One of the excuses the Trump administration offered for moving to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule that protects over 60 million acres of US Forest Service lands -- our lands -- was to provide more road access to fight wildfires. But a new study published in the journal Fire Ecology , and summarized in Inside Climate News , reviewed the history of wildfire ignitions from 1992 to 2024 and found that wildfires were four times more likely to ignite within 50 meters of a road tha

A mountain goat in Montana In a status review of Montana's mountain goats that a colleague and I completed in 2017, we found that Montana's native mountain goat populations had declined 70% since the previous statewide assessment 70 years earlier. Yes, 70%! We attributed much of the decline to excessive sport harvest of the species during the mid-1900s. A lack of reliable population management data, limited knowledge of the species' population biology, human habitat

Every second last year, the Earth's oceans absorbed the energy equivalent of 12 Hiroshima-sized bombs. This is according to a report just released in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences , compiled by 31 international institutions. So what's the significance of this? When most of us think about the effects of global warming -- and read what's largely reported in popular media -- we think about terrestrial impacts: drought, wildfires, water shortages, crop failures, more s

A Montana coal power plant Montana state lawmakers passed three bills during the 2025 legislative session that essentially block the intent of the state Supreme Court's 2024 ruling that found in favor of 16 young plaintiffs who sued to protect their rights to a "clean and healthful evironment," as codified in the state's constitution. The case was titled Held v. Montana (so named for Rikki Held, the lead plaintiff). This past week, these plaintiffs alledged in a new complai

Nature Generation recommended book The third novel in the Legend Keepers eco-fiction trilogy has been recognized in three national book...

At an annual Al Smith dinner in New York City, then President George W. Bush joked that the crowd included his voting base, the "have...

Wildland fire Fresh off 2023's historic court decision in Montana, twenty-two plaintiffs aged 7 to 25 have filed suit against the Trump...

Life on the Rocks cover Next month I'll be doing a series of speaking events about wilderness-obligate species of wildlife with a focus...

Biodiversity in our hands "Climate change is a primary driver of biodiversity loss. And climate change depends on biodiversity as part...

Eleven of the plaintiffs in Held v. Montana I didn't intend to do another blog post before the New Year, but this was too noteworthy to...

Researchers investigating the status of 114 species of butterflies in the United States found that populations are declining at a rate of...

Two months ago, the final book in the Legend Keepers trilogy was released. For those of you unfamiliar with this series, I wrote these...

Kids have lots of worries in their lives: social pressures, family issues, gun violence in schools, bullying, and now another. Although...

After countless days recreating and studying mountain goats in alpine habitats, these remote and rugged places occupy a special place in...

In my blog posts, I rarely link news articles, rather than the original source of the topics. This post is an exception. The linked...

This linked 5-minute video tells a very big story -- so big that there has never been such a restoration of a river system and its salmon...

This past summer, Arctic temperatures reached their warmest ever translating into thawing permafrost, flooding due to melting glaciers,...

If you've been waiting for the right time--or for the right person--to buy the Legend Keepers books, this is it! Hidden Shelf Publishing...

It was one year ago that the second book in my middle-grade novel series, Legend Keepers: The Partnership, was published. So, when do we...

Have you had someone give you a blank look when you've mentioned something about the climate warming? Even a response such as, "It's been...