This weekend Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will make a trip west to the headwaters of the Olympic National Park where he’ll knock out a chunk of the Elwha Dam. It’s kind of the opposite of a groundbreaking ceremony. The Elwha and Glines Canyon dams are nearly 100 years old and are responsible for destroying one of the country’s largest salmon runs and decimating ecosystems at the mouth of the rivers. Controversy still surrounds a hatchery planned for the river that fishermen and conservationists say is a terrible idea. The dam removal should be complete within three years, so in government work-time that’s about six years.

The fantastic production work of the government-produced Yosemite Nature Notes has done more to restore my faith in the federal government than anything else in recent years. Their latest is Sky Islands, a look at the rare plant colonies that live in isolation atop high, flat plateaus of the Sierra Nevada.

Nick Kristof of The New York Times has a handy Op-Ed piece that seeks to remind Americans that getting outside isn’t a bad idea. If you can get past his Humblebrags about taking his family on a forced Pacific Crest Trail march you’ll hear all about Rich Louv’s books that nature can provide a balancing force in our lives. Of course this is something all of you have known for ages - it’s the “I have to get out this weekend” phrase that many of us who work in desk jobs find ourselves uttering aloud by Tuesday afternoon. Kristof does make another good point: The more people we get outdoors, the more advocates we’ll have for nature and the planet’s wild places, which is why the park service needs to shift from merely conserving nature to convincing people to get out and use it. I’m going to apply to be the first Park Service Advertising Ranger. I hope they don’t make we wear the ranger outfit while I work on my Mac all day.

At an early morning gathering at the Grand Teton National Park visitor center auditorium a man grabbed a seat in the front row and plopped down onto a can of bear spray. The stuff discharged into the room and the local ranger evacuated the auditorium and called for backup. The center’s ventilation system carried the spray into the lobby and gift shop, and when backup arrived they found about 20 people in the building dealing with side effects. The gift shop goods were bagged to deal with the contaminants at a later date, and the park is airing out their lobby and trying to get the pepper spray out of the furniture. The man who sat on the spray jumped up and ran out of the auditorium at top speed the moment it happened, and the rangers have been unsuccessful in location him.

Photo by Melensdad

Wyoming’s governor is calling for more snowmobiles to be granted access to Yellowstone? It must be fall. Calling on his extraordinary expertise on Yellowstone and ecology, Gov. Matt Mead pulled the number 540 snowmobiles per day out of thin air. While the NPS conducts another impact study, the current limit is about 330 snowmobiles and 80 ‘snowcoaches’ per day. I’m not sure what a ‘snowcoach is, but based on a quick search it’s either a covered, tow-behind sled or a huge snowbus from the 1960s. Regardless, all look like they would do a wonderful job terrorizing Yellowstone wildlife.