Jackson Hole Underground

Not to be overlooked in the weekend’s expected powder frenzy (opening day at JHMR, Storm Show premiere) is a dose of stimulation for the mind.

Following on the heels of last night’s lecture by Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon, renowned anthropologist and National Geographic explorer Wade Davis will give a talk at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Center for the Arts.

Like his mentor at Harvard, Richard Evans Schultes, Davis could be described as a cross between Indiana Jones and Timothy Leary.

He has immersed himself in native cultures around the world and studied their languages and religious customs. He is perhaps best known for his work in Haiti, documenting voodoo, a project that led to his book The Serpent and the Rainbow.

(more…)

Today’s the day the Forest Service brass has come to town to talk about why it’s pulling up the stakes of the Bridger-Teton supervisor’s office on North Cache.

Although there has been no official announcement, the Forest Service superiors are here, as one insider put it, to “let us down gently,” having already decided to move the office charged with managing 3.4 million acres to Alpine or Afton, an hour away.

These public officials are going to sell public property and move a critical public lands office without any public input — in fact, over the objections of Wyoming’s congressional delegation and a wide spectrum of community economic and environmental groups.

(more…)

In their first private meeting since the coup disputed election of 2000, Nobel Peace Laureate Al Gore and “President” George W. Bush sat down this week to discuss global warming.

Think there has been a thawing in the relationship between the two?

This brilliant photo by Doug Mills of The New York Times not only tells the story of the meeting but pretty much sums up the last seven years of American history.

During their 30-minute chat, Gore should have told the joke about the “fence post turtle.”

(more…)

Sunday’s New York Times Magazine has a vivid article about black bears and humans in close cohabitation in Whistler, Canada.

The account of 90 attempted home break-ins and 1,500 calls to the bear-conflict hotline this year makes our bruin troubles seem relatively tame.

By comparison, in Jackson Hole in 2007, there were roughly 175 reported conflicts — more than the total of the last five years combined.

The situation in Whistler may presage what’s to come as hundreds of housing units are built at Teton Village, but also offers a lesson in coexisting with Ursus americanus.

Worth noting from the story: “Of the estimated 900,000 black bears in North America, on average only one causes fatal injuries to a person each year.”

Yet in Jackson Hole this year we have killed at least 16 bears, not counting those hit by cars or shot by hunters.

As writer Darcy Frey notes, “The danger of an encounter between humans and black bears is still borne almost entirely by the bear.”

Last night I attended a gathering of grieving friends of Chris and Mandy Horne, where with a late rally and no small effort the laughs outnumbered the tears.

The consensus was that any sort of public memorial service for Chris in Jackson Hole will have to wait weeks, possibly months, until Mandy is able to travel and their families deem the time is right.

Among the many recollections shared about Chris:

“He was fiercely intelligent, yet humble.”

“He spent his time here changing kids’ lives.”

And, from a friend’s father: “When the shit hits the fan, I want Chris Horne with me.”

(more…)