The forest takes in most of the Rocky Mountain Front, terrain between prairie and mountain that is vital to migratory wildlife. It also happens to be rich in natural gas. In 1995, when Flora took stewardship of the forest, she called a halt to new gas leasing in the region. Montaigne tracks Flora's rise through the ranks and reveals the reasons for her bold decision. Most animals await the arrival of summer with eager anticipation.
Food is plentiful and the climate conducive to breeding.
With no ice floes to help it reach its prey, the ringed seal, a polar bear can lose several hundred pounds during the summer. This issue's photo essay by Thomas Mangelsen , with accompanying text by Will Bourne , gives a unique profile of this deadly seal-killing machine wrapped in fat and fur. Winds are God's agents of transportation, living brooms sweeping birds and insects into great swirls, carrying them over rivers and seas, and raising them up over mountains. Biblical plagues of locusts are attributed to the east winds and the migratory patterns of birds depend on their use of tailwinds. As Jan Deblieu illustrates, every one of these acts is a bow to evolution, to the myriad ways devised by animals to use the forces of the winds to their own advantage.