Swans on Hokkaido in Japan

Merry Christmas!

Now make the world a better place

Another Christmas and another year coming to an end. As I do every holiday season, I reflect on the past year and count my blessings. Life has been good to me and 2005 was no exception. With time spent with friends and family hiking, kayaking, running and cycling-it was a fantastic year of adventure. The Delaware Water Gap, Ontario's Georgian Bay, Washington's Olympic Mountains, the Pyrenees, Bulgaria's Pirin Mountains, Nevada's Great Basin National Park, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and my beloved Kettle Mountains-WOW-what a year!

But life is more than what you take from it-it's what you give back too. I make it a habit to donate a good portion of my income to worthy causes and charities each year-and considering that I don't exactly rake it in-it makes the giving all the more rewarding. So, who do I give my money to? A handful of organizations dear to my heart for the work that they do trying to make planet earth a better place.

Some of my favorite groups that I contribute to are:

1. The Nature Conservancy- they are a saving grace in my home state
2. The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire's Forests-on my list for 22 years now
3. Oxfam America-very busy this year with so many tragedies-I upped the ante
4. Earthjustice- sometimes wild critters need a good lawyer too
5. Washington Trails association- a saving grace to the state I now call home
6. Cascade land Conservancy- Puget Sound isn't getting any less populated
7. Save the Redwoods- I have a soft spot for those big trees
8. Conservation Northwest- someone has to go to bat for eastern Washington
9. Western Canada Wilderness Committee-protecting some of the finest lands in the world
10. Washington National Park Fund-protecting my playgrounds

I hope that you too give a little bit back to the world that gives us so much pleasure. Merry Christmas-Peace on Earth-and Happy adventuring in 2006!

Barking in the Tri-Cities

I was recently interviewed by Anna King of the Tri-Cities Herald (WA) for a feature story on hiking with dogs. My book on the subject was released this spring and it is selling well. The interview will be running sometime around Christmas. Look for it. Other reviews of my book have been published by the Moscow-Pullman Daily News (Idaho-WA), the North Columbia Recreation (NE WA), Outdoors Northwest (Seattle-Portland), the Seattle Times and the Everett Herald (WA). If you're interested in getting a copy of this hiking guide for you and your poochie-visit: Best Hikes With Dogs . I'd lend you mine-but it is already pretty dog-eared!

Going to Jersey for a bear!

Westerners might be surprised to find out that today is opening day in New Jersey for bear hunting. Yes-bears-not beers-of course which never goes out of season in the Garden State. New Jersey-bears? Yes-the native bruin population has been growing in this state of 8,700,000 humans. This is only the second time in 35 years that New Jersey has had a bear hunt. So what's the hype? Despite the fact that Jersey remains the most densely populated state in America (1,135 people per square mile-compared with 5.1 per square mile in Wyoming), wild critters seem to be hanging on. How can this be? Well, despite the fact that most people think of Jersey as a never-ending land of suburbia and turnpikes-the state has over 1.2 million acres of open space, including such gems as the Worthington State Forest (pictured above) along the Delaware River. And its getting better! Since 1998, New Jersey has committed to the protection of an additional 1 million acres, approximately half of the state's remaining developable land. Through the Garden State Preservation Trust, the NJDEP Green Acres program, and the State Agricultural Development Committee, the Garden State has gotten serious about protecting its rapidly disappearing open spaces. Will other states follow? Or will they continue to let their burgeoning populations consume the land in other less-than-wildlife compatible ways?