SOURCING SAGEBRUSH SEEDS
I read the “Sagebrush Steppe” segment of Josephine Woolington’s “Regeneration Underground” (March 2024) with keen interest. What was missing is what has been learned and accomplished during the eight years since the Soda Fire. All sagebrush (and other) seed collected by Fish and Game volunteers is carefully labeled with GPS data that identifies the specific microclimate it came from so that stock grown from it can be used in burns with similar environmental specifications.
I would have appreciated the added perspective of a Fish and Game habitat specialist about the restoration of the Soda Fire area and the role that miraculously diverse sagebrush plays in that effort.
Linda Paul
Boise, Idaho
FACTS CONSUMPTION
Few publications are good at displaying lots of factoids, easily digestible and understandable. HCN’s “Highways of hazard” on the “Facts & Figures” page of the March issue exceeds that standard — many factoids displayed in easy morsels, providing a feast for a curious mind. The background complements the content as well.
John Kendall
Port Angeles, Washington
WILD CONVERSATIONS
Just wanted to say kudos on the fascinating article “Learning to Live with Musk Oxen” (February 2024). Reading this here in Kenya has led to some great conversations with friends in the wildlife sector! Keep up the good work.
Teddy Kinyanjui
Sustainability director, Cookswell Jikos/Seedballs
Nairobi, Kenya
WOLF TALES
As a Coloradan, I was eager to read Ben Goldfarb’s story on the reintroduction of wolves in Colorado (“Can coexistence be bought?” February 2024). I anticipated a balanced, factual and insightful story on a contentious topic — an area where I believe HCN excels. However, about halfway through it, a particular sentence caught my attention, bringing my reading to an abrupt halt: “Another theory is that if a rancher knows he’ll be covered by his losses …”
Goldfarb’s use of “he” for the generalized rancher in this article renders women ranchers invisible. Read more deeply, it could send a discouraging message that they were overlooked, or, more menacingly, unwelcome in the narrative. Using “they” to represent a general subject is a simple solution and should be the lowest bar HCN clears. However, I would ask for more: Embracing the use of “she” as the default pronoun would challenge traditional gender biases that are, clearly, deeply engrained in the West.
Gina Nichols
Cañon City, Colorado
“Can coexistence with wolves be bought?” spent too much ink talking about compensation for losses imagined or real. Livestock producers are interlopers on public lands who pay a pittance or nothing to use our public lands for their private economic benefit.
My question is simple: Why should these public-land users be compensated at all?
Hugh S. Jameson
El Paso, Texas
ALTERNATIVES WITHOUT INJUSTICE
Thank you so much for your February 2024 article “Who’s Protecting Badger Mountain?”
Clearly, this reckless “land grab” by alternative energy developers and contractors is facilitated by Washington state land-use policies, government bodies and Gov. Jay Inslee’s Climate Initiative Proposal of 2021.
While we need to explore alternatives to fossil fuels for energy, we also need to ensure that more robust and accurate assessments of carbon and environmental footprints of alternative energy sources are obtained before declaring them “green” or “clean.” Our tribal nations should be given the final authority for decisions on alternative energy installations that impact their sacred lands. But here we go again, putting profits before our environment.
John M. Endres
Newport, Washington
ALL-ELECTRIC ISN’T SIMPLE
Nina McConigley’s article “Cookstove Scientist” (January 2024) implies we should all do away with gas appliances. There seems to be a lack of understanding of the actual living circumstances of many. Those of us who live in rural areas — and there are millions of us — do not have natural gas piped to our houses. Instead, the option is propane, a fossil fuel. In rural areas like ours, utility electric power is very unreliable, and sometimes can be off for days for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of customers! With propane, one can still cook, heat water and keep warm, either with propane or a wood stove. A solar electric system sufficient for an all-electric house would require a solar power system with batteries of unaffordable and impractical size. Those with all-electric houses in areas like ours need a generator during power outages. Small generators are very inefficient at making electricity, yet very efficient at making pollution. So, what is the non-fossil fuel option?
Bill Trabucco
Nevada City, California
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