It takes a global community of researchers to shed light on how wildlife responded to COVID-19—and I’m honored to be one of many co-authors on a new paper that achieves just that. Led by Dr. Cole Burton, a conservation biologist at the University of British Columbia, the ambitious paper looked at 102 camera-trap projects around the world to determine how wildlife responded to changes in human activity during the pandemic.

I first learned that About Place Journal would be dedicating its October issue to the more-than-human-world as a participant at the Kachemak Bay Writer’s Conference in May. Already a fan of the conference, I couldn’t resist making the trip to Homer, Alaska, to spend time with Robin Wall Kimmerer as the 2023 keynote.

Here in my own community on Bainbridge Island, neighbors who are generally fond of forests and wildlife sometimes surprise me with their negative comments about coyotes. I wish they could see what I see when a coyote slips through the yard and casts a glance my way, her wild beauty taking my breath away every single time. My new article in Tideland magazine is a celebration of coyotes, and a plea for coexistence from my little slice of Puget Sound.

On a dark day in January, I took a ferry to Seattle to participate in the necropsy of a wolverine, whose body was being held at the Burke Museum. A necropsy is an autopsy for a nonhuman animal; even in probing death, we set ourselves apart. Here is how Cornell’s Wildlife Health Lab distinguishes the two terms…

When the editors of Tideland magazine invited my to write an article about the Bloedel Reserve, I happily accepted. I’d once been a member of Bloedel but my membership had lapsed; I figured this would be a good opportunity to reacquaint myself with a nationally treasured botanical garden located only a few miles down the road. What I didn’t envision was that the reserve’s 10-acre Buxton Bird Marsh and Meadow would inspire me to write about rewilding.

Grizzly bear restoration has been a long time in coming to the North Cascades, where the absence of these iconic animals denotes a dark period in the relationship between people and wildness. Grizzlies roamed this rugged region for thousands of years but were hunted and persecuted off the map in the 19th century—along with other carnivores whose ecological, cultural, and intrinsic values were brutally disregarded. Rarely do we have a chance to rewind and rewild at such a grand scale.

My short essay about contending with my fears at a wild river crossing is now available in print. Issue 4 of Deep Wild can be purchased at local bookstores, and also online. I just love this beautiful journal, perfectly sized for an overstuffed backpack, and brimming with prose and poetry that will transport you to deep, wild places even if you’re sitting at home on your couch!

When I first approached Stefan Frei at our photo shoot for Tideland magazine, I tossed him my husband’s soccer ball and quipped, “just testing your reflexes.” He deftly caught the ball, of course, before tossing back a quick-witted response: “Hey, I didn’t think I was going to have to work today!” Frei’s playful smile belied the competitive intensity that he brings to the pitch for the Seattle Sounders—and that fuels his success as one of the best goalkeepers in Major League Soccer today.

Deep Wild journal recently blogged an excerpt from my flash nonfiction essay, “Lessons in Survival,” to be published in print in June. I’m excited to be included in issue 4 of Deep Wild, whose “Writings from the Backcountry” are bound in a compact, lightweight package so that you can bring the journal with you to read on your own backcountry adventures.

Here on Bainbridge Island, gardening season is upon us—and I couldn’t be happier to usher it in. Daffodils bloom like sunshine outside my window, and tomorrow is the big day when I start cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes (and, with much less enthusiasm, my tax returns). So it was particularly exciting to open my mailbox yesterday and find the premier issue of Tideland magazine inside, featuring my gardening essay, “Beyond the Bounty.”

A new article published in Global Ecology and Conservation presents the first global analysis of wolverine ecology and conservation research. Led by University of Victoria’s Jason T. Fisher and co-authored by more than a dozen other wolverine researchers (including me), the article reviews 156 scientific papers and summarizes their findings. The study also highlights what wolverines will need to survive in our changing world.

“Right of Way,” my feature article in the current issue of Wild Hope, celebrates the early success of wildlife crossing structures at I-90 Snoqualmie Pass—the inspiring project that brought Robert and me to Washington more than a decade ago. New structures and fencing allow deer and elk, coyotes, and other wild animals to safely traverse the highway, thereby reconnecting habitats to the north and south.

On October 28th at 6:30pm, social-cultural psychologist Mary Clare and science writer Gary Ferguson will offer a free public presentation about tackling climate change at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art. Mary and Gary advocate grounding ourselves in “full ecology”—also the title of their new book (see my review)—to confront climate change without burning out our inner sun.

For the July/August issue of The Wildlife Professional, Robert and I co-authored an article about our wolverine research in Washington, emphasizing the need for creative collaborations and innovative survey methods given possible threats to the wolverine population in the future.

In celebration of National Wildlife Week, Woodland Park Zoo published my post about Washington’s wild cats on their blog today. I wrote about the zoo’s efforts to document wild cats and other carnivores with remote cameras in greater Seattle and beyond—research in which I am proudly involved.

My feature piece in the current issue of Wild Hope celebrates those bold wild animals who eke out an existence in our yards and city parks, and the passionate people who study them. “Urban Dwellers” shines a spotlight on the Seattle Urban Carnivore Project, a citizen science-driven effort, led by Woodland Park Zoo and Seattle University, to inspire city people to get to know their wild neighbors.