Noxious weeds.

Did you know the invasive weed Canada thistle came to North America in the late 1400s?

No, I didn't, either. But the gal talking about a new cooperative weed control program around and in the Tetons did.

She wasn't quite in place with a wildlife crew. Probably more at ease talking with wealthy landowners and businessmen. When mentioning that you have to be careful when ripping up weeds by hand, she pointed out they often have poisons on the surface of the plant, which could be really bad if you "rub your eyes, or face, or something."

Now, she didn't put any innuendo on the word "something" at all, yet the entire room broke out with nervous twitters and guffaws. All of us apparently thinking the same thoughts about what that "something" was, and not any thing she had in mind.

"You guys are bad!" was her embarrassed response.

She had an impressive shot of a cowboy up spraying weeds by hand on the steep, steep slope above Jackson. (I got shots of that hillside here somewhere, but I'm too lazy to dig 'em out.) Impressive, because the cowboy had two horses up there packing around his chemicals for him. She reported each of the horses lost its footing and rolled down the hill, into town.

One of the more astute members of the audience pointed out the equines were actually mules, not horses. Another embarrassing moment for a range expert. 'Course, the fact that two mules lost their footing and came tumbling into town is even more impressive.

When discussing the impacts of noxious weeds on endangered species, she flashed up a picture of a pine marten.

"I know that's not an endangered species," she apologized, "but most folks on the weed side of things don't know that."

Ooookay.

Bison ranch.

The fellow from the bison ranch mentioned they had 60-some pastures, which is an awful lot of fence. Most of which, he reported, is two-wire electric.

"Two wire fence will hold bison?" someone asked incredulously.

"So long as they want to stay there," he answered.

Wolverines.

A fellow reported on their three years of trapping and marking wolverines. In those three years, and a whopping 5,000-some trapping nights, they managed to find all of 19 wolverines. Only two were marked with GPS collars (a wonderful, but expensive invention (thousands of dollars each) which takes satellite readings on animal locations at up to several hundred locations before the collar memory space is filled). The female's home range was roughly 600 square kilometers. The male's range was incredulously larger, spanning five different mountain ranges in three different states.

Whatever he was looking for, he apparently didn't find it.

The exciting thing is they seem to think there is suitable habitat for wolverines in the state to the south. May even be wolverines there, although they doubt it. But if a population exists, or comes to exist, the only logical connection between the two populations would be an existing narrow chain of small mountain ranges.

Right through my country.

Cool.