by Debra Denker
Great critter cam photos are a matter of luck rather than photographic skill — although a little bit of editing magic can turn a mediocre photo into a great one.
Read moreby Debra Denker
I conceived Weather Menders during a very hot summer visit to the UK in 2013. I had been looking forward to escaping the heat that in recent years has become characteristic of Santa Fe summers by going…
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On the first day of autumn, I’m riding through a changing forest — tall, deep green ponderosas interspersed with the butter-gold of aspens, and shrubs ranging from pale crimson to deep russet to coral…
Read moreby Wally Smith
Those three words are on my mind as I slosh around in a wetland behind the lodge at Virginia's Breaks Interstate Park. The pool isn't much, taking up no more than thirty square feet and its water only…
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It’s obvious that something is very wrong with the land before our plane even lands in Fort Yukon, Alaska, known to its indigenous Gwich’in inhabitants as Gwich’in Zhee.
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The pod of five dolphins gracefully, effortlessly, swims past me, perhaps a dolphin-length away. Entranced, I simply follow. Dolphins swim with powerful vertical thrusts of their tails, and for a few moments…
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As I open my garden gate on an uncharacteristically sultry Southwest summer afternoon, I hear a growl, a thump and then scrabbling in the Russian olive tree above me. I round the corner and come face to…
Read moreby Wally Smith
It's a cold November morning as I drive from my home in rural Wise County, Virginia, to the town of Tazewell, some 80 miles away. My journey takes me across the edge of the Virginia coalfields and through…
Read moreby Erika Zambello, Wally Smith
“Elk are not the first animals that come to mind when thinking of native Appalachian wildlife, but the species was a common sight in these hills prior to European settlement,” writes Dr. Walter Smith in…
Read moreby Debra Denker
Confession: I am a lifelong lover of snow leopards. So, a couple of months ago, when I was sick of politics, I was happy to follow a Facebook-suggested link to Snow Leopard Trust. I eagerly read their…
Read moreby Wally Smith
This is the case with the green salamander, one of the most unique amphibians in the salamander-rich Appalachian Mountains. The only truly green-colored salamander in eastern North America, the green salamander…
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