The return of a missing species can pay huge ecological dividends for a landscape. But sometimes people bring wildlife back for other reasons. The Kalispel people brought buffalo back to a ranch on their tiny reservation near Usk on the Pend Oreille River in the 1970s. The one-hundred-and-fifty bison live behind fences in a field …
They Must Roam
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 …
Where Compassion and Conservation Meet
It has been a year since a humpback whale calf named Tango was struck and killed by a boat near Juneau. I stopped by a small island to look at the beached carcass three weeks ago. The skin had turned orange-brown, sagging beneath a rib cage gradually collapsing onto the beach. Tango's death troubled Heidi …
News About Grizzlies
I recently shared my BBC story about how bison are helping creeks recover on the Montana prairie. The gist is this. Bison are tough critters who don't spend much time wallowing in the creek bottoms. As a result, they don't damage streamside vegetation like cattle do. The creeks stay greener and hold water for longer …
Bison as Climate Heroes
In August this year, I was lucky enough to spend three days with American Prairie in Eastern Montana. The temperature climbed to 102 degrees while I was there. Plagues of grasshoppers splattered themselves on the car grille. I went to the prairie to look at the effect of bison on creeks in the mid-summer heat. …
Ethics and Wildlife
Five years ago, I did a podcast with the Prindle Institute about a world taken over by technology. It was thrilling to do another recently on a world fizzing with recovering wildlife. Christian Wisehart asked the right questions about genetic purity, killing one species to save another, and improving one's relationship with wild animals. Enjoy …
Christopher J. Preston 