I wonder if a hike report is boring to those who have not been on it.  Yeah, some pretty flowers, some spectacular snowscapes, some cute wildlife.  Maybe working your body hard to get to the sights makes them more special when you take them in?

For me, it’s not just the body that gets a needed work-out on a hike, it is also my mind. As you can possibly predict, my brain will react less to the tranquility of nature and focus more on the thoughts that are provoked by seeing the developments encroaching on these pristine spaces of our state, the ravages of the wildfires and, yes, the decline of the bird population.

This, in turn, had me read up on ecological issues, and what I learned is actually quite encouraging. The Nature Conservancy website alerts to a new project called SNAPP – Science for Nature and People Partnership. This enterprise is looking to promote “evidence-based, scalable solutions to global challenges at the intersection of nature conservation, sustainable development and the well-being of people.”

Their working groups are amazingly diverse and led by some remarkable people across fields.” Experts, scientists and practitioners convene from around the globe to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges, in ways that no single organization could accomplish alone. SNAPP builds a collaborative web — consisting of some of the foremost conservation and humanitarian organizations, academics, government agencies and multilateral institutions — to develop cutting-edge solutions. Solutions that can make a real difference for nature and the people who rely on it.”

Just look at the projects they tackle – including biodiversity issues in North America. http://snappartnership.net/?intc3=nature.science.lp.splash3 

(If you open this link and scroll down, it gets you to a table of content that can be read at a glance)

Fire Research Consensus, Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity, and Forest Sharing or Sparing are the three working groups that invite further scrutiny after coming home from Mt. Hood, hot, tired, achey and happy.  In the meantime, I’ll delight in the images of the critters I encountered.