. roads, dams, clearcuts, fences) they face, and what are the conditions of their habitats, as Keeping Track does in the Green Mountains and Ad-irondacks, Sky Island Alliance does in the Madrean Archipelago, and Wild Utah Project does in Utah grasslands and deserts.

Naturalists will identify rare species and natural communi-ties like Reed Noss has done for Florida; Jerry Jenkins has done for the Adirondacks; Larry Stevens has done for the Grand Canyon; and Naturalia, Northern Jaguar Project and Cuenca Los Ojos biologists have done for Sonora.

Architects and engineers will design safe crossings and bypasses, as they’ve done with the Sonoran Desert Protection Coalition, Center for Large Landscape Conservation, Rocky Mountain Wild and Conservation Northwest for major roads in the West; and Adirondack Nature Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Society, and Wildlands Network have enlisted experts to do on roads and culverts in the Northern Appala-chians and Adirondacks.

Conservation veterans will draft plans to designate out-standing places as national Parks and monuments, such as Grand Canyon Wildlands Council did successfully with the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument and is now doing with the proposed Grand Canyon Watershed National Monument; Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, Sierra Club, and Wild Utah Project are doing for the proposed Greater Canyonlands National Monument; and RESTORE: The Maine Woods is doing with the proposed Maine Woods National Park.

Wilderness groups, like New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, California Wilderness Coalition, Wilderness Workshop, and Adirondack Council will continue to fight for every road-free acre in the country.

Wildlands defense groups, like Wild South, Heartwood, Protect the Adirondacks and Wild Earth Guardians, will fend off assaults to our countries’ natural areas.

Lawyers and paralegals will sue whenever government agencies refuse to uphold our countries’ environmental and conservation laws, as the Center for Biological Diversity, Earth Justice and Western Environmental Law Center do so well.

Climate justice groups, like 350.org and Tar Sands Resistance, will fight fossil fuel subsidies and build the safe climate movement.

Land trusts, like Northeast Wilderness Trust, Highlands Nature Sanctuary and the Nature Conservancy of Canada will purchase and preserve undeveloped lands and help land-own-ers conserve their holdings, while working at higher levels to improve incentives for good land stewardship.

Landowners, like those within the Western Landowners Al-liance, will commit to wildlife friendly management practices.

Teachers will learn and share natural history and encourage students to write letters and emails to elected officials, land man-agement agencies and local newspapers, in support of wildlife and wild places.

Businesspeople will launch enterprises that shift economies from extraction and exploitation to restoration and recreation, as Keith Bowers (Wildlands Network Board Member) has done with Biohabitats, Yvon & Malinda Chouinard have done with Patagonia and Peter Metcalf has done with Black Diamond.

Ministers will preach the moral imperative of preserving God’s Creation.

Pagans will perform Earth rituals to help extirpated species find their wildways—their ways back home.

Computer technicians and GIS experts, like Kurt Meinke of Bird’s Eye View GIS, will continue to draft and update maps of wild cores and connections between.

Scouts, like me, will roam the wilds with eyes and ears open to threats and opportunities.

Zoos and aquaria will add present the ecological impor-tance of apex predators and habitat connectivity.

Mechanics, like Mark Nassen of Leep-Off Cycles, will repair the field vehicles of conservationists and activists (from my 5-year-old Pugsley fat-tire bike to Jim Catlin’s 45-year-old Land Cruiser!).

Artists, like Rod Maciver, Kevin Raines, Margo McKnight, Ed George, Kristen Caldon and countless others, will paint, sketch, film, sculpt, dance, sing and strum into people’s hearts and minds visceral affinities with wild creatures and the lands we share—or should share—with them.

Writers and other storytellers, like Terry Tempest Wil-liams, David Quammen, Gary Nabhan, Connie Barlow, Doug Peacock, Olivia Judson … will explain, extol and convey the excitement of wild places and adventures therein and begin to weave a new mythology.

Rock stars, like Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Bonnie Raitt, Melissa Etheridge, Tina Turner, KT Tunstall and younger ones will perform for Nature.

Okay, I’m dreaming now; but isn’t that how a better world emerges? Protecting and restoring North America’s great natu-ral heritage will require grand visions implemented through cooperation and participation such as we have never seen be-fore. The struggle before us is nothing less than the fight for life on Earth. Tireless advocacy and citizen engagement to recon-nect wild habitats and reconnect ourselves with Nature will be needed. Befriend your wild neighbors, then invite your human neighbors to join our rewilding community!

—John Davis

➤ Rewilding, from page 1


indoor climbing wall beckons employees during work breaks. There is much to admire about this company where the staff and managers not only walk their product talk; they climb, ski and hike it. And the same goes for Black Diamond’s commit-ment to conservation. Starting with President Peter Metcalf, Black Diamond embraces its ever-growing circle of conserva-tion partners as strongly as they do their brands. Recently, Wildlands Connection Editor Lisa Lauf Rooper spoke with Na-than Kuder, Conservation Alliance Ambassador & BD Category Director to get a deeper insight into Black Diamond’s approach to conservation action.

Where do you focus most of your conservation support?

We are directly involved in three to five projects at any one time, most of which are located in the western U.S. Additionally, our Founder and CEO Peter Metcalf often takes a strong personal role in Utah state issues. Our efforts through our global advocacy part-ners indirectly contribute to dozens of projects around the world.

Why does landscape connectivity resonate as a high

priority conservation effort with BD?

As the developed world continues to grow, we need to stop thinking of wild lands as discrete islands or reservations of protection, but rather of connected ecosystems, where the total benefit can be much greater than the sum of individual parts. Connectivity is the next evolution of conservation.

Why do you support WN?

Through our climbing heritage, BD has always gravitated to-wards bold routes on the edge of possibility. We believe in initia-tives that challenge the current mindset, rely on the strengths of multiple visionaries and find reward for generations after we’ve stopped climbing. Wildlands Network meets all of these criteria, and its vision happens to run right through our homeland.

How do you define your vision for recreation’s sustainable

use of wild areas?

One of our founding tenets is to champion preservation of and access to places where the effects of human impact are diluted to an imperceptible level. In other words, we want the definition of what wild really means to stay the same from generation to generation.

BD also recognizes a need for many different types of people to use wild places in many different ways. Getting people to love wild places is the best way for them to be valued and protected. We seek balanced, sustainable use where different user groups don’t negatively affect each other and where the impacts of use can be naturally overcome.

Would you say your customers are accepting of wide-

ranging native carnivores?

Absolutely! Our customers recognize that a balanced, natural approach to wildlife management is the only route for long-term success and a healthy ecosystem.

Among outdoor sports circles, what trends are you seeing

in how they care for and about wildlife and wild places?

Our communities are more vocal and passionate through social media channels than ever before. This also seems to translate directly to more motivation for attendance at events. Generally speaking, there is more action and less complacency.

Yours is a growing and impressive company with a business

model Wildlands Network has really studied. Please take a

moment to introduce your company to our readers.

More than 25 years after the creation of Black Diamond, we’re still a company of users—it’s who we are. Our commitment to good style is still our driving force—promoting fair labor practices and making our products, manufacturing processes, supply chains, facilities and marketing materials more sustain-able and less environmentally impactful. Equally important is our continued outspoken advocacy and philanthropic support for conservation and access-focused non-profit groups. We’re the greatest dreamers about what could be, and the harsh-est of critics about what exists, and because of this…we are more committed than ever.

If there were to be a hallmark of BD people, it might be their charisma—an unassuming nature underneath which lies the fearless and passionate energy that comes along with being an outdoor adventurer. They are indeed inspiring in the deliber-ate actions they take. At the recent Outdoor Retailer Winter Trade Show, Peter Metcalf invited scores of attendees to cham-pion “the integrity of public lands which are the cornerstone of a vibrant outdoor industry.” His invitation went further: “May you and your companies now rise up and take your proper place as a not-so-small group of thoughtful, committed citizens and companies—committed to working toward the protection and stewardship of the natural places as well. If we do this, do it now with stridency and tenacity, we can make a huge and everlasting difference.”

Wildlands Network looks forward to more years collaborating with Black Diamond’s trailblazers. For more information on BD visit: http://blackdiamondequipment.com/en/experience?fid=advocacy

➤ Black Diamond, from page 1

WILDLANDS NETWORKP.O. Box 5284, Titusville, FL 32783-5284

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[email protected] • 206-260-1177 1829 10th Ave. W, Seattle, WA 98119

Wildlands Connection is published by Wildlands Network, a nonprofit educational, scientific, and charitable corporation. ©2014 by Wildlands Network. All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced without permission. All images are the property of individual artists and photographers and are used by permission. Editor Lisa Lauf Rooper • Designer Kevin Cross Contributors Tracey Butcher, Greg Costello, Kim Crumbo, John Davis, Monique DiGiorgio, Dennis Glick, Ron Sutherland, Kim Vacariu

OFFICERS AND DIRECTORSPresident Susannah Smith, Florida • Vice President Steve Olson, Maryland • Vice President of Conservation Science Michael Soulé, Colorado • Secretary David Johns, Oregon Treasurer Rob Ament, Montana • Directors Keith Bowers, Maryland • Barbara Dean, California • Jim Estes, California • Mark Higgins, California • Nik Lopoukhine, Ontario • Richard Pritzlaff, Colorado • Tom Stahl, California • John Terborgh, North Carolina Paul Vahldiek, Colorado • Directors Emeritus Harvey Locke, Ontario • Brian Miller, New Mexico

STAFFExecutive Director Greg Costello • Administrative/Development Assistant Joan Miller • Policy Coalition Coordinator Susan Holmes • Western Director Kim Vacariu Wildway Advocate John Davis • Finance Director Alicia Healy Outreach Director Tracey Butcher • Communications Director Lisa Lauf Rooper • Conservation Scientist Ron Sutherland

Eastern Field Office Essex, NY • 321-222-8993Western Field Office Portal, AZ • 520-558-0165

CREDITSp. 1 ©Kristen M. Caldon (center) • p. 3 Ron Sutherland p. 5 ©Kristen M. Caldon • p. 7 Kurt Meinke/Bird’s Eye View GIS p. 9 ©Robin Silver • p. 11 Cristina Eisenberg (top); ©Kristen M. Caldon (center and bottom) • p. 12 Future West • p. 13 Lance Craighead • p. 16 Tracey Butcher; Rita Hines Clagett (inset)

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Office Update We are in the final stages of moving our business office to Seattle. The mail that is still trickling into our Titusville P.O. Box is now being forwarded to Seattle. This could mean you might experience up to a 5-day delay in getting a response from us or acknowledging a gift. Please feel free to contact us at 206-260-1177 or [email protected] if you need something urgently. Thank you in advance for your understanding.

Four spaces are still available for this amazing 18-day adventure through Botswana and Namibia with Wildlands Network and Dr. Michael Soulé. A once-in-a-life-time adventure, this trip promises visits to some of Africa’s most dramatic landscapes and wildlife habitat. Unique conservation stories and wildlife experiences with desert elephants and rhino, lions, hyenas as well as lesser known creatures will make this trip one you’ll never forget. Please visit wildlandsnetwork.org to read more about our agenda packed with information and images, or contact Wildlands Network’s Outreach Director Tracey Butcher at [email protected] or 321-631-7254.

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