A gray wolf (not OR7)

For the first time in almost 90 years, the state of California has become home to a wolf.

A few days shy of the new  year, OR7 meandered alone into the Golden State after crossing the state border shared by Oregon. The 2-year-old gray wolf is the first and only documented wolf in California since 1924, and is protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act. Read more »

Beaver dams like this one help to create wetlands. FWS photo.

The Forest Service is known for developing partnerships to get the greatest good out of scarce fiscal resources. On the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest one of the partners is four-legged. Read more »

Baker City, Ore., July 2011. Hitting the trail with the Trail Crew. From left to right: Todd Robinette, Cody Powell, Nathan Tanaka and Andrew Livingston.

Doing more with less is a phrase we have all become accustomed to in recent years. U.S. Forest Service trail crews embody this spirit.

Recently, I had the opportunity to spend the day with a trail crew out of the Whitman district in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. Half of the crew was tasked to a project on a different part of the forest, but the five of us effectively cleared three miles of trail in the foothills of the Wallowa Mountains. Read more »