BREATHLESS
May 2022! The artwork in this issue took my breath away, from Tony Abeyta’s images, which accompanied B. ‘Toastie’ Oaster’s “The Power in a Name,” to Richard Misrach’s positive-to-negative photography (“Seeing Differently”). These are truly a step beyond obligatory illustrative photography to break up long segments of text.
Linda Paul
Boise, Idaho
LA’S LION
It is so seldom that I read articles of hope and planning for wildlife. Having grown up very close to Griffith Park, I was delighted to read of wildlife still somehow surviving in L.A. (“The Lion King of Los Angeles,” May 2022). The plan for the wild animal overpass was a dream I had as a child! I believe that “education breeds conservation,” and great joy can be found in supporting programs to save wildlife.
Nancy L. Isenburg
McMinnville, Oregon
What a well-written and inspiring account of Miguel Ordeñana’s adventure to save wildlife. Thanks to Ruxandra Guidi, Miguel and his co-workers, and — of course — P-22. Wildlife crossings are one great effort for humans to provide nature a fighting chance in our growing world.
Gene Dinkel
Omaha, Nebraska
I have a totally different take on “lions.” They can kill and make you very, very unhappy. I came to this beautiful county 40-plus years ago. I started raising llamas, and that went well for a few years until one of these cats killed one of them.
We stock owners try to protect our stock from predation with wire and electric fences and night lights and all, but you just can’t cover all bases! I see the policy’s changes due to articles such as this one’s misplaced attitude. You need to capture the cat and take it to a more robust environment before it damages someone or something. It is totally misplaced to spend millions for this. $87 million! That’s crazy! You guys living in the damned cities with your romanticized ideas of wildlife affect those not living there.
While you may think that it’s charming to have these cats among us, it is beyond belief that you’d spend those millions of state dollars just so they’d have access to their “natural environment.” It ain’t natural!
Ron Hennig
Mount Shasta, California
FUND THE BLM
The article “54 million ‘failing’ acres” (May 2022) could have more forcefully and earlier on emphasized that the Bureau of Land Management faces an impossible task. The BLM is charged with balancing political demand for continuing grazing leases with caring for land that is being ravaged by a rapidly changing climate. While not intentional, I’m worried the derision of BLM practices in the first half of the article unwittingly plays right into the hands of land-transfer proponents. Mismanagement of “failing federal lands” is used by organizations (e.g., ALEC) and politicians (e.g., Utah’s Republican legislative caucus) to advocate for the transfer of federal lands to the state. To be clear, there is no evidence that state governments would be able to better manage our nation’s rangelands than the federal government.
By no means do I think current rangeland health is acceptable, but accountability is better than blame. Empowering (and funding) the BLM to take bold actions necessary to care for our rangelands is our best shot for nurturing the health and productivity of public lands for generations to come.
Zoe Nemerever
Salt Lake City, Utah
SHERIFF OF HYPOCRISIES
Theo Whitcomb’s article (“The rise of the nature cop,” May 2022) does a good job of laying out some of the dynamics of the current situation in Siskiyou County, but although xenophobia is definitely part of the equation, geography is also important. The sheriff’s office is in Yreka, an easy half-hour drive from the Shasta Valley. It’s a lot easier to cruise out on the nice flat paved road than to brave a two-hour drive down the Klamath River, or the precipitous drop-offs of the Scott or Salmon River roads. There are plenty of cannabis growers in those woods, too. The sheriff’s office has figured out that focusing on an adversary both nearby and different from the majority of constituents is the way to increased budgets.
Water and pesticides and sanitation are real concerns that could be sensibly dealt with if the county’s power structure had decided to regulate, rather than forbid, cultivation of cannabis as a commercial crop. But having foregone that option, they have no Plan B, only a foolish attempt to squirm out of their own trap by descending into ever-pettier persecutions and hypocrisies, such as telling an alfalfa farmer that he can’t sell his own water to his thirsty neighbors.
Louise Wagenknecht
Salmon, Idaho
YELLOWSTONE & OUR HISTORY
I’m a retired teacher and can remember teaching American history to my fourth-graders, so Liza Black’s article struck a chord with me (“We don’t share land here,” May 2022). White America has shaped the perception of both Native Americans and Blacks in this country’s media. Both groups have been marginalized and vilified.
We must not forget that history can be told from more than one perspective. America only embraces the European perspective. That creates a false narrative and perpetuates the idea of “virtue and supremacy” in America. All of us played a role in making this country what it is. Unfortunately, the ugly truth of displacement, enslavement and greed is hidden behind our symbols of justice and freedom.
Sandra Davie
St. Louis, Missouri
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This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Letters to the editor, June 2022.
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