Last week, the beleaguered grizzlies in the Cabinet Yaak ecosystem got a potentially lifesaving break from Federal District Court Judge Dana Christiansen. Christiansen ordered the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to reverse its 2014 decision to downgrade the population’s status under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), from one warranting a designation of “endangered” to the less imperiled rank of “threatened.” (link) This is the latest in a series of positive rulings over the last two decades for the imperiled grizzlies of the Cabinet Yaak – that so far have all been met with resistance by the federal government. Grizzlies in the remote Cabinet Yaak ecosystem in northwest Montana are liter
Photo by Charlie Craighead Two weeks ago, I was part of a celebration of Ted and Joan Major, founders of the Teton Science School (TSS), the much-lauded environmental education center in Jackson, Wyoming. I had served as the school’s Field Studies Director during 1984-1985, and for me, revisiting the school felt like coming home. At 97, Ted held forth amongst former students and fellow board members with stories of the school’s early days, when he and Joan (now 90), started the environmental education center with just 12 high school students. Thereafter, they ventured into the Tetons, Yellowstone Park and Wind Rivers to learn about the ecology of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Ted’s mess
