The Virginia Farm Bureau, the largest farm organization in the state, is asking its 36,000 members to write their legislators and plead for support of several agricultural budget items currently in limbo. Vital agricultural funding designed to protect the environment is hanging in the balance as the General Assembly and Gov. Jim Gilmore wrestle over the car tax, the bureau said. Examples include fencing cattle away from streams and rivers, building manure storage sheds that stop rainwater from washing over the waste, and planting forest and grass buffer strips between farm fields and streams. I saw what I believe were bear tracks crossing our path between the house and barn. Tracking conditions were poor, unlike last summer when the footprint of a bear was clearly evident in our strawberry patch.
Tracks are the next best thing to seeing the animal.
There are a number of track identification guidebooks on the market. It is published on cheap paper, so you can toss it in your daypack or pocket for a handy reference and not worry about it. We haven't had much tracking snow this winter, but tracks show up in mud, sand and dirt, so tracking isn't just a snow sport. Most of us have come across tracks that we wonder what creature made them. Using life-size drawings, this book helps you put a name to the track of about 50 mammals and a few birds.