Big Sur cove in California. Photo by Jon Sullivan.

September is National Wilderness Month and to honor the occasion, The Wilderness Society has pulled together an urgent campaign to get Congress to pass protections for nearly 4 million acres of iconic wild places throughout the country. More than 20 different Wilderness and wildlands protection proposals are working their way through Congress — many after years of works to get them there — but we must rally to make sure they make it past the finish line.Read more

Flower. Photo by irisb477, Flickr.

Valentines Day. Roses, chocolates, red frilly doilies, wine and dinner out. Eh hem...Yawn... Booooooring. Listen up, lovebirds. As much as everyone appreciates a week’s worth of calories packed in a cardboard box, when it comes to romance there’s nothing in the greeting-card store that beats a quiet outing in nature. So ask yourself, are you going to do the same predictable thing that you’ve done year after year, or are you going to be a Valentine’s champ and take your sweetie to some place truly memorable? Read more

Flying squirrel photo by Steve Shaluta.

I can still remember the smell of dog food and peanut butter mixing and melting beneath Kentucky’s July sun. My vertebrate zoology class was preparing to trap the Southern flying squirrel and my group received a special assignment: “make raccoon bait.” So, while my other classmates assembled cages and rolled up squirrel-sized peanut butter and oat balls, I tucked my nose under my shirt and stirred our thick concoction with a broken branch. Read more