Electronic Green Journal

The mythology of the wolf vastly outstrips scientific knowledge of the species in the mind of the average citizen. The present article, based on research in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem, redresses this imbalance by showing an “up close and personal” view of a classical den site. It shows first how to respect the security and privacy of the animals, and then how to recognize and interpret the basic elements of a site such as pathways, den openings, and tracks. This kind of look at the “material culture” of a typical pack can replace ideology and fantasy about the species with respect, awe, and intimacy, and so help to form a corresponding “pack” of knowledgeable stakeholders committed to its preservation.

This article explores land exchanges as an integral part of federal natural resources policy. The purpose of this essay is to present a broad historical and political overview of the policies regarding federal land exchanges. A second important purpose of this essay is to review the acts of official malfeasance that have surrounded federal land exchanges since the beginning. We argue that land exchanges must be understood in the broader context of the expansionist character of the U.S. as a developing nation and the later attempts to conserve natural resources; and, the policies supporting that expansion must be seen through the catalyst of constitutional and statutory law. Land exchanges policy is the product of history and its economic dynamics.