Trout Refugium: The Waters of the Beartooth Mountains Essay: by Nate Schweber; Art: “Golden Trout” by Mimi Matsuda; As a trout treasury – defined here as a landscape nurturing multiple species of rare and unique sportfish in the family Salmonidae– the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness is bested by none in inland North America. Through its rills and creeks swim two native … Read More
The Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness: The Cradle and Grave of the Rocky Mountain Locust
The Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness: The Cradle and Grave of the Rocky Mountain Locust Jeffrey A. Lockwood Professor of Natural Sciences & Humanities Departments of Philosophy & Religious Studies and Visual & Literary Arts University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY A blizzard sweeps over the horizon, and the sky fills with swirling flakes. But the fields are green, and the breeze is hot. … Read More
Absaroka-Beartooth Rewilding: Where the Carnivores Roam?
Excerpt: When wolves (Canis lupus) were reintroduced in Yellowstone National Park in the winter of 1995, virtually the first thing they did upon leaving their acclimation pens was vector due north and straight up into the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Area. At 8,000 feet above sea level and higher, this place of deep snow and jagged mountains was mostly well above the … Read More
Whitebark Pine in the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness
Excerpt: Grizzly bears, humans and whitebark pine all colonized North American from Siberia. In fact, all three crossed the Bering Land Bridge sometime during the Pleistocene. Although it is easy to understand how highly mobile animals like grizzlies and humans were able to capitalize on an ephemeral event(s) like the opportunistic appearance of the Bering Land Bridge, it is difficult … Read More
Ice Age Foxes on the Beartooth Plateau
Excerpt: No matter where you are in the world, if you see a fox, chances are it is the species red fox (Vulpes vulpes). That’s because the red fox is the world’s most widely distributed terrestrial carnivore, naturally ranging across North America, Europe, Asia, and northern Africa, and introduced to Australia. It has a remarkably diverse diet beyond its typical … Read More
The American Pika – A Charismatic Mini-fauna!
Essay by April Craighead; Art: “Pika“, by Mimi Matsuda; Excerpt: Anyone who has spent time in the alpine areas of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem has heard the tell-tale “eep” of the American pika (Ochotona princeps); a denizen of mountains and wilderness. This captivating bundle of energy patrols a single territory, signals danger with its powerful cry and frenetically gathers “hay” … Read More
Mushrooms above treeline: Imagine that!
Excerpt: The cold, windswept tundra hardly seems like the place to look for mushrooms. But a diverse array of fungi do indeed live above treeline. They can be found tucked under willows, nestled among mosses, lying exposed in meadows and grasslands, and surviving on mud flats. These hardy, cold-loving species have roles as decomposers and nutrient gatherers for plants, and … Read More
The Nutcracker’s Role
Excerpt: Hike up into any of the conifer covered slopes outside of Jackson and there’s a good chance you’ll hear the distinctive caw-caw call of the Clark’s nutcracker. Now, in May, the nutcrackers are likely breeding, and you may hear several of the other, rarer, lovely nutcracker calls and songs. If you’re lucky, you’ll see one of the birds carrying … Read More
High Country Characters
Forthcoming essays include: Grizzly bear – Wolverine – Rebecca Watters Mountain Goat and Bighorn Sheep Animal Migrations – Joe Riis Bats, Frogs, and Invertebrates – Kayhan Ostovar Corvids Jays, Nutcrackers, Ravens and Magpies Migratory Birds On the flora side: Ecological History of the ABW Lichen … Read More