Touching a stream in mid-autumn, letting the cold water numb your skin, has a special way of connecting you to a moment, a place, a feeling. When you add the presence of Chinook salmon, some almost 2 feet in length, swimming so close as to brush against the insulated fabric of your boot, that feels even more memorable. Some of my fellow staff and I at Jackson Soil & Water Conservation District had the privilege of visiting Spencer Creek, a tributary to the now undammed sectio
A place becomes a home when it is known. Dwellings, Linda Hogan Like countless others, I had only ever breezed past the Rogue Valley on the I-5, until about a year ago when I took a job with The Nature Conservancy (TNC). On my first day, my coworkers whisked me into the Ashland watershed, through an area which had been tended to through the Ashland Forest Resiliency Project. For years, they had stewarded and monitored that land, learning every valley and every rise, and
Soaring through the air, eyes glinting as it searches out its next meal. It’s not necessary for them to flap their wings because they’re adapted to gliding on existing wind currents, which makes for a pleasant aerial view to seek out unsuspecting prey below. It may be dramatic to call them murderers, but they would take it as a compliment. Their sharp talons are evolved to be killer weapons as they grab their prey in the head or neck, immobilizing them almost immediately. Wit
