10/17/14 Seattle and Methow Valley, Washington with Zoe

Seattle Space Needle

John's work with the War College requires him to interview people associated with the early Strategic Studies groups and several of them were in the Seattle area so off we flew for the week of 6 October.  Zoe met up with us and we spent several days touring Seattle and the Puget Sound shoreline.  Loved the view from the Space Needle, the first Starbuck's coffee shop at Pike's waterfront market, and the utterly fantastic Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum. 

Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum

        Driving east through the Cascade Mountains, we stay at her Forest Service house in the Methow Valley where she spends the summer/fall doing research.  Seven days a week, she and another grad student take turns driving a pickup 8 or more hours a day through these beautiful


Diablo Lake in the Cascade Mountains

mountains on somewhat hazardous forest service roads tracking the movement of wolves and cattle.  Riding with Zoe in a car is adventure enough but riding on these primitive narrow roads on one of her daily rounds was about the scariest thing I have ever done, and believe you me, you better not be a back seat driver or you will end up walking ;) We meet up with another truck (hunting season), on a road hanging off the side of the mountain NOT wide enough for two vehicles of any size.  THANK GOD we were on the inside! We ever so slowly squeezed by each other, pulling in mirrors to create just enough space.  Zoe had warned me I might not want to come with her and her Dad and  NEXT TIME I WILL LISTEN!  We thoroughly enjoyed watching her work with one of the producers herds removing ear tags.

Zoe Removing Radio Tags from Calf's Ear

Wolves are always on the move, and after they leave an area, Zoe hikes in to see where they bedded down to determine what they are eating.  Good news, so far the Lookout Pack is eating moose and deer, not livestock.  This research project is a highly inflammatory issue throughout the northwest since most hunters and ranchers want all wolf packs killed off.  You can learn more from this recent  New York Times article "Study Faults Efforts at Wolf Management".

Billboard by Washington Residents Against Wolves

Two articles about Zoe and her research appear in the Methow Valley News at http://methowvalleynews.com/2014/09/18/methow-cattle-ranchers-take-part-in-wsu-wolf-study/ and http://methowvalleynews.com/2014/06/12/collared-gray-wolf-will-help-statewide-study/.