IF you ever have the good fortune to see a Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep in the wild, the experience might go like this: On a sunny morning in Yosemite National Park, you walk through alpine meadows and then up a ridge to the summit of Mount Gibbs at 12,764 feet above sea level. You unwrap a chocolate bar amid breathtaking views of mountain and desert and then you notice movement below. Binoculars reveal three sturdy ewes perched halfway up a wall of rock, accompanied by two lambs and a muscular ram. The sight fills you with awe and also with gratitude for the national parks, the forests and, yes, the environmental regulations that keep the American dream of wilderness alive. Unless your...
↧