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Thirtieth Anniversary of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area

Political compromise is unappreciated in our culture of late. It should not be so. Sometimes compromise works. One success story is the conservation of the Columbia Gorge. It stretches for some eighty miles from just east of Portland Oregon through the Cascade Mountains to the open hills beyond. Bipartisan collaboration conserved this majestic landscape.

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Lamar Buffalo Ranch and the Landscape of Wildlife Conservation

“Oh Give me a home where the buffalo roam” goes the old cowboy song, but the fact that 21st century citizens can still enjoy the star of this song was a very close call. While estimates of the North American bison population at the time of European contact range from 30-75 million animals, by 1900 intensive hunting and a purposeful program of eradication to deprive American Indians of their livelihood had reduced the population to near extinction. The Lamar Buffalo Ranch in Yellowstone National Park was ground zero for a successful reintroduction effort. And bison are only part of this remarkable story of human intervention in this landscape.

Read More »

Thirtieth Anniversary of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area

Political compromise is unappreciated in our culture of late. It should not be so. Sometimes compromise works. One success story is the conservation of the Columbia Gorge. It stretches for some eighty miles from just east of Portland Oregon through the Cascade Mountains to the open hills beyond. Bipartisan collaboration conserved this majestic landscape.

Read More »

Lamar Buffalo Ranch and the Landscape of Wildlife Conservation

“Oh Give me a home where the buffalo roam” goes the old cowboy song, but the fact that 21st century citizens can still enjoy the star of this song was a very close call. While estimates of the North American bison population at the time of European contact range from 30-75 million animals, by 1900 intensive hunting and a purposeful program of eradication to deprive American Indians of their livelihood had reduced the population to near extinction. The Lamar Buffalo Ranch in Yellowstone National Park was ground zero for a successful reintroduction effort. And bison are only part of this remarkable story of human intervention in this landscape.

Read More »