Welcome to IndefinitelyWild's weekly roundup of news from the outdoor world, as well as a behind-the-scenes peak into our upcoming stories.
No Ted Cruz, Texas Is Not a Model for Land Management
It鈥檚 hard to write about this issue without coming across as incredibly partisan, but that鈥檚 because it鈥檚 , and also flies in the face of American tradition, threatening to (quite literally) sell our national heritage off to the highest bidder. Last week, Presidential hopeful Ted Cruz has been talking about selling off public lands, using Texas鈥 almost complete lack of them as some sort of example to be replicated nationwide. Writing in 础诲惫别苍迟耻谤别听闯辞耻谤苍补濒, Adam Sowards has . Regardless of which way you lean politically, I think that all us outdoorsmen can agree that our country鈥檚 wild places should not be for sale.
Jeep Concepts In Action
Did you dig those concept Jeeps we told you about a couple of weeks back? The lucky guys at Expedition Portal got to hoon聽them at Moab, and they put together .听
Signs of Hope for California
Rains promised to arrive via聽El Ni帽o never聽materialized here in Southern California, but it looks like the event still managed to deliver . Much of the state鈥檚 water is sourced from snowmelt in that mountain range, throughout the year. Beyond agriculture, the drought has seriously impacted California鈥檚 beautiful wild places. Campfires remain banned almost statewide, and small game animals have virtually disappeared, leading to all sorts of odd behavior from the animals that rely on it. Here鈥檚 hoping that this is just the first of many more years of good precipitation. We鈥檙e not out of the woods yet.听
The Weird Dogs, and Weirder People of the Iditarod
Vice Sports has of the people and dogs of Alaska鈥檚 famous Iditarod. I suppose you鈥檙e not terribly normal if you鈥檙e entering a 1,000-mile dog sled race.听
Camera Traps in 'The New York Times'
A couple weeks back, Gareth put together a how-to for us around photographing animals using motion sensor cameras. Not convinced you should give it a try yet? Check out of mountain lions, elephants, tigers, and more in the New York Times.听
Women Aren鈥檛 Wusses
Krista Langlois wrote . The gist of her argument? 鈥淗elp us create a world that gives more women the confidence to be alone.鈥 Sounds about right to us.听
We鈥檙e About to Find a Lot More Viking History in North America
A is enabling researchers to find more, and larger ancient Viking settlements in eastern Canada, potentially re-writing the history of early exploration of this continent.听
The Most Dangerous Thing in the Office this Week
from legendary tent designer Martin Zemitis鈥 new brand SlingFin is designed to carry your stuff safely, no matter how dangerous the situation. It uses an external frame/body made of woven polypropylene, and polyethelene, held together by zip ties and Perlon cord, to protect the dry bag you carry inside. That makes it both virtually indestructible, and completely field repairable. An ideal combination for canyoneering and other gnarly activities? I鈥檒l probably hurt myself finding out.
What You鈥檒l Be Reading Next
I鈥檝e come up with a harebrained hypothesis about wolf predation behavior based on the Chinese movie聽, and am about to hop on the phone with a wolf researcher named 鈥淎maroq鈥 to talk it through. Then, this weekend, I tested聽my new Land Rover鈥檚 rock climbing abilities at an off-road park here in SoCal.听Meanwhile, Chris (our photographer) went canyoneering in Zion, and occasional science contributor Laurel Allen just got back from the Sahara Desert. Something about Berbers, Bill Murray, flintlock pistols, and spoiled housewives; I鈥檓 looking forward to reading that one.