Spring is the right time to be in Hells Canyon. Between the mud and silence of winter and the inferno of summer (it’s called Hells Canyon for a reason, remember) is a brief window of soft warm rain and rapid greening.

I had the pleasure of traveling with Stefanie Krantz to Sandpoint, Idaho for a wildlife connectivity conference put on by Yellowstone to Yukon, one of GHCC’s partner organizations. Stefanie had been invited to the conference to give a talk on the Nez Perce Tribe’s adaptation work.

Greater Hells Canyon Council is working hard to find a better balance between livestock grazing on public lands and the recovery of the threatened plant Spalding's catchfly.

The best part was walking into the shade. Not just because it was hotter than I expected that day, but because the ground was softer in the shade.