A week ago I began going over the hills and through the woods visiting with conservation friends along the way, nearly got snowed in near the Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest, on my way up north to the prairies of Montana. I have to tell you, never having been through that frickin icy gap north of the Gateway to the Mountains, running out of daylight, it was a wee bit stressful. I was never so glad to see flat prairies in all my life. :)

I had great respect for those Montana Sportsmen Alliance guys that drove from north Montana to Helena to speak up for the Public Trust Doctrine, the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, and for public access during each legislative session in those winter months, but after going through that bloody pass with icy roads/bridges, for miles and miles, I am now in awe of them, all the more grateful. I am enjoying being back out on a farm with the wetlands and the pheasant everywhere - most importantly, no city for a week now. Sigh! I also experienced a European recipe of hanging pheasant unplucked for over 10 days, which kind of freaked my mind out, but was totally awesome, will have to share that later.

I came across the following Nature Rx videos about a few days before leaving Bozeman and laughed my ass off. Especially the wee dog with the bow in it's hair, wondering if they were gift wrapping it for the predators. Now my idea of nature is not quite so groomed with trails and outhouses and such, I prefer it wilder, which is why I support Backcountry Hunters & Anglers , Great Old Broads For Wilderness and Montanans For Gallatin Wilderness.

But, any level of connection with nature helps. A Senegalese poet wrote, "In the end, we conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught." I would alter this to say, "we will only understand what we experience."
Nature Rx Part 1

Nature Rx Part 2


On a wee bit more serious note, I leave you with Randy Newberg's Hunt Talk Radio Podcast interview with outdoor writer Don Thomas concerning the Ducks Unlimited termination, because nature does not benefit the public if we dont have access!



I just got a call about a news release, as I was finishing this newsletter, concerning dark money and a MT Supreme Court Justice election - Montana `dark money' group financed by a dozen wealthy donors in 2011, 2012. One of the major contributors was James Cox Kennedy (see podcast interview above), who believes our stream access laws are unconstitutional and wants them overturned. "A dozen donors gave $750,000 to the Montana Growth Network, the so-called 'dark money' group, in the year it spent money to help elect Supreme Court Justice Laurie McKinnon, according to records obtained by MTN News." I will be looking into her positions on access, like with this recent Modesty Creek ruling. Okay, that is it for the harbinger of woe news.



I would like to wish all of you a beautiful Solstice, Happy Holiday or simply a peaceful end of December/beginning of January, if that is how you roll. Just please, be safe on these bloody icy roads.

EMWH's regularly scheduled newsletters, including the ever present woe and destruction, will resume in January. For now, I am recharging in the boonies.

If you would like to further this work and research,   please click to contribute to EMWH.
Thank you,
Kathryn QannaYahu
406-579-7748