An essential principle of wildlife recovery is that animals must be free to move across the landscape. The ability to roam is necessary to search out unoccupied territory, to track down resources in a changing climate, and to secure an influx of fresh genes when breeding. My piece in the Fall issue of Sierra Magazine …
A Fish, A People, and A Tale of Resilience
“So, what's your dream, Robert? How do you imagine things five, ten, or twenty years from now?” I was standing on a beach moistened by the steel grey waters of Washington's Puget Sound. Next to me was Robert Elofson of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. Elofson is a long-time employee of the Tribe’s Natural Resource …
Continue reading "A Fish, A People, and A Tale of Resilience"
Brits and Bison Update
On Friday, October 21st, Wilder Blean announced their herd of three female bison had grown. One of the two younger females had not been seen for a couple of days. When bison ranger Tom Gibbs went looking in the dense undergrowth, he was astonished to find a bison calf peeping out from behind a proud …
Brits and Bison
The U.K.’s new bison are settling in. Three female Bison bonasus (or wisent) have been roaming the overgrown, under-grazed woodland outside Canterbury for three months now. Bison Rangers Tom Gibbs and Donovan Wright seem pleased with their progress. According to the U.K.’s first-ever bison rangers, the horned ecosystem engineers have found plenty of birch, oak, …
On De-extincting the Tasmanian Tiger
The Tasmanian tiger (or Thylacine) was a carnivorous marsupial located near the top of Australia's food chain. Halfway between a tiger and a coyote, its dog-like appearance is used as an example of convergent evolution. It looks similar to a dog, but its genetic lineage is completely different. The thylacine's story is not a happy …
When Wildlife Can’t Get Away
My blog this month is a piece I published recently in Discover Magazine. According to a study coming out of Texas, every bison in North America is polluted with cattle genes. It's a disappointment for some. But it could also mark the start of a different future with large animals. See what you think. "What …
Christopher J. Preston 