Whitebark pine blister rust, introduced to North America, is changing the face of the continent's high country. Not alone, of course--couple this with native pine beetle mortality, increased by a changing climate, accelerated by human dependency on fossil fuel burning, complicated by panicked political rivalries. Feedback loops aren't always predictable, and scientists (and political leaders) sure prefer being able to figure things out.

Conjecture about the potential source and meanings of rock art has never landed on any provable answer. The Wind River mountains above Wyoming's dry basins offer stories to water our necessary curiosity, to foster unimagined connections, to inspire exploration. Grateful, again, to Joe Ponepinto and his team at Orca literary journal for giving one of those stories a home. Check out the solar eclipse of Two and a Half, just out in the April issue.

https://orcalit.com/