25: this wild place

Dear Friend,

Have you ever considered whether or not you are a people person? Maybe the last thing you crave is a meet-and-greet at your neighborhood community center, or perhaps you are the first to sign up! I think it’s a beautiful thing that we’re all so different, variety is healthy.

I’ve noticed that same sort of personality variance in creatures, too. Some birds will immediately fly far away from Frank and his camera, willing to leave their feathers behind in their haste.

While others of their flock stick around and seem to invite one portrait after another. This Ibis is the most congenial of all. He and Frank have promised to keep in touch.

And this Common Poorwill spent most afternoons napping in the tree at the edge of our campground. What a beautiful bird. He seemed to feel secure enough to fall asleep even though we were often right below his tree, talking.

Our visit to the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge has come to an end, for now. We left yesterday, it was sad to drive away from there.

For over a week, we have heard the nightly communication between members of a pack of coyotes. Their conference room stretches from high on a nearby hilltop to the tall-reed-covered-land right behind our trailer.

Night after night, we’ve listened to their yips, chatter, barks, squeals and howling, and to us, it has been a huge treat to hear! Why do they have this seemingly impromptu discourse?

Sometimes they are defending their territory, sometimes they are practicing with their pups, sometimes they are calling everyone together. Their conversations don’t last very long, maybe one to three minutes, and then, whatever it is that they’ve been discussing is followed by a lasting silence.

These coyote-talks happen two or three times during the night. We imagine how it would feel to be one of the ground-living prey-creatures out there, ducking down, hoping to remain undetected. All throughout the surrounding area there are jack rabbits, ground squirrel, cottontail bunnies, quail, grouse, deer, antelope… do they all understand the coyote-talk?

Have you ever heard coyotes? Listen to some Coyote Talk: Coyote Howl

How do their discussions set with you? Do their voices give you chills and make you think that maybe you were a cute little bunny in your previous life, or do you suddenly feel the urge to get outside and howl right along with them? When they vocalize, they are just talking, when they are hunting, things are pretty quiet. They’re known to cover a lot of ground in a short period of time, they can run up to 40 miles per hour.  And though they run fast, they are not the fastest by any means.

But he is...

Among all of the hoofed creatures in North America, the pronghorn (often referred to as ‘antelope’ in the United States), stands out as the fastest animal, capable of running 70 miles an hour.

In the early 1800s, there were around 35 million pronghorn. By the early 1900s, that number had decreased to around 15,000.

In the 1920s, the U.S. government began to show real interest in the Nation’s wildlife, especially those whose numbers were threatened.

E. R. Sans, the Superintendent of Predatory Animal Control for the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey, at that time, traveled to Nevada and determined that antelope populations were waning and must be protected.

In 1931, the Audubon Society and Boone & Crockett Club purchased over 34,000 acres of an old ranch (George Hapgood’s ‘Last Chance Ranch’) and designated the land, a National Antelope Refuge. 5 years later, 540,000 adjacent acres of the ranch was named the Charles Sheldon Antelope Range, and was also set aside. The two were later combined to create the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge.

Because of efforts to not only protect and manage refuge lands, including plants and creatures, but also to implement and enforce hunting restrictions, pronghorn numbers across the US have increased to around 1 million today.

This Refuge is a big place with lots of roaming room. And though it was a treat for Frank to be in the right place at the right time, there is no guarantee that when you visit, you will see an antelope.

We're so glad to have made the trek to the Refuge. It is certainly a place to experience an endless sky and open space for as far as your eyes can see.

And there are many creatures here, though we didn't meet all of them, we are happy to know that they are free to be wild.

I want to acknowledge that this land was inhabited by native peoples before ranchers came to raise cattle. Most of those ranches failed during the 1930s when the combination of a depression and a dust bowl took its toll. Mine tailings dot the landscape where people have come to dig for opals and other minerals. (Another story for another time).

When this land was set aside as a refuge, it required an army of people (like those from the CCC, as I mentioned in last week’s letter) to construct roads, install telephone lines, build sheltering structures, etc.

How to build ‘shelter from extreme weather’ when lumber is scarce? These structures, built by the ranchers in the first years of 1900, are made of sandstone blocks and basalt cobbles found on the land. Walls were built between 12” and 18” thick depending on the structure, to insulate against the scorching summer heat and the icy winter temps in north-western Nevada. For more than a century, these walls have proven to withstand even the worst and most relentless winds of winter.

And spring comes and summer follows with greens and renewal.

It is a harsh environment, summertime is hot. Most of the land is dry and dusty...

...but there are pockets of surprises, incredibly vibrant and refreshing.

One of our fellow campers told me that he was out on a hike and came across two women who were kneeling down next to a plant on the trail. They told him that they were biologists, counting sage seeds. He said they were there to determine if the plants were healthy, and to find out if there were plenty of seed-foods for the creatures. These are the little things that make up the bigger picture. People caring about plants and animals, birds, fish, insects, spiders... every bit of nature... Biologists, geologists, maintenance workers, camp managers, all sorts of paid and volunteering experts, every day, carry on the success of this wild place.

We are so grateful for the people that have shown up to save this land. And we’re grateful for all the creatures who live and visit here. It has been such a gift to explore and enjoy!  

As always, we appreciate YOU very much, for taking the time to be here to read Tracks by the Post. Your thoughtfulness matters to us, as does how your world is turning. Please Write and let us know how you're doing, or maybe tell us if you’ve heard coyotes and how it made you feel, or share whether you consider yourself to be a people person or not... (how ever it is you see yourself, please know, we celebrate you)!

We’re just us… wishing you and yours the sort of week that brings each of you the most peace!

Gently Be,

Leslie and Frank