John took some amazing photos and video of the wolves last week, and his client, Mary Lynch, asked me to create a presentation of them for the Foundation's donors.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
The Buffalo Wolves
Two years ago, John's fence company took on a fascinating fence job, and they were hired by the same customer this summer. I went with him last week to unload some materials at the site, and I had not had a really good look at the project for a long time so asked if I could look around while he continued to work. What I saw was so fun that I asked him if I could blog about it as long as I wasn't very specific about the customer or the project. Normally the work his company does isn't as "sensitive," but when you're building 10 foot fences around enclosures of thousands of square feet, you know you're keeping in or keeping out something pretty special, and there are few things in this area that are more controversial than wolves. Therefore, while the location of the job isn't necessarily a secret, we're pretty careful to be very discreet about it. That said, everything about the organization that is responsible for the wolves (the E.H. McCleery Buffalo Wolf Foundation) is above board. All of the pertinent entities are aware of the Foundation's work, and the wolves are in impressive enclosures.
The first time John's company built fence for the Foundation, they started from scratch because the wolves were to be moved from their previous home in the Gallatin Forest to their current home in Carbon County. The preservation of these particular wolves was begun by Dr. E.H. McCleery about 100 years ago. Originally an engineer, Dr. McCleery became a physician after traveling to the west and realizing that there was a need for medical doctors in this part of the country. However, a horrific experience he had watching a "wolf bait" changed his life. He returned to his native state of Pennsylvania and began paying trappers for live wolves they captured in the west so that he could save them. As Dr. McCleery's health began to decline, the work he had begun was taken over by a man named Jack Lynch. Jack moved the wolves to Washington where he continued to care for them, but he eventually left Washington (in part because the rainy weather was hard on the wolves) and moved them to Montana. While in Washington he met, and eventually married, a woman named Mary Webber. Once Jack died, Mary took over care of the wolves on her own, and Mary is the customer with whom John now works.
So, enough background. I'm going to include some photos John and I took last week, a video shot by Mary's grandson that he's posted on Youtube, and another link to a really informative article about the work of Dr. McCleery and Jack Lynch that appeared in a 1979 Sports Illustrated article, of all places.
Currently, the wolves live in 6 self-contained pens, and John's business partner Shane is building more this summer. And what made my time watching the wolves the most fun was that the pen I was closest to contains 5 pups born this spring. I believe these are the first to be born since the wolves were moved to their current location two years ago.
Here are photos John and I took:
This is the load of 10 foot wire John picked up in Billings and we delivered to the job site.
In addition to building the pens, Shane and his crew are also digging dens for the wolves. This is one of the dens before they have built the top of it to create a dark, cool place for the wolves to escape to.
One of the adults -- I'm not sure if it's a male or female.
3 of the pups!
Here is Mary's grandson's video, which he filmed about a year ago. The side of it gets cut off by the format of the blog, but you're still able to see everything.
Finally, here's a link to the Sports Illustrated article about the beginnings of the Foundation's work. It's a lengthy article but very informative.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1126278/5/index.htm
The first time John's company built fence for the Foundation, they started from scratch because the wolves were to be moved from their previous home in the Gallatin Forest to their current home in Carbon County. The preservation of these particular wolves was begun by Dr. E.H. McCleery about 100 years ago. Originally an engineer, Dr. McCleery became a physician after traveling to the west and realizing that there was a need for medical doctors in this part of the country. However, a horrific experience he had watching a "wolf bait" changed his life. He returned to his native state of Pennsylvania and began paying trappers for live wolves they captured in the west so that he could save them. As Dr. McCleery's health began to decline, the work he had begun was taken over by a man named Jack Lynch. Jack moved the wolves to Washington where he continued to care for them, but he eventually left Washington (in part because the rainy weather was hard on the wolves) and moved them to Montana. While in Washington he met, and eventually married, a woman named Mary Webber. Once Jack died, Mary took over care of the wolves on her own, and Mary is the customer with whom John now works.
So, enough background. I'm going to include some photos John and I took last week, a video shot by Mary's grandson that he's posted on Youtube, and another link to a really informative article about the work of Dr. McCleery and Jack Lynch that appeared in a 1979 Sports Illustrated article, of all places.
Currently, the wolves live in 6 self-contained pens, and John's business partner Shane is building more this summer. And what made my time watching the wolves the most fun was that the pen I was closest to contains 5 pups born this spring. I believe these are the first to be born since the wolves were moved to their current location two years ago.
Here are photos John and I took:
3 of the pups!
Here is Mary's grandson's video, which he filmed about a year ago. The side of it gets cut off by the format of the blog, but you're still able to see everything.
Finally, here's a link to the Sports Illustrated article about the beginnings of the Foundation's work. It's a lengthy article but very informative.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1126278/5/index.htm
Friday, July 16, 2010
Yikes!
I always make this crazy assumption that when school gets out for the summer I'll have more time and will get more things done. That's true to some extent, but then again I'm always trying to do more things -- so it's been awhile and now I have a lot to catch up on. I'll try my best to spread out the posts a little bit and to keep them relatively short.
So, where to start? Every summer for the last three years, I have helped butcher chickens at our friends, the Matheses. The first year I was somewhat volunteered by John because I'd told him I wanted to spend some time on their ranch helping out and learning. I was thinking "helping out with and learning about cattle," but it ended up chickens. Oh well. I figured I could be a good sport.
I know a number of you grew up around chickens and may even have had to help butcher them, and while there's only so much that can be done to make such a task less unpleasant, George and MaryAnn have a great operation. I must admit that I've never held the chicken or the knife at that most critical of moments, but I have carried chickens to the first staging area and then learned how to cut off their feet afterward. And I won't get any more graphic than that. Promise.
From what I hear, the thing that makes the job so much easier at the Mathes place is their magic finger chicken feather plucker (my name for it, not theirs). My primary job is scrubbing the birds with hot, soapy water and removing the pin feathers; however, there are not many feathers at all once they get to me because of the magic fingers. I wish I'd taken a picture of it, but I only have these:
I suppose it sounds odd, but there's something really satisfying about grabbing something small with a pair of tweezers and getting it out, whether it's a sliver, a feather, or a hair.
I won't go into lecture mode because we eat a wide variety of processed foods at our house, we eat fruits and veggies that have been shipped thousands of miles, and we buy a fair amount of chicken that I'm sure was once processed at a Tyson chicken plant, but I urge your to spend a little time thinking about where (and what) your food comes from. The movie Food Inc. is one of my favorite documentaries because it explains some of the challenges facing us if we want to be eco-conscious about our food choices without terrorizing its audience with gratuitous images from kill plants and chicken farms. (There are a few, but they're really not that bothersome.)
We do make a conscious effort to buy local products when possible: we eat a lot of pork, and John generously buys the pig we eat at the Carbon County Fair's 4-H and FFA sale; I buy tomatoes from the Special K Ranch, a local residency ranch for adults with developmental disabilities (http://www.specialkranch.org/); we drink milk and eat sour cream from a Montana dairy (http://www.countryclassic.com/); our flour comes from Wheat Montana (http://www.wheatmontana.com/). We also buy almost all of our food from the IGA in Laurel and the little grocery in Joliet in order to support and sustain small, local businesses. Sure, local products from local stores cost more, but every extra penny keeps such services available and supports our neighbors and friends. And if you'd like a humanely butchered free range chicken that lived a pretty perfect life, I have one to give you that I scrubbed and plucked myself.
So, where to start? Every summer for the last three years, I have helped butcher chickens at our friends, the Matheses. The first year I was somewhat volunteered by John because I'd told him I wanted to spend some time on their ranch helping out and learning. I was thinking "helping out with and learning about cattle," but it ended up chickens. Oh well. I figured I could be a good sport.
I know a number of you grew up around chickens and may even have had to help butcher them, and while there's only so much that can be done to make such a task less unpleasant, George and MaryAnn have a great operation. I must admit that I've never held the chicken or the knife at that most critical of moments, but I have carried chickens to the first staging area and then learned how to cut off their feet afterward. And I won't get any more graphic than that. Promise.
From what I hear, the thing that makes the job so much easier at the Mathes place is their magic finger chicken feather plucker (my name for it, not theirs). My primary job is scrubbing the birds with hot, soapy water and removing the pin feathers; however, there are not many feathers at all once they get to me because of the magic fingers. I wish I'd taken a picture of it, but I only have these:
I suppose it sounds odd, but there's something really satisfying about grabbing something small with a pair of tweezers and getting it out, whether it's a sliver, a feather, or a hair.
I won't go into lecture mode because we eat a wide variety of processed foods at our house, we eat fruits and veggies that have been shipped thousands of miles, and we buy a fair amount of chicken that I'm sure was once processed at a Tyson chicken plant, but I urge your to spend a little time thinking about where (and what) your food comes from. The movie Food Inc. is one of my favorite documentaries because it explains some of the challenges facing us if we want to be eco-conscious about our food choices without terrorizing its audience with gratuitous images from kill plants and chicken farms. (There are a few, but they're really not that bothersome.)
We do make a conscious effort to buy local products when possible: we eat a lot of pork, and John generously buys the pig we eat at the Carbon County Fair's 4-H and FFA sale; I buy tomatoes from the Special K Ranch, a local residency ranch for adults with developmental disabilities (http://www.specialkranch.org/); we drink milk and eat sour cream from a Montana dairy (http://www.countryclassic.com/); our flour comes from Wheat Montana (http://www.wheatmontana.com/). We also buy almost all of our food from the IGA in Laurel and the little grocery in Joliet in order to support and sustain small, local businesses. Sure, local products from local stores cost more, but every extra penny keeps such services available and supports our neighbors and friends. And if you'd like a humanely butchered free range chicken that lived a pretty perfect life, I have one to give you that I scrubbed and plucked myself.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)