Random Thoughts

First off, I can't agree more with Neil that George Bush sucks. Any blue-stater knows this. Does it require a whole album of anger? I'm not so sure. He calls it his protest album, modeling it after the protest songs from the '60s. And they had every reason to protest. But somehow "Ohio" leaves a timeless image that "Let's Impeach the President" doesn't quite have. David Crosby was always better at this anyway. "Long Time Gone" and "Almost Cut My Hair" were perfect and still work well into today's turmoil. Even his recent "Dream For Him" from CSNY's 1999 album, "Looking Forward," holds up.

Neil lists Bob Dylan as inspiration in the liner notes. Its funny how all musicians see Dylan as the model protest singer. He hated being pigeon-holed as a protest singer and, on his fourth album, "Another Side of Bob Dylan," he wrote mostly introspective songs that pissed off the hardcore "message music" fans. But still, this early period is what everyone wants to draw inspiration from. I guess it could be worse. People could be obsessed over "Empire Burlesque" calling it his brilliant period. But I digress...

As stated before, this album is super cheesy. Its Graham Nash protest cheesy. I can see Nash sitting in his house listening this album with Neil, giving him the thumbs up and getting a wink in return. They're going to be like giddy protesters on stage when they go on tour this summer. Crosby will be standing there with that big mustached-grin, still surprised that he himself is still alive. And Stills will just be happy to be onstage making some cash, wearing his Hawaiian bathrobe and grinning when some asshole in the front keeps screaming for "Southern Cross." Good song, but there is always that asshole in the front who won't shut up until he here's it. But I digress again...

Neil, who plays a loud guitar throughout, recorded this in three days with a drummer, bassist, trumpet guy and a 100-voice choir. It’s in an interesting choice of musicians. I like it when Neil does something a little different with his albums. His "computer" album, 1982's "Trans", was a flop but I loved it. His big band album, 1988's "This Note’s For You," is a lot of fun. And his classic trilogy of depressed albums from the mid- 1970s - “Time Fades Away,” “On the Beach,” “Tonight’s the Night” - weren’t commercially successful but is some of his best work. These albums always seemed to follow commercially giant recordings, like "Harvest." So when "Prairie Wind" came out, I was sure Neil would pull a fast on the market. I'd be disappointed if he didn't.

Do I like the album? I've only heard it all the way through twice and I winced a hell of a lot more than I did listening to "Greendale." There are also a lot of unintentional laughs in listening to this. It's undeniably bad. And that's why I love it. It's like a bad movie. You can enjoy watching "Big Bad Mama," but it's not like I'm going to watch it everyday (although...). So I can't say that this will be my CD of choice for the next few weeks, if ever. Here's my song by song review:

#1. After the Garden - I think this one is actually pretty good. I had high hopes for the rest of the album upon listening to it. It has a tune that can stuck in your head. And the 100 voice choir makes its first appearance, although I'm surprised that they're not louder in the mix. It seems that way for the whole album. The trumpet guys shows up too, and that's the most interesting instrumental choice for the rest of the CD. Trumpet guy always shows up at the right time. Basically, the lyrics suggest that we won't need any Bush or "shadow government" after the proverbial garden is gone (the U.S.) because Bush will destroy us. At least, I think that's what he means.

#2. Living With War - "I'm living with war everyday." This is the first line of the song. Huh? U.S. soldiers in Iraq live with war everyday. Sudanese refugees in Darfur live with war everyday. Canadian singer-songwriters live with back-bacon, hockey, poutine, Stephen Harper (Governor #51) and French Canadians everyday. Not war. And if you're Neil, you don't even live with that because you live in the U.S. WTF, Neil? The best part of the song is when Neil and his chorus sing a portion of the "Star Spangled Banner" and their voices go so high in octave that it becomes an uncomfortable moment. I laughed out loud. Also, the song has Neil's first reference to flat screen TVs.

#3. The Restless Consumer - On this track, Neil lets us consumers have it. We're in such a need for oil, that we must go to war over it. No Shit. But the song does have a nice beat to it. The chorus yells "Don't Need" while Neil sings/shouts/moans "Don't Need No More Lies" in a strange way. The song is endearing, kind of. Also, first song in Neil's songbook to feature the word diarrhea. Finally!

#4. Shock and Awe - Yeah, the title is funny. I laughed too. It’s another song that reminds us how we're stuck in a quagmire in Iraq. The lyrics aren't bad either. "History was the cruel judge of overconfidence." He then makes fun of Bush's Mission Accomplished stunt when the war was far from over. I can see this one becoming a kind of angry anthem, although the tune is rather pedestrian. But trumpet guy makes a triumphant return to the CD.

#5. Families - Here, Neil is writing from a soldier's viewpoint. This song really dips into the cheese here. It’s about soldiers looking forward to seeing there loved ones again. And that's a nice thought. I don't really need Neil to sing to me about it. Very forgettable.

#6. Flags of Freedom - Neil updates Dylan's "Chimes of Freedom" and even mentions his name in the song. This isn't so much an anti-war song as it is a song supporting the troops as they march to war. I'm guessing this made it in so Neil wouldn't be seen as someone who hates the troops. I can see Stephen Colbert asking him that question right now, "Why do you hate the troops?" I can see a staunch Bush lover getting into this song if they didn't know the full context of the CD. Also, Neil's second reference to a flat-screen TV in the lyrics.

#7. Let's Impeach the President - Hahaha. Could this be the worst song on the album? Possibly. No other song comes right out and expresses Neil's hatred for the Bush administration quite like this one. But do we need it to sound like its coming from a third-rate peace rally? The best part is when Neil and the chorus yell "Flip...Flop" intermingled with sound bytes of Bush contradicting himself in previous speeches. The choir is really into it at the end. It sounds like they're clapping and high-fiving each other at the end. Please!

#8. Lookin' for a Leader - Neil is looking towards the future to find a new and better leader to run this country. Kind of like the six billion dollar candidate (we have the technology!). He mentions Barak Obama and Colin Powell specifically, so they'd better be listening! I like this one though. It's got some decent lyrics to it. "America has a leader/But he's not in the house/He's walkin' here among us/And we've got to seek him out." Nicely put. Good beat, too.

#9. Roger and Out - Neil finally comes out with a zinger. This one has some emotional pull with the slow beat, the lack of a yelling chorus, and the sad lyrics. It’s about a guy reflecting back to a friend who died in Vietnam and made the ultimate sacrifice. It’s sung with Neil's mournful voice and strikes just the write note. Best song on the album.

#10. America the Beautiful - The chorus gets down to business and sings this American classic with some appropriate gusto. After they belt out the words, the nicely "ooooh" the tune. Which made me laugh again. I was really expecting to hear Elvis come in and start speaking the words to the song like he did in his late 70s version. For those of you who have heard this, then you know what I'm talking about. "America! America!"

You gotta love Neil. He's fed up with Bush and had to say something. While most people just complain about him, he releases an album in under a month of recording. I agree with what he says. We should impeach the president. But I've always found that when musicians try to make a "message" album, it inevitably sounds silly. In three years from now, is anyone going to want to listen to this again? It'll sound incredibly dated. While last year's "Prairie Wind" sounds timeless, "Living With War" will remain an odd footnote in his illustrious career. He's also a Canadian citizen, which, for some, may throw credibility right out the window. Yes, he lives in the U.S. most of the time and his family is American, but he's still a hoser through and through. But God bless him. He's got balls to release this and he flaunts them. And so I admire the man and what he's set out to do. I might not like the finished product as a whole, but he's got some decent stuff here. It's an interesting experiment he tried and I hope he keeps throwing his listening audience curve balls. I never get bored listening to Neil Young.

Cry Wolf

The possible return of a long-lost predator means many different things to residents of Northern New England

It’s an uncommonly warm early September morning. The clouds hang low over the rolling mountains of New Hampshire’s Great North Woods. A brief, but strong thunderstorm has just passed through the North Country, dropping heavy rain over the forests. On N.H. Route 26, the wind whips through the rugged mountain pass of Dixville Notch. Thunder can still be heard in the distance, rolling its way over the terrain.

Farther west in the town of Colebrook, one of the larger towns in New Hampshire’s Coos County, sheep farmer John Harrigan also notices the strong winds that follow the storm. He stands just outside his 1850 colonial home, surveying his 450-acre farmland, squinting into the wind. His salt and pepper hair blows in all directions as the swirling wind picks up intensity. A strong gust of wind blows through and snaps a few tree branches.

“The wind’s coming right out of Quebec,” Harrigan notes. “Strange weather we’re having.”

Outside the house Harrigan shares with his wife, Nancee, and her two children, farmland stretches all around. The deep Boreal forest, common to northern New England, acts as a boundary between civilization and wilderness at the edge of the fields. There is no sign of any sheep, nor any other farm animals in his possession. They can all be found down the hill in a lower field, protected by a series of gates and electric fences.

The miles and miles of electric fences border all of his land, which can be found on both sides of the road. The fences deliver up to 4,300 volts of electricity to whichever unlucky animal makes contact with them. Harrigan has amusingly called two of his pastures protected by these electric barriers “Alcatraz” and “Sing-Sing,” on account of how secure they are. Local predators, such as coyotes and black bears, who eye Harrigan’s sheep as tasty dinners are successfully kept away thanks to the shock they receive by the perimeter fences. Coyotes, especially, remember the electric shock and have learned to stay away.

“If it weren’t for the electric fences and my guard dogs, these sheep wouldn’t last long against the predators,” Harrigan says.

Soon, Harrigan may have another predator in the woods to worry about. The gray wolf, which used to call the woods of New England home before its eradication in the late 1800s, may soon reclaim its ancestral home. With wolf packs living near the Canadian border, just north of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, it may only be a matter of time before the howl of wolf will echo through the Great North Woods.

Harrigan believes he has already heard that howl recently. It came on a warm August night when the coyotes were particularly active, most likely teaching their young to hunt. Their yelping and high-pitched cries bounced through the hills outside of Harrigan’s farm. His guard dogs got in on the fun and began to bark into the night, warning the coyotes they were also in neighborhood.

“All of a sudden, this howl comes across the field,” Harrigan says, eyes wide as he remembers that night. “It wasn’t very far either, my woodlot maybe, and that big dog was talking, no doubt about it. Nancee and I both sat bolt upright in bed and I said ‘did you hear that?’”

The coyotes and dogs heard the cry and became very quiet. “It was like someone threw a blanket over it all, dead silence,” Harrigan adds.

While there have been no confirmed sightings of wolves in New Hampshire, there have been in Vermont and Maine. On the flip side, there have been no confirmations that wolves have officially moved back to New England, to once again call the region home. Many that live in the northern New England believe that the wolf has either already returned to stay or will return permanently very soon. This very fact has excited some residents and has made others concerned, especially in regards to the way the wolf may return. Will it be through natural recovery or through government-sponsored reintroduction? And how will the wolves be treated once they return?

The Ancestral home

Wolves once ranged from coast to coast, inhabiting all of the Rocky Mountains, Great Plains and the Appalachian Mountains. Carrying on an almost mythical quality with many Native American tribes, the wolf was both feared and respected. Wolf symbols have been found on totem poles in the Pacific Northwest, on petroglyphs in the deserts of the Southwest, and on ceremonial head gear of the Plains Indians. The gray wolf, also known as the timber wolf, symbolized the wilderness within the United States during the early days of the country and, to some extent, continues to do so. Traveling in packs ranging from populations of 10 to 35, wolves were known to take down large deer and even the occasional moose. While their main food source is typically field mice, rabbits and beaver, wolf packs would routinely take down large animals to feed the pack. In these large family groups, the wolf was lethal to any prey it would choose to attack. As civilization encroached on their habitat, wolves began to attack livestock and cattle, soon putting the human population at odds with the animal.

In northern New England, gray wolves roamed the forests, hills and mountains of the region. By the mid 1800s, logging operations began to move north into the region, as did farms. As the land was heavily logged and stripped of vegetation, the habitats of wolf prey, such as deer and moose, began to quickly disappear. Wolves began attacking farmers’ livestock as their food sources disappeared. In response, farmers began killing any wolf that wandered anywhere close to their farm. The last wolf to roam New England was killed around the turn of the twentieth century.

By the 1930s, wolves had been eradicated from the lower 48 states, save for a tiny piece of Minnesota, where a few small packs still roamed near the Boundary Waters on the Canadian border. In 1973, the U.S. government listed the gray wolf as an endangered species. Once the wolf became endangered, it was then illegal to kill or harass the animal (unless it directly threatened the livelihood of an individual, such as a farmer).

Since being put on the endangered species list, the gray wolf has extended its range in the Great Lakes states to include more of northern Minnesota as well as part of northern Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan. It is estimated that more than 3,500 wolves inhabit the Great Lakes region. Because of this, the National Fish and Game Department reduced their status from “endangered” to “threatened” in their 2003 National Wolf Rule. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) lists a species “endangered” if it is in danger of extinction within its range. “Threatened” means that it could be come endangered within its range if steps are not taken to avert this. The government imposes fewer restrictions on a threatened species.

A Struggle to Return

The 2003 National Wolf Rule quickly brought about a lawsuit from the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), a 65-year-old non-governmental organization that works to protect wildlife within the United States. The real problem with the wolf’s reduction in status for the NWF was the Northeast range that the government considered appropriate. The wolf’s range, according to the wolf rule, extends from the Dakotas east through the Great Lakes and into New England. It’s a tremendous swath of land that includes 20 states. While the wolf has made a successful comeback in the Great Lakes, the northeastern United States still does not have a wolf population. For the NWF, the gray wolf is hardly considered “threatened” in the Northeast, but rather very “endangered.”

“The Fish & Game Department did not follow the ESA,” says Peggy Struhsacker, the NWF’s Wolf Team Leader for the Northeastern United States. “Their wolf rule is now null and void.”

In late August of this year, a federal judge in Brattleboro, Vt., ruled in favor of the NWF, stating that the Bush Administration violated the Endangered Species Act with its reduction in the gray wolf’s status. The government has now been ordered to step up recovery efforts by drawing up a new and improved wolf rule.

Stuhsacker, whose office is based in Montpelier, Vt, has been exploring the northern forests of the Northeast for three years, searching for evidence that the wolf is making a foothold in the region. Struhsacker hopes the federal government will change the rule by focusing recovery region by region, instead of publishing a national wolf plan. One such region she hopes will be created is the Northern Forest, an area which encompasses over 26 million acres, stretching from New York’s Adirondack Mountains to the northern forests of Maine. Over 70 million people live within day’s drive of the area. The Northern Forest Alliance, a non-profit organization that strives to protect the region from development as well as foster economic growth for local communities, has been on board to help in the recovery of the gray wolf. Both Struhsacker and the NFA hope the government will consider their region and once again give the wolf “endangered” status.

“They got in trouble because they encompassed the wolves’ ranges into a too large an area. They won’t do that again,” Struhsacker says. “The courts have blasted them because of it.”

Recovery vs. Reintroduction

But while the court ruling has been a victory for the NWF and other wildlife groups, Struhsacker has been mostly busy on what she calls “damage control.” When the Associated Press got a hold of the NWF press release regarding the court ruling, it changed the wording from “wolf recovery” to “wolf reintroduction,” a statement that has two very different meaning and very different repercussions. This was mostly reported in Vermont, but residents of northern New Hampshire and Maine also got wind of it.

Recovery, Struhsacker points out, means that the wolf would return to the region on its own, without any outside help. Reintroduction means that the government would physically move wolves from another location and drop them off in the North Country to start again.

In early September, Struhsacker was busy doing damage control at the Northern Forest Alliance’s headquarters in Stowe, Vt. Stuhsacker talked to the crowd of local residents and college students about what the return of the wolf might mean. Sitting in the middle of the crowd, Struhsacker informed the crowd of what a wolf looks and sounds like with a power point presentation. She even had brought along a wolf skull and fur sample for those interested in a very “hands on” presentation. Eventually, the presentation turned its attention to what was meant by “reintroduction.”

“It’s not like these black helicopters will start flying around the area dropping off wolves at random,” Struhsacker told the crowd. “But that’s what some people think.”

Harrigan understands completely where the trouble lies with the choice of words. Traveling north from Colebrook along the rolling two-lane blacktop of N.H. Route 145 towards the hamlet of Pittsburg, Harrigan points out that the word “reintroduction” is a word that everyone is trying to avoid.

“But can you come up with a better [word]…restoration?” Harrigan questions. “Recovery is OK, because you can say ‘well, were just setting the stage and making sure that everything is there in place’ so if the Wolf wants to come back, it’s gonna happen. But the general public sees these as complete buzz words.”

Harrigan enters Pittsburg and heads up a local hill to a 58-acre piece of property he owns in town. The property is mostly a forest consisting of hardwoods and evergreens. A nearly impassable dirt path winds its way into the land. From a clearing in his land, one can get an expansive view looking south into the Upper Connecticut River Valley. As Harrigan takes in the views, he considers what it means to live in the region where an old neighbor may once again be returning.

“What a time to live here and be a sideline observer,” Harrigan says proudly. “I get to watch it all, and be part of it all. I’m a hunter and a sheep farmer. I’m the guy who is supposed to hate wolves. Here I am, cheering them from the sideline.”

Harrigan’s pro-wolf stance seems to go against the grain of what a sheep farmer and hunter might think of the animal. But to be honest, Harrigan, who was born and bred in northern New Hampshire, is not your typical sheep farmer. He has also been a long time columnist for the New Hampshire Sunday News. His weekly column, “Woods, Water and Wildlife,” has been appearing in the paper since 1972. He has been mostly a newspaper man all his life, getting started with the Nashua Telegraph in 1968 with “no prior reporting, or even typing skills.”

“I just went in there and convinced the editor that I could do the job, even without any experience, and so he took a chance on me.”

After living “down below” (Harrigan describes this as the region of New Hampshire south of the White Mountains), he returned to Colebrook to take over the Colebrook News and Sentinel from his parents in 1991. For a time, he also owned two weekly papers just south in Lancaster. In 2003, Harrigan sold the News and Sentinel to his oldest daughter, Karen and focused more of his attention on “working the land.” His column still appears in the N.H. Sunday News as does his other column, “North Country Notebook,” which appears weekly in several Salmon Press Newspapers. For many, he is considered the definitive voice of New Hampshire’s North County.

“I have two loves, writing and working the land,” Harrigan says. “This is a great place for it.”

Pittsburg, New Hampshire’s northernmost town, is surrounded by Quebec to its west and north and Maine to its east. Containing the headwaters of the Connecticut River, Pittsburg is mostly made up of lakes and forests, with most land owned by timber companies. Much of the headwaters region is recognized as conservation leaving the woods relatively untouched. If and when wolves return to New Hampshire, it will most likely happen first in Pittsburg.

Harrigan and other residents of northern Coos County know this, and have been paying attention to the wolf issues. Some residents are cautious about the possible return.

“Yes, a lot of people here have misgivings about the wolf coming back,” Harrigan says. “I would submit that if you get a lot of those people in a room and quiet them down and start having a dialogue with them, a lot of those people will walk out of that room not feeling the way they did when they walked in. But that’s a very idealistic scenario. I’ve gotta live with reality. The reality is that most people are apprehensive about the wolf coming back.”

Reintroduction for New England

One issue that tends to “ruffle feathers” with some North Country residents is how the wolves will return. No one seems to mind if the wolf comes walking in on its own two feet, but if the government intervenes with reintroduction, then watch out.

“There are a lot of people running around like me who truly understand the history of the wolf and love the fact that it could come back and occupy its rightful, ancestral place,” Harrigan says. “Rightful, ancestral place… those are powerful words. History with the people is important around here They are very proud of their history. They may not love the wolf, but they respect its place. It’s a very vociferous, well-versed segment of people out there that know the history and would jealously protect the wolves’ right and ability to come back. They are just as militantly going to fight against some kind of artificial solution.”

This fight against reintroduction in New Hampshire proved to be successful, but for many wrong reasons. In 1999 the state legislature passed a law prohibiting the reintroduction of wolves. The law came about in response to the U.S. Fish and Game Department’s intentions on developing a wolf recovery plan for the Northern Forest region. Harrigan found the law ridiculous upon first learning about it, feeling that the bill was formed out of fear that the wolves would halt logging operations and decimate the deer and moose population, not out of respect that the wolf should make recovery on its own.

“It was an ignorant ruling from Concord,” Harrigan says. However, he grudgingly admits that “on the other hand, it did guarantee that the wolf will come back on its own.”

The law also insures that New Hampshire will be spared the reintroduction problems that has plagued the western United States in recent years. 1995 saw the first reintroduction of the gray wolf in United States’ history. Twenty-nine wolves were relocated into Yellowstone National Park in northwest Wyoming, as well as some being relocated to the forested regions of central Idaho. Another 37 were relocated to the same regions the following year.

Both sets of populations have done surprisingly well in recent years. The wolves bred quickly in Yellowstone and Idaho and survived well, preying on the large populations of elk and deer. It was a success story in Yellowstone as several packs formed and the population leveled off at just under 200 wolves. Idaho, which has a larger wilderness habitat than Yellowstone, now has over 700 wolves. But ranchers living on the outskirts of the wilderness are waging war against the predator for attacking their livestock, having killed hundreds of wolves in the past year alone.

Struhsacker points out that the Idaho problems would not be an issue in the East. First off, the East does not have vast amounts of livestock like the West does. Secondly, in order to reintroduce a species, it must be done on public land, something the Northeast has very little of.

“You might be able to get one landowner to cooperate with the government and allow a reintroduction,” Struhsacker says, adding “but for a successful reintroduction, you would need two or three more landowners to sign on. That just wouldn’t happen.”

And those states that do not have anti-reintroduction legislation, such as Vermont and Maine, want to make sure that reintroduction does not happen. George Smith, executive director for the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine (SAM), has made it quite clear what position his club has on reintroduction. SAM is Maine’s largest hunting organization, with over 13,000 members. In 1998, when there was talk of reintroduction in Maine, SAM released a statement highlighting its opposition. The statement suggested that wolves would (a) deplete the Whitetail Deer population in northern Maine, (b) would burden Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Department by having to implement a wolf recovery plan, and (c) would impact hunting, trapping and snowmobiling, taking a toll on Maine’s outdoor economy.

According to Smith, the statement was written to combat the threat that organizations, such as the NWF, wanted to reintroduce the predator into Maine. By using his organization’s political muscle, Smith has “scared” away attempts at reintroduction. Seven years after the statement was released, Smith no longer believes that reintroduction will occur in Maine, crediting himself and his organization for “waging the battle against the environmentalists,” and winning. Instead, Smith would rather discuss what should be done about the wolf when and if it returns to Maine. His views on what to do with wolves have put him at odds with environmentalists and wolf biologists throughout New England.

Problems with Recovery

Smith, who has been a hunter all of his life, resides just outside Maine’s capital city of Augusta, SAM’s headquarters. He is friendly and outgoing, eager to help out his fellow sportsman. In his late 40s, Smith is high-profile conservative and a well-known outdoor columnist for the Kennebec Journal. For Smith, hunting and fishing has always been the backbone of New England and its how the region’s first settlers were able to tame the wilderness, by controlling the wild game that lived in the woods. Hunting provides a huge economic boost to the state, bringing in over $454 dollars a year. For Smith, the wolf could be a huge problem if Maine’s big game became constant prey to the wolves. And since the government does not recognize the wolf as an “endangered” species, then Maine hunters should be able to protect their game to the fullest extent of the law.

“They should be treated as any other game animal because they aren’t endangered and they should be hunted and trapped if they ever manage to get here,” Smith says. Wolves cannot be shot and killed in the Northeast because they are considered “threatened.” A Maine hunter found that out in 1993 after he shot and killed a wolf. He was subsequently fined a large sum of money.

“We don’t think they belong on the endangered species list because they’re not endangered,” Smith adds. “One of the problems we have with the endangered species list is that it fails to recognize that some of these animals have a greater range than just the United States.”

A wolf’s range has been studied at being between 30 and 100 miles. In other words, a wolf pack could be living within the Canadian wilderness and still roam into U.S. territory without setting up shop. For Smith, an animal that just wanders between international boundaries should not be considered endangered in the northeast. It would be a waste of time for the government to classify the wolf as endangered.

“The feds wouldn’t look at the populations in Quebec,” Smith argues. “They would spend incredible amounts of money on an animal that will probably never return in big numbers in the state of Maine. It would be a waste of our resources.”

New Hampshire hunting groups also share the same concerns that SAM does, although on a lesser scale. Kenneth Kreis, president of the New Hampshire Wildlife Federation (NHWF), is very concerned about what the wolf might do the livestock and big game in the north. NHWF represents over 80 hunting groups in the state, covering over 10,000 members.

“We don’t really have a predator up there that would do damage like the wolf might,” Kreis says. “If three wolves try to start a pack in the North, it wouldn’t be a huge impact. But once you get a pack of five or more individuals, they can start taking down deer or small moose.”

Kreis sees this as a potentially hazardous event for New Hampshire’s northern regions. If deer populations decrease because of wolves, Kreis says, then hunters won’t travel the long distance to Coos County.

“The North Country relies on moose and dear for income, so there would be a definite impact,” Kreis says.

As for the impact on livestock, Harrigan thinks it would hardly be a problem. Sitting down for lunch at a local diner in Canaan, Vt., Pittsburg’s neighbor to the west, Harrrigan shrugs his shoulders at the thought.

“There’s hardly any farming left around here,” he says.

Much of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, as well as northern New Hampshire and Maine is largely forested and owned by timber companies. Harrigan’s farm is one of the largest in the Upper Connecticut River Valley for both New Hampshire and Vermont. As long as farmers keep a tight lid on their livestock, then there shouldn’t be a problem. However, if a wolf does kill a sheep or other livestock, the government will pay the farmer an amount of money the animal would fetch at the market. This practice occurs in the upper Midwest where wolves roam in Minnesota, Wisconsin and northern Michigan. The wolves that live in the Great Lakes region have all made a natural recovery, and residents have coped with their return remarkably well. There’s even a large wolf center located in Ely, Minn. to help drive tourism to the area.

Harrigan also sees a problem with the way hunters have been considering the wolf, especially George Smith and the members of SAM. Even casual hunters in New Hampshire have the same fears as members of SAM.

“They may not be a real active hunter, but they believe that, because no one has ever told them that no predator ever out eats its food supply,” Harrigan explains. “Wolves are responsible breeders. If they’re prey falls in numbers, then they have fewer young. If they get threatened, they’ll have more litters with more pups.”

Harrigan points out that most people have never heard of the Isle Royale National Park story, which is good example of wolves controlling their own numbers. In 1949, when wolves crossed the frozen Lake Superior to a small island off of the upper peninsula of Michigan, they found a growing moose herd with no natural predators. By 1980, 50 wolves in four packs roamed the island, but there were few moose to be had because the wolf packs began to stretch thin their resources. The wolf population dropped by half and the moose population doubled over a 20 year period. Today, there are 30 wolves on the island and the moose herd has grown to manageable level. Biologists believe that now the wolves have controlled their own population and food source and the numbers will stay steady from now on for both the wolves and the moose.

Harrigan believes that Isle Royale is a perfect example of how the wolves may return to the area, by fluctuating their numbers until they reach equilibrium with their prey. But a bigger question with Harrigan is not how the hunters and farmers will be affected, but how another predator of the woods will be affected by the return of the wolf.

Wolves vs. Coyotes

Another sensitive issue concerning the wolf is how residents will now regard the coyote. Due to their huge numbers, there is a constant hunting season open on them, meaning that it’s legal to shoot a coyote 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This non-native canid has is an incredibly adaptive animal, especially with the hunting and trapping that goes on. Coyotes came into New England from the West in the 1900s. They cross-bred with wolves and grew larger than their coyote cousins in the West upon their arrival. These animals have been known to kill a small deer occasionally in the north woods, which is a rarity for other coyotes in the rest of the country.

In Maine, coyotes have become a particular threat to the fragile deer herds of northern part of the state. George Smith and SAM have been actively trying to get rid of the coyote through hunting and trapping.

“We’ve had real controversy over the coyote population and our aggressive measures,” Smith says. “Now we’re can’t trap coyotes anymore. It was suspended two years ago in response to a threatened law suit over snaring.”

Snaring is a popular way of trapping and it ensures certain death of the animal trapped. It is the principal way of trapping coyotes and wolves in Canada. Snaring is a particularly brutal method of catching an animal. A coyote, for instance, would get it’s head trapped through a barbed-wire lasso, which tightens around the animal’s neck as it struggles to get free. The coyote will either strangle itself or bleed to death in its attempt to escape.

Struhsacker pointed out in her talk in Stowe that the more people kill the coyote, the more their numbers will grow. There is simply no way to eradicate them. But when the wolf returns, will the year-round hunting season on coyotes end and how will public opinion change towards these unpopular animals? It’s an inconsistency is some people’s thinking that Harrigan, who believes coyotes have a rightful place in the wilds, loves to expose.

“People don’t like it when you point out the inconsistency in their thought process,” he says. “And they absolutely don’t like it when you point out a bias. They especially don’t like it when it’s a species bias between two close cousins who look very much alike. You’re supposed to loathe, revile and persecute one, and we’re supposed to adore, protect and emote with the other.”

Harrigan shakes his head in disgust.

“Ahh, it’s just disgusting,” he adds “Makes me want to throw up!”

Struhsacker believes that when the wolf returns, coyote numbers will dwindle by 50 percent, much like they did in Yellowstone National Park. In the park, the wolves quickly showed the coyotes who was boss by killing many and sending the coyotes scrambling for a safer habitat. Coyotes in Yellowstone ended up moving closer to human developments, such as roads, campgrounds and visitor centers. Struhsacker believes that the same would happen in the Northeast, with coyotes moving closer to human habitation. This could have a negative effect on the human population, as coyotes might be more driven to attack livestock. Seeing that coyotes carry such a negative image, it would be likely that the effort to eradicate them would increase. This could cause more of a chance for wolves to be killed by those farmers and hunters who would have a hard time distinguishing between a coyote and wolf. It’s an issue that leaves many questions unanswered and, as Harrigan points out, “we’ll all just have to wait and see the outcome.”

An Imminent Return

No matter who you talk with – farmer, hunter, or biologist, you still get the same response. The wolf will inevitably be making a comeback to northern New England and much sooner than later. With a small wolf pack living within 10 miles of Vermont on the Quebec shores of Lake Memphramagog, a lake that shares it waters with Canada and the United States, it seems ignorant to assume that wolves have not already explored into northern New England. A pack is also confirmed 30 miles north of the New Hampshire border in southern Quebec. Wolf scouts have been most likely roaming the woods, crossing back and forth between the international border. They would account for the large tracks that snowmobilers have seen and the loud howl that Harrigan heard that warm, August night. Even biologists who have not seen any evidence of wolves in northern New England concede that they probably have visited.

Will Staats, a biologist with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, has not seen evidence, but believes what he hears from local residents.

“I’ve always maintained that the stage is set for wolves,” Staats says. “There’s a good deer population, a good moose population and a good beaver population. If there is a pack 30 miles north of Pittsburg, would I be surprised to see wolves coming into that area? Absolutely not.”

Struhsacker agrees with Staats, but maintains that it will take a lot of time before there is a sizeable wolf population in the North. Packs in southern Quebec are quite small and always in danger of being killed off. In Canada, there are no laws against killing or trapping wolves. With over 60,000 wolves in Canada, most living in the far northern regions of the country, the Canadian government sees no need to impose restrictions. Quebec trappers, who trap coyotes and wolves for their fur, set up snares near deer feeding grounds in hopes that the allure of prey will be their undoing. The snares are a huge limiting factor for wolves, even if they set up a home in the United States. It would take external pressure from the United States for the Canadian government to stop the hunting and trapping of wolves, but Struhsacker believes this will not happen.

Wolves also need large areas relatively free from humans. While northern New England is sparsely populated now, properties are being bought up in these rural locations, as more and more people look for second homes. The appeal of the wilderness has stretched beyond the popular Green Mountains of Vermont and White Mountains of New Hampshire and Maine.

But once they are here, both Struhsacker and Staats believe that northern New England has enough wildlife to sustain sizeable wolf packs. Some north woods residents, like Harrigan, believe that wolves are already here. He notes that locals in the Rangeley Lakes region of Maine, just east of the northern New Hampshire border, have been saying wolves live in the area for over five years. With tens of thousands of acres of forested hills and mountains in that region, it’s easy to believe they are right. Driving along the Vermont side of the Connecticut River, looking back into Colebrook, N.H. and the mountains in the distance, Harrigan admits that he’s for the wolf to make a successful return. He also believes that once residents in northern New England are educated about the wolf, they may embrace what the wolf means to the wilderness.

“Once myths are dispelled, people around here may hope to see a wolf,” he says with a smile.

As the sun breaks through the clouds, Harrigan crosses over the Connecticut River into New Hampshire. He slows his truck over the bridge, looking north up the river along the Vermont – New Hampshire border, towards Quebec. When the wolf returns, he says, it will be “a tremendous victory for Mother Nature.” He hopes people will appreciate that New England is once again returning to its wild roots and that the homecoming of an animal once lost brings hope for the future.

The landing was anything but smooth. I landed, surprisingly, on my two feet by my momentum continued to carry me forward towards another set of jumbled, slippery boulders. I reached out to grab hold of something, anything. I found some stray tree branches that slowed me down for only a second. The tree branches in my hands snapped free. I careened head-first down the slippery rock with no way to stop. In front of me was another icy cave. I reached out to another boulder in front of me and stopped myself. My sunglasses didn’t fair so well and they flew off my face and into the icy darkness, never to be seen again.

Regaining a sitting position, I looked into the black hole for any sign of the five-dollar sunglasses, but there was nothing. Not wanting to waste anymore time, I continued my boulder journey and almost immediately slipped and fell head-first again. This time my leg was caught between two rocks and began to twist in an unnatural way. The weight of my body pushed me downwards. I could feel a striking pain run through my leg as if it could snap any moment. I quickly reached up and untied my hiking boot. My foot popped out and I flew down the slippery boulder, landing on my backpack.

I brushed myself off, grabbed my boot, put it back on and continued on my way. I was dirty, sweaty, tired and I had lost my sense of humor, probably back where my sunglasses had flown off my face. I was annoyed at what seemed to be complete ineptitude. I had taken on boulder hikes like this before, especially up on the Presidential Range. I could remember several instances of slipping and sliding in precarious situations. In those adventures, I had been with several other people. This time I was alone.

I finally came to a clearing which gave me my first 360-view of the Ice Gulch. It was both beautiful and disheartening. Surrounding me on both sides were sharp cliffs that gave way to giant boulders that tumbled into the ravine where I was standing. It looked like a massive bomb had exploded on the landscape and all the remained was a scar on the Earth and thousands of boulders strewn everywhere.

The view spot seemed like a decent place to stop and take a break. I thought about the progress I had been making and it was slow. Just out of dumb curiosity, I pulled out my guide book and read the trail description once again. Stupid me should have read closer. The book specifically stated that the “trip through the gulch itself is one of the most difficult and strenuous trail segments in the White Mountains, involving nearly constant scrambling over wet, slippery rocks…” blah, blah, blah. Looking at the map, I noticed that it took me over 45 minutes to go about two-tenths of a mile. Strangely enough, it had taken me the same amount of time to cover the 2.8-mile distance on the Cook Path to the head of the gulch. I was moving at a snails’ pace. I was thrilled.

Continuing at my slow pace, I began thinking doomsday thoughts. What if I got seriously injured, how long would take for rescue to arrive? Would the rescue team be able to get me out of this mess? Would it take a week? Am I an idiot?

I had just finished reading “Between a Rock and Hard Place” by Aron Ralston, the hiker who was trapped in a Utah slot canyon for over six days with a crushed arm. He had been hiking alone and hadn’t told anyone where he was going. It was supposed to be a routine hike, but a freak accident caused a boulder to smash his arm against a canyon wall, trapping him. On the last day, exhausted from no sleep and extreme dehydration, Ralston made a do or die decision. He decided to amputate his arm by snapping his radius and ulna bones and then cutting off the rest. I was putting myself in a very similar situation. I had my own visions of what could happen to me. In my head, I began to write the sequel.

I was alone and had told no one where I was. My girlfriend knew I went for hike, but I was not specific. I had thought about leaving a note on the dashboard of my car detailing my plans, but I never did. If I did get seriously hurt and couldn’t get myself out, no one would probably know I was missing until that night when my girlfriend would be trying to call me from her home in Vermont.

The state police would probably be searching all over the White Mountains for my black Honda Accord, but it would probably be another day until they found it at the trailhead. Then they would dispatch a rescue team to pull me out and, considering the difficulty of the terrain, it would probably take another day and a half. That would be nearly four days trapped in the gulch. I was trained in wilderness medicine. I had even gone on some rescues in the Green Mountains. An injured person can be a heavy load on a hike out. I’m told that a dead body is even heavier.

I stopped and surveyed what gear I had in my backpack. It was a pretty light load since it was only a day hike. I had a fleece pullover, a first-aid kit, some extra water and some Chex mix. I would be OK if the worst did occur. I was happy to see my knife in their as well. At least I would have the option of chopping limbs off if push came to shove.

I quickly pushed those thoughts aside. I was determined not to become another Aron Ralston. Plus, he had just written a book and was getting national acclaim. If I hurt myself in a similar episode, I would be branded by the media of jumping on the Ralston bandwagon. I probably wouldn’t even get a book deal or an inspirational speaking tour. I didn’t that.

And so I pushed on, focusing on each climb and descent over the huge boulders, eventually working into a rhythm. I slipped a couple times and had a few close calls, but eventually I freed myself from the gulch. I sat for awhile and took a break, looking back up towards the boulder maze I had just crawled through. There were more boulders to count and I knew that the gulch stretched much farther up the tree-covered slope than I could see. I was glad to be rid of it. It was a wild adventure, however, and I began to see the positives of the ordeal. I even thought of one day returning, except the next time I would make sure I was not alone.

On the easy two-mile hike out to the road, I passed a hiker with a Labrador retrievers. I told him that the gulch was very difficult and that the dogs might not be able to make it through. I remembered that there was a dire warning carved into a trail sign at the head of the gulch. It read “Do Not Take Dogs.” I told him of the sign but the man brushed me off, telling me that his dog could get through any challenge. After all, the hiker informed me, his dog had climbed Mount Washington. So had I, I thought to myself. I wished him luck and he headed towards the gulch. The hiker didn’t get two steps in when he suddenly slipped on the trail and careened into the woods, bumping his head on a tree. He got up, brushed himself off, and continued on with his hiking partner. I guess my warning hadn’t been enough. Nature stepped in. For me, it was the bird. For him, a giant birch tree. Nature will always find a way to smack you upside the head.

***So that's it. The first essay I wrote for a graduate class I am taking. It's still a work in progress and, hopefully, my work will steadily improve over the next few years I'm in school. Any thoughts, questions or comments any readers have is greatly appreciated. I appreciate being given the "shit sandwich." You know, positive critisizm followed by negative critisizm, ending with a little more positive critisizm. As always, there will be more to come.***

***This is a draft of a piece I'm working on for a class. It's almost finished, except for a few things I'll want to change around. But whatever, you'll get the picture. Much more to come...***

At this one moment, I knew I was in over my head. I was deep in the Ice Gulch and there was no easy way out. I was sitting on a slippery, moss-covered boulder that hung over a 10-foot drop below me that disappeared into darkness. The cold air that flowed from chasm made me question if there was a cold pool of water hidden in the darkness below. In front of me was the rest of the “trail;” a large rock that looked too far to successfully jump towards. I couldn’t climb up or down the right or the left side since the brush was too thick and there would be even bigger boulders to deal with. I sat for a few minutes going over my options. I could turn back, but I that would mean climbing back up the steep boulders I had just climbed down.

I decided to continue. I had a plan to get out of my problem, crazy as it was. In a leap of faith, I jumped…



It was going to be a pleasant afternoon stroll on a warm summer day. Instead, it turned into a difficult scramble over glacial erratic boulders that tended to be much larger than me. The ancient boulders had lived in this remote ravine for thousands of years. I had been in there only 30 minutes. I was hoping to avoid becoming a permanent resident.

My destination for that day was a geologic feature in northern New Hampshire known as the Ice Gulch. The hike would be a nearly seven-mile loop and it seemed like a pleasant hike for a warm summer afternoon. I was interested by the Appalachian Mountain Club’s “White Mountain Guide” description of the trail. It promised extensive views, mountain springs and caves that kept ice hidden deep throughout the year. I parked my car at the Cook Path trailhead off of Randolph Hill Road in Randolph. The Cook Path headed due north over two miles to the head of the gulch.

I had looked at other hikes to do that day, especially in and around the Pinkham Notch region. Most of the shorter ones I had already done in the past and I didn’t have time to tackle one of the high Presidentials. That was a problem I had noticed as of late. I was running out of trails to hike that I had not done before.

I had been a hiker as long as I could remember. My first hiking memories consist of many hours of getting bounced around in a backpack being carried by my father. The hikes were generally family affairs, with my two older brothers always running on ahead and my Mother and Father taking their time on the trail. When I outgrew the backpack, I was always helped up the trail by my parents, making sure I could tackle the rocks and roots. I don’t specifically remember what hikes they were, but I can always remember the view and the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that rewarded my hard work.

As my growing years progressed, I began to take on the bigger summits of the White Mountains. First it was the big one, Mt. Washington. After that, it was the rest of the Presidential Range and then on into the wilderness for the more remote mountain peaks. By the time I graduated high school, I had covered most of the highest White Mountain summits.

In college in Vermont, I became a wilderness leader, guiding students and staff on long backpacking trips all over New England and parts of the western United States. In fact, I had just returned from the week before from a long backpacking trip in Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks. I was used to long, arduous trips over high mountain passes and rough terrain. I considered myself experienced. I knew when a hike could pose a danger to myself and my clients just by looking at the weather or trail conditions. However, the warning sign at the beginning of the Cook Path was new to me.

I was less than 10 minutes into my hike when the little bird flew in front of me, rounded a birch tree and collided with the right side of my skull. His wide turn and my quick hiking speed must have totally thrown off his trajectory. The bird fell to the earth and, after shaking off the experience, flew back off into the woods. I rubbed my head, laughing about the odd moment the bird and I just shared. It was a strange warning to be sure. Looking back, I guess it was nature’s way of smacking me upside the head and telling me to turn around. I thought about that as I flew through the air, preparing for a crash landing.

End of Part 1. Stay tuned you might miss something!

Wow, I'm real bad at updating this thing. But I have an excuse, I'm in graduate school and it's for...you guessed it... writing. As you can see, my blog is at the ass end of my things to do for the day. I figure that if I keep this thing going at least once a week I'm doing alright.

I just want to say that I really do enjoy the area I'm living in right now. It may not last a long time (I'm thinking 6 months at this point, tops), but it has its advantages. Granted, I have to commute 90 minutes one way to school twice a week and that has been wearing on my bank account no thanks to gasoline price gouging, but yesterday made it worthwhile.

All day long yesterday, I had been on the phone interviewing various subjects about a topic I'm working on. At 1:30 I was finished the interviews, but I still has an amazing amount of stuff to read for another class. On a lark, I packed the readings into my backpack and did a quick 2.6 mile hike up to Tuckerman Ravine, a large glacial cirq that is carved into the side of Mount Washington, the northeast's highest peak. I sat for two hours amongst the towering cliffs in the warm sun, just finishing up the 100 pages or so of required reading that was so cruely assigned to me. When the sun fell behind the headwall and the temperature dropped (it drops very quickly up at 4,000 feet), I hustled my way down the mountain and back to my car. It was my favorite experience I've had doing "homework."

And in a totally unrelated subject, last night was the final night of Martin Scorcese's Bob Dylan documentary "No Direction Home." It is one of the finer "rockumentaries" out there and provides unique insight into Dylan's psyche through recent interviews and footage of the era. The documentary ends right before Dylan's motorcycle accident in 1966 and does a great job covering the period up until that point. I'm hoping that they do a "sequel" and cover some of his late 60s and 70s period. I'd like to see his thoughts on such classics as "New Morning," "Planet Waves," and "Blood on the Tracks." Film wise, Scorcese shows he can get deep into the heart of rock music. Just have a look at The Band's "Last Waltz." Although the film did put too much emphasis on Robbie Robertson, it did have some incredible concert footage.

And the Red Sox keep trudging along. My prediction is that the deciding factor of who makes the playoff will happen on this Sunday, when the Sox play the Yanks at Fenway. I am holding out hope that the Sox will remain victorius, but in the immortal words of every Star Wars character ever, "I've gotta baaaaaaaaaaaad feeling about this..."

So I've jumped on the bandwagon. I've created a blog. I wanted to respond to one of my friend's posts and I inadvertantly started my own blogspot (which has a disgusting sound to it, doesn't it. Blogspot sounds like it's a rash you develop after having sex with a moose, but I digress...). I am currently a graduate student at the University of New Hampshire, studying non-fiction writing. So I write a lot. Hopefully I'll keep up with this thing. I've got some interesting and funny stories to pass on. Feel free to make comments and suggestions. I'm hoping that this will help be a source of an essay writing class I have. I'll probably fill this with random thoughts, music and movie reviews, and "thought provoking, intellectual stimuli." I'll try not to blow anyone's mind.