Tim Palmer, chronicler of American rivers, lays out a case for watershed conservation with education as its source. “People will fight for what they love, they love what they understand, and they understand what they have been shown and taught,” he says.

Toward that end the Snake River Fund fosters stewardship for one of the West’s great waterways at Summit on the Snake, a daylong symposium exploring various aspects of the river’s ecology and history. The program is open to all river enthusiasts but especially is geared toward fishing, whitewater and scenic rafting guides who can pass on knowledge to their clients.

The 12th annual Summit runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 5, at the Jackson campus of Teton Science Schools. Advance registration, available online, is $20, which includes coffee, light breakfast and lunch. Participants also may sign up at the door for $25 beginning at 8 a.m.

This year’s presentations include a talk on the natural history of beavers by researcher Bill Gribb of the University of Wyoming; cottonwood forests by Mike Merigliano of the University of Montana; Teton and Wind River Range glaciers by UW’s Greg Kerr; pine beetle infestation by Kjerstin Skov of Utah State University; and the effects of Jackson Lake Dam by Jack Schmidt of Utah State. Also, Randy Scholfield of Trout Unlimited’s Western Water Project will give an overview of a proposal to rebuild the highly controversial Teton Dam in Idaho. For the complete lineup of presentations, visit www.snakeriverfund.org.

The summit coincides with the Wyoming Whitewater Championships, a three-day competition and celebration on the Snake, Greys and Hoback rivers. The event will draw paddlers from around the West for a kayak and raft race June 4, freestyle rodeo June 5 and downriver “boater-cross” June 6.

Registration fee is $25, and $5 for each additional event. Sign up in advance at Rendezvous River Sports in Jackson.

Following all of these events, boaters will pitch in for River Cleanup Day on June 6. Meet at 9 a.m. at Mad River Boat Trips to pick up trash bags and a breakfast snack. There will be a party that night at Cutty’s bar with food and drink specials and raffle prizes for all participants.

In recent weeks wildlife managers from the state of Montana and National Park Service have engaged in their spring ritual of hazing bison back into Yellowstone.

Of all the contentious public land issues in the Rocky Mountain West, none is more maddening than the harassment and slaughter of bison in the world’s first national park. These animals are being forced to leave public land, in many cases, to make room for cattle that won’t even arrive to graze for another month, if at all. Livestock officials fear the bison could transmit the disease brucellosis to cattle, even though there has never been a documented case of such a transmission in the wild.

Buffalo Field Campaign, a group of rugged and passionate activists based in West Yellowstone, Mont., has been fighting to end this practice since the winter of 1996-97, when the Park Service and Montana Department of Livestock killed more than 1,000 bison and decimated America’s last free-roaming herd.

BFC volunteers have worked tirelessly to keep the hazing and slaughter in the public eye. This latest video shows our public servants at work with a helicopter inside the park.

A few bewildering facts to consider, with state and federal governments strapped for funding:

• During the winter of 2007-08, half the bison population of Yellowstone died, and the National Park Service was responsible for killing more than 1,600 animals.

• The bison were killed for migrating out of the park onto public land in Montana, and testing positive for a disease, brucellosis, that’s exceedingly rare to transmit to cattle.

• We paid for this slaughter with millions of our tax dollars.

• Bison would not leave Yellowstone so easily if the Park Service did not provide groomed roads/snowmobile trails for the animals to walk on.

• Brucellosis is a disease originally introduced to wildlife from domestic livestock.

• Despite these extreme measures, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming have had outbreaks of brucellosis in recent years — transmitted by elk, which are far more numerous than bison and often commingle freely with cattle.

Visit Buffalo Field Campaign’s Web site to learn how you can help stop the madness.

(Thanks to Tony B. for posting the video.)

Jackson Hole, Wyo., shares at least one thing in common with Haiti — both sit on an active fault capable of producing a 7.0 earthquake.

Residents of this ski town thousands of miles from the Caribbean are going beyond texting 90999 to help the island nation. Musicians, ski bums and businesses have teamed up to host the Hole Hearts for Haiti benefit party Friday.

Crowd pleaser Mandatory Air is playing along with many of the other popular local bands and DJs. A silent auction from 8 to 9:30 p.m. features hotel and spa packages, a backcountry guide with early tram for five people at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, Snow King season pass, fly rod and fishing trip, jackets from Cloudveil, bike equipment and much more.

All proceeds will benefit the Haiti Renewal Fund and be matched by Jackson Hole investor and philanthropist Foster Friess. The nonprofit aims to help Haitians build a sustainable future, caring for orphans and providing medical care and clean drinking water.

Suggested donation at the door is $10, which is actually a $20 contribution once Foster kicks in.

Readers who cannot make the party in Jackson might consider donating to the Haiti Renewal Fund, which will be helping Haitians long after they have pulled themselves from the rubble.

Update 2/18: The party raised nearly $38,000.

Mobile fund-raising could be the charity wave of the future. Through Sunday, the American Red Cross had raised more than $100 million for earthquake relief efforts in Haiti, including $22 million via text messages, the N.Y. Times reported.

Texting “Haiti” to 90999 is the easiest way to make a donation, with a $10 charge assessed on your cell phone bill.

Constant advertising during Sunday’s NFL playoff games contributed to the SMS windfall, bringing in $500,000 per hour, according to the Times. Players such as Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, who has roots in Haiti, urged watchers to send text messages, as President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama had done last week.

Because the Red Cross is a quasi-governmental agency, State Department officials helped streamline the texting program for a faster response; also, the electronic vendor, mGive.com, dropped the fee it normally would charge for processing donations, the Times reported.

To make an online donation to the Red Cross, click here. Also, Charity Navigator has a list of the 10 most efficient aid organizations working on the ground in Haiti to provide relief.

Greetings from high point No. 10, the highest point in South Carolina: Sassafras Mountain. Sassafras Mountain has an elevation of 3,560 feet, so it is not exactly the kind of high point you stand on and look around at a great 360-degree view.

As you can see from the video, it is more a high point that you go to just so you can check it off the list. Nonetheless, we made it, and it marks us being 20 percent done with our climbs.

I commonly get asked by other people if they can join me when I am going to climb a certain high point. Often it is by individuals who have been affected by Alzheimer’s in one way or another, and feel that by joining with me on a particular climb they will further their personal journey to find a cure. I, of course, am always more than willing to let them come along. I enjoy the company, and it helps remind me that I am not the only one working on raising funds and awareness for Alzheimer’s. It is great to have the chance to talk with other individuals who have been through the same thing, and hear what they are doing to get the word out.

It would be easy to assume that having people accompany me on my climbs is all good, and I wish that I could say that it is, but it is not the case. It’s not because I don’t like certain people, but rather because I am quite a random person. I love not being tied down by a set schedule, and since I do all of my climbs on my vacations from work (in case you are wondering what I do for work, I run a bed-and-breakfast in Grand Rapids, Mich.; bet you never saw that one coming) my despise for schedules increases even more. My climbs are usually during the day, which means my co-climbers-to-be have other things they want to be doing, and when I tell them I am going to be there Wednesday … ish, I am afraid they think I am trying to blow them off.

This probably all sounds like an excuse, and some of my billion-plus followers worldwide (or what is it, 14?) are going to roll their eyes. It is not supposed to be an excuse, but more of a plea. I will be posting up my schedule in a few weeks, and if you get the chance to meet me at a high point, please cut me some slack if I show up behind schedule. Who knows, maybe I had a snipe hunt run late the previous night, and I am running a little slower than usual.

Mark Zimmer is climbing to the highest point in all 50 states to raise awareness and money for Alzheimer’s research. Follow his progress here.

If you had to guess where the highest point east of the Mississippi River is, where would you put it? I always thought it would be somewhere in the Northeast. Maine or New Hampshire came to mind for whatever reason. It wasn’t until I was on my way to Mount Mitchell, the highest point in North Carolina, that I realized I was wrong. I was flipping though my high point book — that’s how amazingly cool I am, I have a book about high points I carry with me — and learned that Mount Mitchell is the highest point my side of the Mississippi River, with an elevation of 6,684 feet.

It really isn’t that amazing when you consider that the lowest point in Colorado is more than half this high, but since we are self-conscious of our small mountains on this side of the country, we do whatever we can to make them sound bigger.

As you will be able to tell in the video, it was a rather ugly day. Not ugly enough to keep me inside, but ugly nonetheless.

I am guessing most of you travel around a fair amount, and I am sure you noticed that every place loves to be known as the biggest, the shortest, the widest, the oldest, the whatever-est in the world. Mount Mitchell’s main tourist trap happens to be the highest restaurant east of the Mississippi. That’s right, OMG! Just like the mountain!!

Not that I can blame North Carolinians; if they can find a bunch of people, like me, simple enough to go to a mountain just because it is the highest point in that state, then the same group of people will probably get a cup of chili and a T-shirt while they are up there. The pictures I got are a little blurry for whatever reason, but they should give you a rough idea of what it looks like. Check it out while you are there. The next time you are looking for a great conversation starter with the opposite sex, dropping the line, “So, you ever been to the highest restaurant east of the Mississippi? I have,” will do wonders. Take it from me, mountain climbing and relationship expert Mark Zimmer.

Climbing mountains to raise money and awareness for Alzheimer’s research has taught me to focus on two very different areas before I leave for a climb. The first thing I have to do is make sure that I am in good enough shape to complete the climb and make sure I have the correct gear with me to be ready if something goes wrong. The second part of preparation, and really the more difficult of the two, is to make sure that my efforts are going to actually gain attention for Alzheimer’s. This is more difficult than the first because there is no guaranteed course of action that will bring success. It is a sort of “try everything, see what works” process.

Part of this preparation is before each of my climbs, I contact the Alzheimer’s Association office in that state to let them know what I am doing, and to see if they are able to help me out with media attention and other contacts that will make my climbing more effective. When I called the North Carolina office, I lucked out and was able to get in touch with a lady who had spent the last 10 years working in the outdoor industry. She told me that she was friends with the owners of Black Dome Mountain Sports in Asheville. Better yet, she told me that if I was interested, I could make a presentation there as I passed through town.

I had made enough calls to sponsors to know what I would need to say in my presentation, but I was still a little nervous. Fortunately, I was 1,000 miles from home and knew that none of my friends could show up and try to make me laugh while I talked.

I ended up having a great time at the presentation, and although we didn’t have as big of a turnout as hoped, it was still a success. I talked, the viewers drank juice, courtesy of Old Orchard, and I ended up getting a decent amount of pledges while I was there. I plan to do this a lot more going forward, so if you know of someplace where I could make a presentation while I climb, drop me a line. I appreciate the help.

Mark Zimmer is climbing to the highest point in all 50 states to raise awareness and money for Alzheimer’s research. Follow his progress here.

(Nearing the highest point in Virginia.)

I doubt that I am the only one who does it, but I never really asked to be sure. So, I am going out on a limb here, and risking being known as a big wimp by individuals across the country. When I am hiking, I have the tendency to think that most every sound I hear is one of two animals: 1) a bear, or 2) a mountain lion.

I say most every sound, because let’s face it: It’s hard to mistake the chirp of the chickadee as a bear. I haven’t had a run-in with either predator yet, so I am not really sure why I do this. It could be movies; it could be too many Backpacker magazine articles; who knows? There, I said it, it’s out there. If you are going to laugh at me, please do it behind my back.

My love for the outdoors still is strong, though, so I often man up and go hiking anyway. On my most recent hiking trip, I found myself wandering up Mount Rogers, the highest point in Virginia. It was to be my eighth high point completed, and involved the most walking of any high point climbed so far. The walk up is about 4.5 miles, so it’s not hard, unless you compare it the other peaks I have scaled. As I followed the AT near the summit, I was careful to watch for the small fork that kicks off to the actual high point. I found the trail, started the hike up, and as I was nearing the summit, I heard a sound that had to be a mountain lion. I knew it was all over, and seven high points would be all I ever completed.

Now, if I stopped right here and made you all guess what animal I saw as I came out of the thicket, I am guessing most of you probably wouldn’t come close. It was certainly the weirdest animal I have ever seen in the wild. It was a herd of miniature ponies. That’s right, it was straight out of a Disney movie where I next expected some prince would ride in, say something cool, and the ponies would prance off into the sunset.

(The mighty steeds graze with the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background.)

Of course the next thing I wanted to do was jump on one and ride it, because that would only make perfect sense, am I wrong? At the same time, I didn’t earn my pony merit badge, and who’s to say these things are not aggressive. I admit, all logic argues against ponies attacking hikers, but maybe they are like pandas?

I decided to keep my distance and let them do whatever it is ponies do when they are not prancing toward sunsets. I later learned there is an association that cares for them (where do you sign up, I know!), and they are believed to have been left by the miners back in the day. So, if you are ever climbing Mount Rogers, beware of the ponies. I can’t believe I just said that.

Mark Zimmer is climbing to the highest point in all 50 states to raise awareness and money for Alzheimer’s research. Follow his progress here.

So as a snow leopard biologist I’m frequently asked the question, “Is it frustrating to study an animal that you might not ever see?”

I suppose I should start by saying that it’s true that these cats are incredibly difficult to see in the wild, even when you know they are there. They are so well camouflaged that they literally seem to disappear into their surroundings. A few weeks ago I gave a talk for a third-grade class at a local elementary school. The kids went wild when I showed them a photo and asked them to try to spot the snow leopard. Take a look at this photo and try it for yourself.

Did you find the snow leopard? If not, don’t worry. You’re in good company! None of the kids in the class could spot it, either. If you think you’ve found it, or have given up trying, take a peek at the photo below to see if you’re right. If you look closely you can just make out the cat’s face peering intently at you.

In case you’re wondering how in the world I managed to spot and photograph this snow leopard, it’s Aztai, the cat we radio-collared at our study site in Mongolia back in June. The photo was taken just after we released him when he had moved a short distance up the canyon.

For me, studying an animal this difficult to see just adds to their mystique and makes those rare occasions when you do see the cats all the more extraordinary. And I know I’m not alone in admiring snow leopards because of this sense of intrigue. The photo of Aztai inspired, Mia, one of the children in the class, to send me a drawing. I think she did an incredible job of depicting the elusive nature of the snow leopard that has captured the imagination of people for centuries.

Kim Murray is an Inspired Mountain Ambassador and assistant director of science for the Snow Leopard Trust. The group is working to conserve snow leopards by answering fundamental ecological questions about this elusive and little-studied cat.

Much more frightening than any of the tricks or freaks you’ll encounter this Halloween is the prospect of climate change.

Our friends at the Outdoor Alliance have put together this short video as the energy legislation debate heats up in Congress. “It’s really rather simple,” says OA. “Human-powered outdoor pursuits need a healthy climate. If the climate is out of balance, then our favorite ways to enjoy the outdoors can go from being degraded to actually disappearing.”

The group is calling on the outdoor community to “flex some political muscle and help get the climate back on track.” Take action by clicking here.

Founded in 2006, Outdoor Alliance is a coalition of six member-based national outdoor advocacy groups — Access Fund, American Canoe Association, American Hiking Society, American Whitewater, International Mountain Bicycling Association and Winter Wildlands Alliance — whose mission is to ensure the conservation and stewardship of our land and waters through the promotion of sustainable, human-powered recreation.

Outdoor Alliance serves as the human-powered outdoor community’s voice on “big picture” public lands and waters issues in Washington, D.C. OA’s members, friends and staff testify before Congress, pen editorials and produce films to help the human-powered outdoor community channel its vision of conservation and stewardship directly to national policy makers.

Last month, my awesome friend and kayaker-with-a-cause Andy Maser and I headed up for a weekend of paddling around Timothy Lake in the Mount Hood Wilderness. We were shocked and, frankly, disgusted by the prominent profile of Mount Hood reaching into the sky with no snow. None. Never have I seen that mountain without a snow-capped peak.

Hood’s scarily bare summit is just another reminder that climate change is happening fast, and affecting special wild places in our own backyards. I’m sure those who read this blog have had similar experiences. Well, I don’t know about you all, but I’m not ready to give up my snow-capped peaks just yet.

We have less than two months until environment ministers from about 190 nations will gather in Copenhagen in December to try to seal a U.N. climate pact to take over from the Kyoto Protocol, which runs out in 2012.

Andy, a co-founder of the Epicocity Project, is helping to organize River of Action as part of the 350.org International Day of Climate Action. Next Saturday, Oct. 24, people around the world will form “350” to inspire the world to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis. The number 350 represents the number of parts per million scientists have identified as the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere.

(Buster the Wild Salmon; photo © Ethan Smith)

I work on salmon recovery issues in the West, and salmon need a lot of cold water to survive, so we at Save Our Wild Salmon are always down to help fight climate change. And we’ll be taking action on Oct. 24. How about you? Visit 350.org to find an action in your area.

Emily Nuchols is the communications manager for Save Our Wild Salmon. She is based in Portland, Ore., and runs around in a salmon suit more than she would like to admit.