The other night, a great-horned owl followed me down a canyon at dusk. I spotted it perched in a tree after hearing a call-and-response between it and one, maybe two, other owls. I observed it for a minute or so before it flew off, then I continued down trail. I soon reached the base of the tree where it had landed. Again, the owl alighted, and this time I could see its great big wings spread wide as it sailed off through the treetops, a visitation.
It’s thrilling to encounter the other creatures in our midst, to have mutual acknowledgement of one another. At the trailhead, a sign that wasn’t there a few weeks ago: A mountain lion has been observed in this area. I have never encountered a lion face-to-face, but I know that feeling of being watched by a predator. Breathe deeply, stay calm, look BIG.
I have no wish to disrupt the lives of the wildlife around me. An ethos of respectful coexistence is what I seek to practice. We are the interlopers here. “Despite our arrogant sense of superiority over nature,” writes Ruxandra Guidi in We need to reframe our thinking about what’s wild, “we are all absolutely dependent on each other.” There is give and take. In Colorado, where wolves are being reintroduced, ranchers are compensated for attendant livestock losses. Residents of Nome, Alaska, are learning to live with introduced musk oxen. In Puget Sound, kelp beds are being restored because they are key to maintaining healthy fisheries. In Utah, the Northwestern Shoshone have bought back ancestral lands to restore culturally significant native plants that also provide food for wildlife.
You’ll find these and other important stories in this issue of High Country News, because we believe that the rights of all creatures to sustenance, survival and a place to thrive need to be recognized and reinforced, both here in the West and beyond. And that, given all the conflicts taking place around the globe, human rights are in equal need of recognition and reinforcement. We believe in taking care of one another, in being on the side of the humane. We believe in a humanity that can exist alongside other peoples and species in this messy and glorious place we call home.
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This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Coexistence.
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