In December, my housemate discovered a buck in our yard with an injured leg and mangled antler. What do you do for injured wildlife? “Ideally, leave it alone and give [Colorado Parks and Wildlife] a call so we can assess it,” says District Wildlife Manager John Groves. “I’ll look at the condition of the animal […]
Geneviève Villamizar
Posted inNews, Uncategorized
Naturalist Nights
Welcoming abundance through Hopi tradition and science In winters past, locals in the know have enjoyed many cozy evenings “sitting at the feet” of diverse presenters sharing their specialized insight for coexisting on Earth. These annual Naturalist Nights, co-hosted by the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, Wilderness Workshop and Roaring Fork Audubon Society, have traditionally […]
Posted inColumns, Opinion, Uncategorized
A cause for pause
The “boop boop” of the key fob was all good but the car was so iced over that I had to narf on the front door to crack the shell and get in. Inside my leaky, ancient Subaru, every window was also covered in a film of hard frost. We were on the brink of […]
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Branching Out: Revelling in magnificence
The hardest part is knowing which to do – the hustle to get in there, or the walk — so silent, you can hear the pulse in your own body. The former is spiked with adrenaline; with an anxious wanting and hope. The latter, drenched in adrenaline; an anxious wanting and hope! Hunting is such […]
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Branching Out: Artemis outdoors club for girls
After I write this, I’ll be guiding five fourth and fifth grade girls in fresh snow. On walkabout, we’ll focus not on the cold, but the stories we encounter in whiteness, letting the natural world fill and propel us for an afternoon. Binoculars will fuel curiosity. How does puffing up feathers warm a bird? Do […]
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Branching Out: Dear mountains
I see an orange flash amid the mowed green clover and brome, roadside. Fox. Dead. Fur, still like down fluff. Its form is lithe, not yet bloated. Heading to a favorite fishing hole late in the day, I can’t stop. Can’t do both. I’ll come back tomorrow. Early morning, now. I check my mirrors — […]
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Branching Out: Ruminations on consumption
Yvon Chouinard’s favorite quote about entrepreneurship is “that to understand an entrepreneur, you should study a juvenile delinquent. They’re both saying “this sucks and I’m going to do it another way.” You have to break the rules and prove that your way works.” My entrepreneur spirit and naturalist’s mind have to ask, what really sucked […]
Posted inOpinion, Uncategorized
Branching Out: What those hunting photos say
A conversation has opened within hunting as more people of infinite diversity have entered its sacred realm: What is an appropriate photograph when we “fill our tags?” “Bag” our animal? Secure clean food in fair chase for our families? A thousand words cannot capture the moments after the dust settles, an animal releases its last […]
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Branching Out: The complexity of aliveness
Stumbling through riverbed boulders and log jams, the beams of our headlamps were lightsabers, slicing erratically through black night. Snowmelt sloshed in my 20-year old waders. My friend George shivered, soaked up to shrinkage. Neither state though, dampened our mirth. Out after dark, we felt like kids at play. Crossing a marsh, odd pinpoints of […]
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Branching Out: Escaping pressure
In this week’s Mountain Journal, a nonprofit journal centered on Yellowstone National Park, I read an editorial about the packed trails locals are experiencing in Livingston, Montana under the shadow of Bozeman’s population explosion amid COVID-19. I felt their angst over an attempt to find pleasure in the wilds, only to find stress amid crowds. […]