Blog Stew for Carnivorous Squirrels

• A geologist explains the formation of the "teepee buttes" of Pueblo and El Paso counties (Colorado).

• I cannot think of any job more frustrating (assuming that one took it seriously) than to be director general of  Afghanistan’s National Environmental Protection Agency. On the other hand, the news about Persian leopards is surprising.

• Myths about carrying concealed weapons. There is one that I tend to be guilty of too.

• From National Geographic, the economic and conservation effects of hunting:

 When you buy a camouflage camisole ($24.99) from the Ducks Unlimited catalog, a portion of the proceeds goes to conservation projects. If you visit Bozeman, Montana, and buy a pair of Schnee’s Pac boots, you will find a tag dangling from the laces, along with a promise that the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation will receive some of your money for elk conservation projects.

“It’s the hunters who keep most of these species going,” said Jim Clay, a middle school English teacher, hunter, and maker of turkey calls in Winchester, Virginia. “They put in the money, and they put in the hours. Hunters really care about what happens.”

• You probably did not know that sometimes squirrels are carnivorous.

What Do You Think about Falconry?

Two British researchers, Helen Macdonald (University of Cambridge) and Mike Nicholls (University of Greenwich) have created an online survey on people's understanding of falconry and their opinions about it.

Although some questions are particular to the UK, respondents from other countries are welcome.

Passing of Anne LaBastille

Wildlife ecologist and conservationist Anne LaBastille has died. She was 75.

LaBastille was an outspoken proponent of environmental conservation whose book Woodswoman reached a national audience and served as inspiration for legions of women interested in the outdoors. At the same time she was a controversial Adirondack figure who served as Adirondack Park Agency (APA) commissioner from 1975 to 1993, a tenure that showed her to be a tenacious defender of the wild character of the Adirondack Park.

Besides the important of Woodswoman to women interested in the outdoor life, she had a Colorado connection too: "She left Cornell to attend graduate school at Colorado State University where she received an M.S. in wildlife management in 1961. Her master's thesis was An Ecological Analysis of Mule Deer Winter Range, Cache la Poudre Canyon, Colorado."

A Movie about Aldo Leopold and the 'Land Ethic'

The Green Fire is a new documentary about the conservationist Aldo Leopold.

The web site lists locations where it is being premiered. For some silly reason, Magdalena, New Mexico, is not on the list. Have they no sense of history?

But one could be arranged.

Don't Mess with Mama

Apparently the conservation group Great Old Broads for Wilderness strikes fear in the hearts of illegal ATV riders.

Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Gets Some Ink

Backcountry Hunters & Anglers is a conservation group for those of us who sometimes feel too "green" among the hook-and-bullet crowd, yet simultaneously are too "blaze orange" for some enviros.

Though not yet large in numbers, BHA has been in the news quite a bit lately. Some samples:

• Co-chairman David Lien backs the Division of Wildlife's proposal to ban killing of denned-up bears.
• Lien also wrote an op-ed piece for the Denver Post supporting Interior Secretary Salazar's decision to consider more BLM wilderness designations.
• A member in Montana wrote a piece on a gun raffle that sounded suspiciously like an invitation to poaching.

To learn more about the group, you may download the Fall 2010 Backcountry Hunters & Anglers newsletter too (PDF, 3.4 megabytes).

SeEtta versus the Water Buffaloes

Look over in my "Southwesterners" blogroll and you will see Birds and Nature, the innocuous-sounding photography blog of Cañon City resident SeEtta Moss.

Actually, SeEtta is one of the most hardworking activists for wildlife, particularly birds, in this part of Colorado, and as the Pueblo Chieftain recently explained in a profile of her, she has waded right into the ongoing water wars.

Moss, who lives in Canon City, is the conservation chairwoman for the Arkansas Valley Audobon and Colorado Audubon societies, and her influence in water issues has grown in the past five years.

In 2005, she joined the Arkansas Basin Roundtable as the representative for nonconsumptive needs — the water that provides landscape and habitat for birds and other wildlife.

In that time, she has taught other members of the roundtable the importance of wildlife-related activities, helped develop a groundbreaking method of measuring the relative importance of nonconsumptive use in the basin and worked for state grants to study wildlife habitat throughout the basin.

She also spots birds that I have previously never known were in southeastern Colorado, such as the golden-fronted woodpecker, of which more can be learned here.

UPDATE: Oops. I was confused by the "Roselawn" and missed the part about it being in Texas, thinking instead of the Roselawn Cemetery in Pueblo.

Is This Dumb or What?

From Yahoo (no exclamation point, thanks) News, a news story headlined "Conservatives Are More Easily Disgusted."

People who squirm at the sight of bugs or are grossed out by blood and guts are more likely to be politically conservative, new studies find.

When I read "blood and guts," I think of butchering your own wild game, and I will let you readers think about which political party (rightly or wrongly) is associated with hunters.

Maybe this article is a case of shallow science journalism (or shallow news release-rewriting) meeting obsolete political categories and producing ugly offspring.

What is a "conservative," after all? We see Republicans desperately trying to decide that question after the Bush years (fiscal conservative? cultural conservative? which culture?).

Why do many so-called conservatives, of the Rush Limbaugh variety, seem so hostile to conservation, of the natural-resources variety?

Everyone wants to score sound-bite points, but few people think about first principles.