NAME Jim Detterline OCCUPATION Rocky Mountain National Park ranger NUMBER OF TIMES STRUCK BY LIGHTNING Three MOST TURTLES EVER OWNED AT ONE TIME 80 (When Detterline was a kid) DEGREES Master’s in vertebrate zoology, Ph.D. in invertebrate zoology HOBBIES Plays the trumpet Jim Detterline is a man of average size, lean, but not small. Still, […]
Profiles
Posted inNovember 26, 2007: Beetle Warfare
Stretching the notion of neighbor
Seven years ago, Rev. Peter Sawtell took a leap of faith. He founded a nonprofit organization in Denver called Eco-Justice Ministries and became one of a small handful of Westerners working full-time on faith-based environmental issues. Nearly a decade later, the United Church of Christ minister is busy consulting with clergy, preaching to congregations around […]
Posted inNovember 12, 2007: L.A. Bets on the Farm
Sniffin’ out scat for conservation
NAME Wicket OCCUPATION Scat detection dog AGE 3 HOBBIES Playing with balls, chasing the stream from a hose Go to work,” Aimee Hurt calls. It’s a cool August afternoon in Montana’s Blackfoot Valley. Dressed in an orange vest and bear bells, Wicket begins sweeping across the trail, running in wide arcs, jumping downed trees, traveling […]
Posted inOctober 1, 2007: Sheep v. Sheep
Spinner of yarns, maker of floats
Name: Black George Simmons Occupation: Volunteer ranger at the White Grass Ranger Station in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming Unofficial duties: Making root beer floats for hikers, tallying mouse deaths, publishing The White Grass Morning Report newsletter Business White Grass Dating – For Ladies: “The Alice’s Restaurant of the Dating Services” Claim to fame: Chief […]
Posted inSeptember 17, 2007: Facing the yuck factor
He loves nature. And dams.
NAME Paul Ostapuk AGE 50 HOME BASE Page, Arizona VOCATION Engineer and meteorologist at the Navajo Generating Station, part of the Salt River Project NOTED FOR what he does when not paying the bills. Ostapuk is the Arizona director of the Old Spanish Trail Association, a member of the Glen Canyon Natural History Association and – […]
Posted inSeptember 3, 2007: A Climate Change Solution?
Clean energy activist reflects on corporate influence in New Mexico legislation
NAME: Ben Luce AGE: 44 Resume: Ten years at Los Alamos National Laboratory working on nonlinear dynamics; co-founder and former director of the New Mexico Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy; founder, Break The Grip. Minimum number of Task Force seats Governor Richardson appointed him to: Five (all relating to energy.) Minimum number of harmonicas carried […]
Posted inAugust 20, 2007: Bonfire of the Superweeds
Sculpting a reason to love the wind
NAME Gary Bates AGE 61 HOMETOWN Amsterdam, Montana OCCUPATION Sculptor, former farmboy KNOWN FOR Creating huge kinetic sculptures SAYS “I don’t know if these pieces are going to work. I hope they are. But you never know for sure.” WHAT THE HECK DOES “KETCHERSCHMITT” MEAN, ANYWAY? It’s a made-up word combining “catcher’s mitt” and “Messerschmitt” […]
Posted inAugust 6, 2007: Guns R Us
Changing the world, one car at a time
NAME Greg Rock VOCATION Inventor, owner and co-founder of the Green Car Company FAVORITE BEER Red Hook HE SAYS “If we go the green route, I think the world will follow us. If we don’t, hopefully the world won’t!” WHAT HE’S READING NOW The International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook When he speaks about […]
Posted inJuly 23, 2007: Hydrogen Highway Revisited
Throwing raptors into flight
NAME: Rob Domenech VOCATION: founder and lead biologist for Raptor View Research Institute HOME BASE: Missoula, Montana KNOWN FOR: banding more golden eagles in the U.S. than all other banding stations combined SPARE-TIME SPORT: grappling jujitsu On an exposed ridge in Montana’s Helena National Forest, high on the blustery Rocky Mountain Front, Rob Domenech recoils […]
Posted inJune 25, 2007: Predator hunters for the environment
Worth the work
NAME: Jeremias Pink AGE: 24 VOCATION: Graphic designer, nonprofit organizer, bicycle mechanic HOME BASE: Pocatello, Idaho KNOWN FOR: Giving away bicycles HE’S READING: Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man: A Study in Terror and Healing by anthropologist Michael Taussig FAVORITE FOOD: “I eat what I’m told.” HE SAYS: “Whether or not we’re accomplishing our mission […]
Posted inJune 11, 2007: Brave New Hay
John Nichols and his 19th miracle
NAME: John Nichols VOCATION: Author of 19 books offiction and nonfiction, including The Milagro Beanfield War, The Sterile Cuckoo, Conjugal Bliss, The Voice of the Butterfly and If Mountains Die. AGE: 66 Thoughts on Death and THE Afterlife “You just die. It’s over, Rover.” Advice: “Part of surviving is not to stress yourself out and […]
Posted inMay 28, 2007: Problems In Paradise
Dear friends
WELCOME, HCN SUMMER INTERNS After a degree in zoology from the University of Washington and three years at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Morgan Heim wanted a change. It’s not that Morgan, who grew up catching snakes and crabs in Virginia Beach, didn’t love following salmon or studying orcas. But ultimately the relentless single-mindedness […]
Posted inMay 28, 2007: Problems In Paradise
Fightin’ against the feds
Name: Mike Noel Vocation: Utah state representative (R-Utah District 73) Day Job: Executive director of the Kane County Water Conservancy District Favorite Foods: “I actually got introduced to sushi with a buddy of mine up at the Legislature. I really like that. I kind of go with all the cooked stuff. I don’t like baby […]
Posted inMay 28, 2007: Problems In Paradise
Weathering the academic storm
Dan Donato’s controversial study on salvage logging turned his life upside-down
Posted inMay 14, 2007: Two Views of the Verde
Saving the Sierra, tale by tale
NAMES: jesikah maria ross, Catherine Stifter PROJECT: Saving the Sierra: Voices of Conservation in Action RÉSUMÉ EXCERPTS: Stifter: Two Peabody awards for independent radio productions; firefighter, EMT, and water truck driver for North San Juan volunteer fire department; lives off the grid in solar-powered cabin. ross: UNICEF youth radio project in Ethiopia; community media projects […]
Posted inApril 30, 2007: Rural Education 2.0
Tripping over T-Rex
Name: Bob Harmon Hometown: Bozeman, Montana Vocation: Chief preparator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies and crew chief Known For: Finding the first dinosaur bones with soft tissue Bob Harmon is not an excitable man. His face isn’t animated as he points out the sauropod leg he is building out of fossils and […]
Posted inApril 16, 2007: Phoenix Falling?
Bay bags his way to the top
NAME: Brian Bay AGE: 23 VOCATION: Front-end grocery store manager and full-time student WORLD CHAMPION: of grocery bagging HOBBIES: Coin collecting. Goes to work with a pocketful of change and trades it out for interesting coins. FAVORITE MOVIES TO QUOTE FROM: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Princess Bride, Three Amigos and Dumb and Dumber One […]
Posted inApril 2, 2007: Disposable Workers of the Oil and Gas Fields
Lewis’ Web
NAME: Randy Lewis VOCATION: Professor of microbiology MARRIED: To his high school sweetheart CURRENT FUNDERS: National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Air Force BREAKTHROUGHS: Sequenced genes for several Rocky Mountain arachnids, including cat face, garden, wolf, jumping, and brown widow spiders. KNOWN FOR: Wearing gray or tan Wranglers. FAVORITE TIME OF DAY: Lunch. “It’s […]
Posted inMarch 19, 2007: The Silence of the Bees
Busy as a Buchmann
NAME: Stephen Buchmann HOMETOWN: Tucson, Arizona AGE: 53 VOCATION: Pollination ecologist FAVORITE INSECT: Bees, especially the genus Centris, which can be seen visiting paloverde blossoms in the Sonoran desert. FAVORITE HONEY: The honey from the lady bee, “Xunan Kab,” a stingless bee kept by the Maya of southern Mexico. MOST STINGS IN A DAY: 200-300 […]
Posted inMarch 5, 2007: Wish You Weren’t Here
A wolf’s life
NAME: B7 WEIGHT AT RELEASE: 74 pounds AT DEATH: 97 pounds ESTIMATED WEIGHT IN HIS PRIME: 120 pounds RELEASED: Indian Creek, Idaho, Jan. 20, 1995 ESTIMATED AGE: 13.75-14.75 years old ORIGINAL PACK: The Oldman River, Alberta KNOWN FOR: Being the last of the 29 wolves introduced into the U.S. from Canada in 1995 EMBARRASSING FACTS: […]