NETWORK BLOG
Southern Rockies Nature Blog
The Devil Made Us Do It: A Fire Run
from Southern Rockies Nature Blog
on Monday June 17th, 2013 at 06:30 AM
Fire apparatus heading back to the station.Because M. and I were back from the laundromat and it was time to do yard and garden work, I was outdoors and heard the emergency siren blow. A small, dry thunderstorm had passed by thirty minutes earlier, with a couple of loud thunderclaps. Now there was a report of smoke a mile south of town in other words, pretty close to this house! I got into my Nomex fire clothes while M. walked around with binoculars outdoors. As I tossed my pack and radio...
The Fancy Dog Who Never Walked the Walk
from Southern Rockies Nature Blog
on Sunday June 16th, 2013 at 11:43 PM
A wonderful little tempest in a dog dish: It was claimed that the winner of Britain's major dog show completed a 140-mile walk in order to show that show dogs were healthy dogs. The official press release, put out by the Kennel Club in conjunction with Jilly's Jolly Jaunt, was entitled "...Crufts champion walks 130 miles for charity". Only she did not do it. A body double was used. Scandal! But it was for charity! How could you say such awful mean things, you awful mean blogger?Blog Stew, a Little Burnt
from Southern Rockies Nature Blog
on Sunday June 16th, 2013 at 07:00 AM
Items that might deserve longer individual posts but will not get them. . . Speculation about the closure of the Royal Gorge Bridge and park (now reduced to the bridge and a tollbooth, as in 1929) and its effect on southern Colorado tourism, with a telling photograph. Unlike Bloomberg, I would not all the American Prairie Preserve project a "land grab." Its rich backers are buying the land. But true, once the number of cattle and/or sheep ranchers falls below some critical point, there...Don't Believe the New York Times on Wildfire Mitigation
from Southern Rockies Nature Blog
on Saturday June 15th, 2013 at 08:15 PM
In yesterday's New York Times, reporter Jack Healy put a negative spin on wildfire mitigation in his write-up of the Black Forest Fire (datelined Denver, oddly enough). For years, families in Black Forest, Colo., did what they could to keep the flames at bay. They scooped up pine needles and trimmed low-hanging branches around their homes. They chopped down saplings and hauled dead trees to the community mulcher. But when the fire came this week, hundreds of their homes still burned. Maybe...Fawns by the Five-Pack
from Southern Rockies Nature Blog
on Thursday June 13th, 2013 at 10:04 PM
Fisher's Travel Crate is Appropriated by FawnsYesterday I posted the picture of a firefighter with a mule deer fawn during the Black Forest Fire; today I held it too. It's one of these five little mule deer. One of these was described to me as the "fawn that was on the news," and I think that it is the same one. Whatever. One or two of these were rescued from the fire area directly. Three were already at the home of a rehabilitator who herself had to evacuate. Another transporter brought them...
Urban Trees and Public Health
from Southern Rockies Nature Blog
on Thursday June 13th, 2013 at 08:00 AM
In a NPR interview transcript, a researcher who tries to quantify exactly how the loss of trees (particularly urban trees) affects public health. That's a really unique opportunity. Imagine if you were trying to look at the effect of trees growing on someone's health and I got 100 people, I put them in 100 identical houses, and I planted trees in front of 50 of those houses and then waited. It would take 40 or 50 years before you found anything because trees grow really slowly. It's hard to...Not Fawny: Rehabber Says Facebook Photo is 'Total BS'
from Southern Rockies Nature Blog
on Thursday June 13th, 2013 at 12:48 AM
"Ears are curled, fawn alone in the world"? "Total bullshit!" replied my favorite wildlife rehabilitator after I showed her this photo that appeared on Facebook. And since she and her husband have taken care of hundreds of whitetail and mule deer fawns (not to mention elk and pronghorn antelope) since the 1970s, I tend to respect her opinion. "The curled ears are from being in the mother. They usually straighten out in a few days. Sometimes it takes longer. it has nothing to do with not...
Sweetie, did you lock the truck? The bear is coming.
from Southern Rockies Nature Blog
on Wednesday June 12th, 2013 at 07:00 AM
Camping last weekend, I religiously put the cooler and food box inside the Jeep at night. But I did not lock it. If I lived near Maple Ridge, British Columbia, a suburb of Vancouver, I would have had to lock it. Next: Canadian bears using Slim Jims.
popular
blog posts
Animal History Museum Senior Pets Contest
06/17/13 Have a great story to tell about...Cannock Chase "Dawn Chaser" CaniX
06/17/13 Just when I thought CaniX was over until the...
latest news & articles
June 17th, 2013
June 14th, 2013
June 14th, 2013
June 14th, 2013
June 13th, 2013
June 13th, 2013
