I’m headed up to Montana this weekend to help relocate one of the few remaining white-tailed prairie dog colonies in the state (a highway expansion would take out the colony in July, and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is moving the occupants to BLM lands nearby).  Having the opportunity to travel to southern Montana made me reminisce about some of my favorite critter adventures on the job.

• Sitting with Terry Tempest Williams watching a female badger do her very best to try to convince a male to mate with her.

• Being present for a lynx release.  One of the cats chose to climb a nearby tree rather than disappear into the forest right away, so we had a wonderful opportunity to watch it close up.

• Handling a Preble’s meadow jumping mouse and getting to see its delicate, birdlike feet in detail.

• Sitting in the dark at Three Forks Ranch and slowly having the white collars of greater sage-grouse males materialize out of the gloom close by.

• Flying in a small plane with photographer John Fielder while he captured the beauty of the Front Range Foothills.  “Where should we go next, Erin?”

• Being in the field with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to see the Colorado butterfly plant on private land.  The landowner wasn’t home at first, and the Service discussed at length the difficulty in working on private lands.  When he returned, the landowner told the Service he really wanted to do something for the wildflower, and how about putting up some fencing to keep his cows out, and that if the Service could throw in a tree or two for his windbreak he’d be all set.

• Reading Joel Sartore’s editorial in response to the Salt Creek tiger beetle’s protection under the Endangered Species Act:  “this is one of Lincoln’s own, found nowhere else on earth.  School kids draw pictures of it.”

• Hearing Moffat County rancher Dean Visintainer’s talk at a sage-grouse meeting where he shared the Declaration of Intent he composed for his ranching operation decades ago, “When songbirds flourish everything else flourishes.  The land provides the base for all creatures, therefore, is the best investment, over time.”

• Being present for the first black-footed ferret reintroduction in Colorado, and realizing that the ferrets make sounds very much like white-tailed prairie dog chatter.

This job is not without burdens:  knowing that there is never enough time for all that needs to be done, and the pressure of trying to do one’s best for these species in the long-term while operating under short-term realities and without being able to consult them directly.  But I find myself again and again in the middle of amazing experiences like the ones above that reinforce the absolute wonder and joy and hope that go along with being alive in this world of diverse forms and ways of being.