In 1872, the side-wheeler Governor Stanford, ushered in Lake Tahoe’s golden age of steamships. Based in Tahoe city, the ship carried about 125 passengers on its eight hour trip around the Lake.

Three years later, the Governor Stanford was joined by the steamship Niagara, 83 feet of faster reliability.

Not long afterwards, the timber baron, D. L. Bliss, doubled Tahoe’s fleet of steamships by adding the Meteor, capable of speeds up to 30 mph, and her sister ship the Emerald II. However, his best was yet to come.

Mr. Bliss ordered a ship to be designed and built by Union Iron Works in San Francisco. The hull was made in sections, then disassembled, packed for transport, and shipped by rail to Carson City. All 154 tons of boat pieces were then loaded onto wagons, and laboriously pulled by mule and horse teams up and over Spooner Summit to Glenbrook. There, the S.S. Tahoe was reassembled and launched “with much festivities” on June 14, 1896.

The S.S. Tahoe, dubbed Queen of The Lake, was 169 feet of elegance, voyaging effortlessly through the Lake’s waters. As  many as 200 passengers enjoyed fine food, and comfort in the well-appointed dining room and saloon.

The ship’s narrow beam allowed for plenty of speed and power. Although in a blow, the boat rolled heavily causing more than a few bouts of seasickness.

The S.S. Tahoe’s twin engines were initially powered by wood, burning about 4-½ cords per day. The engines were eventually converted to oil burners, making the ship much quieter than the other steamers on the Lake. Although, each time the S.S. Tahoe docked, it announced its arrival with a piercingly loud whistle. Naturally, excited crowds gathered on the docks while news, mail, visitors and supplies were off-loaded.

The S.S.Tahoe was a necessary summer link between communities. Reliable to a fault, she was only late once in her 40 years of deliveries, and that was because of a clogged smokestack.

After the loss of its mail contract to another vessel, along with the 1935 completion of a car friendly road around the Lake, the S.S. Tahoe became uneconomical to operate.

The ship lay unused for a few years before D. L. Bliss’s son, William, decided to scuttle the vessel in the shallow water off Glenbrook. As a memorial to its service, the clear Tahoe waters would allow the old boat to be glimpsed and admired by passenger carrying glass bottomed boats.

In August of 1940, the S.S. Tahoe was scuttled, but a miscalculation caused it to land on a steep underwater slope. The ship slid out of sight, ending up in about 400 feet of water, unseen but not entirely forgotten.

In 2002, a team from New Millennium Dive Expeditions set a record for their high-altitude dive on the site, resulting in the S.S.Tahoe becoming the first maritime site in Nevada to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The S.S. Tahoe not gone yet — not at all forgotten.

Everyone loves quaking aspen trees. From the photographers who delight in the aspen’s fall displays, to deer munching on the nutritious fallen autumn leaves, to beavers using aspens as both dam building material and food, the tree seems to have something for all.

The tree gets its name because the slightest breeze causes the leaves to tremble, or quake. One group of native Americans called the quaking aspen “nut-kie-e,” which translates to noisy leaf.

During most seasons of the year, quaking aspen trees fade into the green of the forests. But come autumn, the aspen’s intense golden hues rival the sunshine. Then, all kinds of cameras are brought out to record the display.

This widespread, well known tree ranges across the U.S. from Maine to the California mountains, as well as from Minnesota to New Mexico. The rangy aspen was declared the state tree of Utah.

An aspen in Utah holds the title as the largest and one of the oldest living organisms. Aspens can grow in stands, reproducing by sending up sprouts from their roots. The Utah stand spreads over 106 acres, and consists of 40,000 individual trees, all clones, all connected by a single root system. The stand was appropriately named Pando, Latin meaning I spread.

Aspens are important to a forest in many ways. They stabilize the soil, as well as increase soil moisture, and nutrients.

Aspens don’t burn easily. Unlike conifers, with their dry needles and twigs, aspens have moist green leaves and thick twigs. Fires running through the crown of a forest can drop to the ground if they reach an aspen stand. Fires have been known to extinguish after burning into an aspen stand, and will sometimes bypass a stand that is enclosed within a coniferous forest.

Not burning easily doesn’t mean an aspen won’t. But, they are one of the first trees to spring up after a disastrous fire. The tree grows at a fast rate, adding more than 24 inches of height per year.

Unfortunately, our groves of Sierra Nevada aspens are under attack. The culprit, the tortrix moth, lays its eggs on a tree’s leaves, and the resulting larvae feed on the foliage. When infested with a large number of moths, aspen trees experience severe defoliation which weakens their overall health and vitality, making them more susceptible to drought and disease

Researchers and scientists have been monitoring the aspen groves, and are working to develop effective, safe control agents to minimize the moth’s impact on the aspens.

Studying the moth’s life cycle and behavior can lead to an understanding of which combination of strategies will best benefit the trees. The strategies might include the use of targeted insecticides, along with biological control.

Forests thrive because of diversity and interdependency. They are communities of helpful neighbors who can, at times, suppress fires, build dams, or even subdue infestations of pesky insects.

Yes, we’re all in this together.

One darn thing leads to another. Big and deep, Lake Tahoe will not freeze over in winter. That is why migratory waterfowl congregate in Tahoe water where they can find food in its wintery shallows. All those mergansers and mallards draw predators, like bald eagles, looking for relatively easy pickings. And the eagles draw amateur and professional photographers toting long telescopic lenses to Tahoe and its surrounds, all winter long.

Naturally, a bald eagle that can weigh as much as 14 pounds needs to eat more than just a few puny water birds. Luckily, at the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada mountains, the Carson Valley’s winter calving season provides plenty of sustenance.

There, ranches around Gardnerville, Minden and Genoa host gatherings of eagles, both bald and golden, hawks, and falcons, along with the occasional coyote, for a protein rich winter feast of afterbirth and stillborns.

In late January, the Carson Valley Chamber of Commerce treats visitors to an annual event, Eagles and Agriculture. Tourists and locals can take in photo exhibits, and participate in photography workshops, go on ranch and eagle tours, or join an owl prowl and historic barn tour. Of course, highlights of the celebration are the sights and sounds of raptors doing what they do best without interruption or interference.

For those preferring to plan their own eagle tour, the Nature Conservancy runs the River Fork Ranch, located about 12 miles south of Carson City, which is both a working cattle ranch and a preserve.  The ranch is a good area for wheelchair users, and slow walkers to enjoy eagle spotting. The interpretive center’s wrap-around porch offers great views of the nearby pastures.

Also, a wealth of information on Lahonton Audubon Society’s web site gives extensive, and detailed driving instructions for both winter and spring birding.

While there are fee areas for wildlife viewing in the Carson Valley, plenty of free-to-use county roads intersect Highway 395. One example, State Route 88, is lined with cattle pastures. The best way to find the raptors is to look for clusters of cattle. The birds usually stay close by, waiting for a birth. If you’re lucky, you might see an eagle perched on a roadside fence post, just hanging out until mealtime. Binoculars, spotting scopes or a telephoto lens can help to watch the action in pastures away from the road.

By celebrating the eagles return every winter, we are reminded that we almost lost them. An eagle count in the 1960s showed fewer than 500 nesting pairs were left in the lower 48 states. Between 1870 and 1970 habitat loss, hunting and the use of DDT almost wiped out our entire bald eagle population.

The latest numbers estimate that the bald eagle population climbed to 316,700 eagles in the contiguous 48 states. Add Alaska’s numbers to that, and our national symbol seems to be thriving.

Long may they continue.

The plan was to make the desert bloom by irrigating 350,000 acres of land in the Carson River watershed area using Truckee River water. Never mind that the Truckee River flowed north, emptying into Pyramid Lake. Send some water south — it will be fine.

In 1903, as its first project, the newly formed United States Reclamation Service (today’s U.S. Bureau of Reclamation) began construction of a diversion dam on the Truckee River.  Completed in 1905, the Derby dam, sent 48% of Truckee River water 32 miles south to Lahonton Reservoir via the Truckee Canal.

The consequences of the water’s diversion to Lahonton adversely affected two species of fish, the Northern Paiute people, Pyramid Lake, and eventually, turned neighboring Winnemucca Lake into a dry lake bed. Early on, the Paiute began to notice the damage, but no one listened to their warnings, or their pleas.

In the early 1900s, few gave much thought to an area’s ecological health, or the plight of the land’s original people. Although, one sympathetic trader’s poignant observation still resonates: “There was never a hungry person on the reservation, they loved that kind of work—that way of making a living, and they had a dignity, which went away after the last (fish) run of 1937.”

Pyramid Lake, known as Cui-Ui-Pah before Fremont’s discovery, had been home to native peoples for so long that their beginnings were told in the legend of the Stone Mother. The people of the lake called themselves cui-ui ticutta (cui-ui eaters). The plentiful fish, known as cui-ui, are endemic to Pyramid Lake, and were vital to the physical, and spiritual well-being of the Northern Piaute.

By 1967, the surface of Pyramid Lake was 87 feet lower than it was before the construction of the Derby diversion dam. For many years, low water prevented spawning up the Truckee river. That, combined with pollution, doomed the Lahonton trout. But a fish that did not begin to breed until it was 8 years old, and could live as long as 40 years, had a better chance of surviving. It was their longevity that helped the cui-ui to endure for as long as 19 years without successfully reproducing.

Passage of the Endangered Species Act gave the Piaute tribe legal grounds to convince the federal government to limit the amount of water diverted from the Truckee River. The determined Piautes took their case all the way to the Supreme Court, reaching a settlement with the government in 1990. Though, it wasn’t until 2015 that the Truckee River Operating Agreement went into effect, insuring the continuation of the cui-ui and Pyramid Lake.

The cui-ui is not a widely popular game fish, and its life is limited to a lonely part of the world. But the cui-ui is, and always has been, prized by a persistent group of people who fought for 110 years to save their fish and its home from devastation by mismanagement.

There is a great lesson in this story.

Anything 360 feet high, and 800 feet wide is hard not to notice. That kind of bulk might also get in the way of progress. Tahoe’s Cave Rock is that big, and was definitely impeding progress toward the completion of the Lincoln Highway, the first U.S. coast to coast road. The problem was solved by road building crews in 1931, as well as in 1957, using dynamite to blow a couple of holes right through that big rock, much to the consternation of the Washoe people.

The Washoe people had been using the caves in Cave Rock as their kind of church for a great many years before the arrival of Europeans. It was thought of as a place of power, where only trained Washoe medicine men were permitted to go. According to Washoe lore, Cave Rock was the gathering place for me’tsunge or water babies who would share medicinal knowledge and power with the medicine men.

A further insult to the integrity of the sacred place was the popularity of the recreational use of Cave Rock. Hiking, picnicking, fishing and stargazing drew many non-natives to Cave Rock. Then, a rock climbing phenomena took hold, leading to the creation of 46 different climbing routes, with bolts and other devices pounded in place by climbers. Some routes were inside the caves, with climbers cementing over important cave openings, and marking surfaces with graffiti.

Naturally, the Washoe fought long and hard for their sacred place. Though, it wasn’t until 2003 that the U.S. Forest Service banned all rock climbing, as well as off road vehicle use at Cave Rock. Naturally, appeals were filed by climbers representatives.

Then in 2007, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the climbing ban was constitutional because the Forest Service was protecting Cave Rock as an archaeological, cultural, and historical national resource, not just because it was sacred to the Washoe, as claimed by opponents. A win, no matter how it was worded.

Because no one is allowed to chip away at Cave Rock any more, what can it do for visitors now? We can drive through it, of course – both ways, from south to north, and back again. We can admire it; a geological stunner created by a volcano vent and carved out by glaciers three to five million years ago. We can launch a kayak, or we can launch a motor boat. We can look for the Lady of the Lake, Cave Rock’s jumble of stone sorting itself into the profile of a woman when approached by water. We can fish from the rocky shoals, or we can choose from three different picnic areas for a delicious outdoor meal in beautiful surroundings, and then, we can play and swim in Tahoe’s pristine waters — remembering, of course, your Mama’s dire warnings from long ago. Never go into the water until at least a half an hour after eating!

It seems like an early settler named Sierra Nevada would be well known around these parts, but the opposite is true. Few have heard of her.

Born in1854 in Nevada City, Sierra was four years old when her parents, John and Mehitable Phillips, decided to become inn-keepers. The little family moved to a property about two and a half miles from Echo Summit, and there, they built a two-story hotel along with five barns, establishing Phillips Station. The Station catered to everyone using the popular, heavily traveled Bonanza Road between Placerville and Virginia City.

Vade, as she was called, grew up in the family business, and the skills she learned working with her parents at the station served her well all her life. A grown-up Vade married Lake Tahoe steamboat captain, A. W. Clark, and gave birth to a daughter, Mehitable Jane Clark in 1879. When Vade was widowed, the lessons learned from Phillips Station proved their worth.                                                    

At the end of 1888, Vade paid George Hunsaker $5,500.00 in gold coins to become the new owner of 40 acres of land at Rubicon Springs. The hard working, and surely hard driving, Vade, built the 16 bedroom Rubicon Mineral Springs Hotel and Resort. The hotel was known for its elegant parlor. Vade served her discerning guests three meals a day, complimented by white linen tablecloths and polished silver.

Vade also established the Rubicon Flyer. Four horses pulled a six-passenger coach the nine miles from McKinney on Tahoe’s shore to the hotel. Lasting two and a half hours, the trip was described as hair raising. Adding injury to insult, the buttons on the coach’s supposedly comfortable seat cushions were labeled bun-busters.

About seven years after buying the Rubicon property, Vade sold it back to Hunsaker for $3,800 in gold coin. After that, she continued to own and to manage resorts around Lake Tahoe.

In 1897, Vade married again, to 20 year old James Bryson. Two years later, Vade’s second daughter, Alice Elaine Bryson, was born.

Vade inherited the run-down Phillips Station in 1909. She renovated the old station, adding cabins, a store and a campground. Thereafter, Vade and her family closed the station every fall, and made their winter home in Placerville. In spring the family transported loads of supplies to Phillips, reopening for the summer.

A setback occurred in October of 1911. Just before Phillips Station closed for the winter, a fire started in the kitchen. The family escaped unharmed, but a considerable amount of their currency was lost in the fire. Vade was held in such regard that the citizens of Placerville raised $300.00 for the family’s winter expenses.

By September of 1912, Vade had not only rebuilt, but had succeeded in getting a post office established at Phillips. The post office was named Vade in honor of its first postmaster.

Sierra Nevada Vade Phillips Clark Bryson died on May 21, 1921. She left two daughters, five grandchildren, a widower, and 320 acres of property.  Eight years later, the great depression closed Phillips Station for good.

Many years passed before the property was sold, and the Pow-Wow Restaurant and Gas Station opened. Their new sign along highway 50 jokingly read, “Eat at Pow Wow’s and Get Gas.” It’s likely Vade would have found that slogan more annoying than amusing.

Occasionally, when reading about some early plans for Lake Tahoe, the realization hits that it is a slight miracle we have a lake at all.

For instance, in 1865, a San Francisco based engineer, with the elegant name of Alexis Waldemar Von Schmidt, created the Lake Tahoe and San Francisco Water Works Company. Mr. Von Schmidt also acquired a half section of land near the Truckee River outfall, along with the rights to five hundred cubic feet per second of Lake Tahoe’s water. Yes, you read that right.

Von Schmidt planed to supply the city of San Francisco with water from Lake Tahoe. Beginning at the Truckee River outfall, a series of aqueducts would channel water through the Sierras until reaching the north fork of the American River, and then from there, on to San Francisco. However, in 1870 the California Legislature, spurning Von Schmidt’s application, granted Mark Hopkins and Leland Stanford’s Donner Lumber and Boom Company, the right to build a dam at the Lake’s Truckee River outlet — which they did. However, Mr. Von Schmidt and his grandiose plan have not been completely forgotten. A roadside plaque mentioning him stands near Alpine Meadows Road on Highway 89.

The first small lumber and rock dam developed into the dam you can tour in Tahoe City. And a very informative self-guided tour it is. You learn that the existing dam was completed in 1913 and modernized in 1987; that the dam controls only the top six feet of Tahoe’s water; that while 63 streams flow into Lake Tahoe, the north-easterly flowing Truckee River is the only outflow of Tahoe’s water. Most importantly, you learn why Fanny Bridge is so named.

In 1915, the dam, along with 14 acres surrounding the outlet, was purchased from the Truckee River General Electric Company by the U.S. government for $139,500.00. The dam is now owned, operated, and maintained by the US Bureau of Reclamation.

Furthermore, Lake Tahoe’s sole dam is not just a local landmark. In 1981 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A visit offers more than just dam information. There are picnic tables under the pines. Tahoe City’s swimming beach is a short walk north of the dam, and a small museum with beautiful examples of Native American basketry, sits just south of the dam.

A dam visit may prod your curiosity. Now that you’ve seen the Lake’s ending, you may want to discover part of its beginnings. The Upper Truckee River empties into the Lake in South Lake Tahoe. It’s not hard to find, and has an easy 1.5 mile, mostly flat, but sometimes muddy trail waiting to be explored. The Upper Truckee River loop, was described by one visitor as ‘a lovely ramble along a babbling brook.’   

Who can resist that kind of description? Enjoy your walk, but don’t forget the bug spray.

For years, fires in our forests have been extinguished as soon as possible. That practice, when combined with warmer temperatures, and drier conditions, has made for larger and more intense fires. In fact, new words have been coined to better describe the immensity of recent fires; a megafire is being used to describe 100,000 acre blaze, and anything over that becomes a gigafire. For perspective, 100,000 acres equals a little over 156 square miles.

Many recent studies have shown that a forest is more that just a stand of trees. It is a thriving ecosystem, with fire an important part. For instance, neither sequoia nor redwood trees can reproduce without fire. Native Americans knew about the need for fire. What colonists thought of as a pristine, untouched wilderness was the result of occasional managed fires which created grasslands, along with new forests, across the North American landscape. Fire even benefited ordinary daily pursuits, as an online article about Yurok basket weaving proves.

We naturally think of The U.S.Forest Service as protectors when it comes to fire. That’s only partially true. Individual States are responsible for their own forest lands. However, California and the Federal government have entered into an Agreement for Shared Stewardship over one million acres of forest land.This joint  management will be significant for California’s overall forest health and wildfire resilience.

The Forest Service is also working with national organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, and The Center For Biological Diversity, as well as many others, to formulate plans for better forest management. This includes managing fires, forecasting fires, fighting fires, as well as restoration after fires.

An artist’s rendering on The Nature Conservancy’s website (scroll half way down the page) shows how a fire might affect a managed forest versus what happens when a fire sweeps through an overgrown, unmanaged forest.

What happens after a fire? The US Forest Service has set up a program called Burned Area Emergency Response. The BAER program identifies post-fire threats, as well as recommends actions to take to reduce the detrimental consequences a fire can bring.

The BAER program focuses on lands not likely to recover naturally;  anywhere water runoff will be excessive, severely burned areas, or steep slopes above valuable facilities.

BAER teams are composed of hydrologists, soil scientists, biologists, vegetation specialists, and even archeologists. These specialists evaluate a burned area immediately, and recommend stabilization treatments. This can happen before the wildfire is totally contained. The time to begin recommended treatments in a burned-out area is always “right now.”

All too often, after seeing or hearing about a major forest fire, discouragement sets in. We sometimes forget the many dedicated people working to restore our lands. Let’s remember them, and be grateful for their work.

Forest fire. Burned trees after forest fires and lots of smoke

In 1911, Tahoe Tavern, an elegant Tahoe City hotel, hoping to drum up business after a record breaking snow-bound winter, offered a 3-foot-tall silver trophy to the driver(s) of the first car to complete a spring journey from California to Tahoe City.

Fortunately, snowbrains.com posted two photos from that race. One black and white image shows a pipe-smoking driver coolly steering his car down a nearly vertical slope. The other photo is of a group of men pulling a tin-lizzy up a snow covered incline, its wheels wound with rope for better traction.

What were they thinking? Obviously, the racers hadn’t heard about Harry D. Weed and his wonderful invention — tire chains. 

The observant Mr. Weed noticed that winter drivers wrapped rope around their tires for traction. Harry knew that he could think of something better, and set out to develop long lasting, easily fastened metal tire chains that could be used in mud or snow. He got two out of three right. The chains provided traction, did not wear out easily, but required the tire to be partially deflated before installation. Once the attachment hooks were fastened, the tire was re-inflated, no doubt with a hand pump. Imagine doing that today in a white-out on I-80.

Mr. Weed was awarded, in 1904, a U.S. patent for his Grip-tread for Pneumatic Tires. Beginning  the Weed Chain Tire Grip Company that same year, Mr. Weed happily saw his tire chains increase in popularity, though, apparently, not among Western drivers.

A Grass Valley resident, Arthur B. Foote heard about Tahoe Tavern’s offer, and decided to win the silver trophy with his Model T Ford. He enlisted the aid of George Starr, and on June 2, 1911, they were off.

Mr. Foote’s diary tells that they left for Emigrant Gap at 4 p.m. that day, but got stuck in soft snow two and a half miles after Emigrant Gap. The men left the car, and walked to Cisco, arriving at 10:30 at night. The following morning, the two scouted their route on foot. They discovered that a bridge over the Yuba River had washed out. Undiscouraged, the men hiked back to their car in Cisco, and began driving over the frozen snowpack. The Model T would occasionally fall into a deep hole, but Foote and Starr simply set up their block and tackle to haul the car out. Reaching the washed-out bridge after five hours travel, the men stretched a metal cable over the rushing river, and slid the suspended car across the water. They left no evidence of their solution to the problem, so when other competitors reached the bridge they had no idea how Foote and Starr managed to cross.

While the other competitors were scratching their heads over the river problem, Foote and Starr continued on. Two days later, they were again stuck in the deep snow. Never giving up, the men returned to Grass Valley by train. There they picked up more equipment, and on June 7, were back to their car, this time fitting wooden runners on the wheels, turning the vehicle into a sled. They pushed the contraption over the snow, reaching Soda Springs on June 9. 

After making repairs, the next morning Mr. Foote and Mr. Starr pulled the car-sled over Donner Summit, dropping down to Donner Lake, where they stopped for breakfast. Then, it was an easy, open road to Tahoe City, their 3-foot-tall silver trophy, and their well earned bragging rights.

On June 11, the Grass Valley Union newspaper reported “The resort management had not expected these men from Grass Valley to achieve their success by shoving, tugging, and hoisting their Model T over seemingly impassable mountainous terrain.” 

The newspaper was right, and on second thought, Weed Chain Tire Grips probably wouldn’t have helped at all.

Recent research has proved that spending time outdoors can help people decrease their physical signs of stress, and can even boost a person’s mood.

It’s also been shown that life satisfaction is increased for anyone living in an environment with high biodiversity. 

People crave contact with the natural world. We humans find a tranquility in places with a variety of plants and animals. We actively seek contact with natural landscapes, oceans and the wilderness, which suggests that we may derive health benefits from them.

The World Health Organization is collaborating with the Convention on Biological Diversity to promote awareness of how the earth’s biodiversity has a direct influence on human health, both physical and mental.

Biodiversity conservation is high on the list of the Tahoe basin’s conservation organizations.

There are a good many fish swimming in our Lake. Most aren’t native to these waters because of deliberate game fish stocking, and leaving little room for natives. Inadvertent introductions, such as aquarium dumping, can also have an unwanted effect on Lake waters. In 2013, 4 pound, over 14 inch long goldfish was removed from Lake Tahoe. It’s thought that there are more of them under the surface.

Fortunately, though, with the help of the U.S. Forest Service, the original Tahoe fish, the Lahonton trout is making a comeback.

Sometimes overlooked when considering biodiversity is soil. Tahoe has a variety of soils, from ordinary sandy to rich, and organic. Soil has two important jobs in Tahoe. The first is infiltration, a process where absorbing rain and snowmelt are absorbed. This prevents runoff from accumulating or gaining speed, both of which cause erosion. Soil’s second job is capturing and filtering nutrients and pollutants, instead of allowing them to flow along surfaces, and collecting in streams or the Lake.

When water permeates the soil, plants flourish by soaking up the water and nutrients. The estimated 17 million diverse trees growing in the Tahoe Basin surely appreciate that.

Wherever there is a tree, there is a bird to perch in it. With over 300 different species of birds recorded as living in the Tahoe basin, some kind of singing, chirping or hunting bird is always close at hand. 

In between those trees, in the sunshine, this basin is home to over 300 varieties of wild flowers. From the wild roses, to the lupines, to the goldenrods, something is blooming, or just about to, all summer long. 

But is there anything besides people to appreciate those flowers? Tahoe’s busy bees certainly do, as do butterflies, and our spectacular hummingbird moths. 

No doubt the shrinking populations of our four-legged Tahoe companions, such as bears, coyotes, beavers, bobcats, and deer, is due to an increased human population, as well as forest fires, and climate change. We can count ourselves fortunate if we manage to catch sight any of these animals. Once, long ago, this writer spied a fully antlered mule deer posing in the middle of a sunny meadow that was packed with multicolored wild flowers tall enough to tickle his shiny black nose. That picture has never faded.

Biodiversity?  Let’s take care of it, because it always takes good care of us…one way or another.