Them On Us: Bugs, bears and snooty golfers

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

By Jake Nichols

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-‘Zombie’ trees. That’s what we’re dealing with in our forests, thanks to global warming. Penny Preston delivered an eye-opening story for KURL-8 Television out of Billings, Mont., on just how and why overall warmer average temperatures are allowing the pine beetle to flourish and decimate forests surrounding Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.

Millions of trees are dying, according to scientists studying forests in the Union Pass and Wind River area near Dubois. ‘Zombie’ trees are pine, spruce, or Douglas Firs that continue to show green needles but are really dead, they just don’t know it yet.

An entomologist from the University of Montana, Dr. Diana Six said, “We’re seeing effects all over the world.” Six explained the beetle populations are exploding because the winters are warmer, and summers are longer and warmer.

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Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Joel Connelly raked Idaho legislators, past and present, who have ever been mean to bears or wolves. Connelly filed his story on endangered grizzly bears from Jackson Hole while he was in town for the afore-mentioned big beetle bash. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California is set to settle the debate over whether to remove the grizzly bear’s Endangered Species Act protection.

“I oppose bringing these massive, flesh-eating carnivores into Idaho,” U.S. secretary of the interior Dirk Kempthorne declared when he was governor of Idaho. Connelly called it a “stupid statement” before sharpening his claws on another ex-Idaho politician, former-Senator Steve Symms, who, Connelly stated, “once said lower 48 grizzlies ‘make excellent rugs.’”

Connelly didn’t think much of the recently-minted GOP VP candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, either, reminding readers she had “enthusiastically supported shooting wolves out of airplanes.”

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Bismarck, North Dakota’s KX TV news team says Wyoming is stealing all of Montana’s teachers. Better pay south of the border has lured at least 400 teachers already. Montana spends about $5,000 per student, while Wyoming forks out more than $14,000 per student, according to the news piece.

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The 10-speeders cranking into Jackson last Saturday were competing in the LOTOJA (LOgan TO JAckson) race. More than 1,000 cyclists made the 206-mile trek from Logan to Teton Village – the lead pack clocking in at an astounding 9 hours and 14 minutes, so said Deseret News reporter Jared Eborn, who peddled in the 26th annual event with his two kids.


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“There’s an expression that’s become common in Jackson over the last couple of decades: The billionaires are pushing the millionaires out of town.”

So begins Joel Zuckerman’s story for CyberGolf. His essay on the luxurious courses JH has to offer will only further exacerbate his opening line axiom that is our everyday reality.

“The golf scene is also getting richer with each passing season, albeit slowly, though it’s only the most hopelessly addicted or sadly sedentary that travel to Jackson Hole simply to golf,” Zuckerman wrote.

Teton Pines: Warp-speed greens he called “linoleum.” And if the wind, water, and rough don’t get you, he added, “Most visitors will have a hard time keeping their heads down long enough to execute solid shots. The Grand is far too mesmerizing.”
Jackson Hole Golf and Tennis: “[A] course … frayed around the edges, with marginal conditions and tired bunkering.”

3 Creek Ranch: “.The three creeks on property not only provide truth in advertising but fabulous fly-fishing opportunities as well as a wonderful golf experience.”
Snake River Sporting Club: Plays firm and fast “with a totally secluded feel.” Zuckerman lamented, however, that “close-up views of the famed waterway are conspicuously lacking.” Most likely because the development was forced to work around nesting bald eagles.

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Them On Us: Bugs, bears and snooty golfers | Planet JH News Article: General News

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