https://www.theatlantic.com/science/...-moose/583189/
A great article on where global warming meets some of our wildlife icons -- "right where they live."
“And if you’ve seen one of these calves on the verge of death ...” We were back at the truck now. He thought a minute and then pulled out his phone. “Probably shouldn’t do this. But here’s one I came across last spring.” The video shows a pathetically emaciated calf, probably only 20 feet away from Debow as he filmed it with his phone—far closer than a healthy calf would allow—trying to move away among some young trees. Except the calf can barely move. The slope is gentle and the snow only a couple of inches deep. Yet the calf, his legs a-wobble and his head moving uncertainly, looks ready to fall at any second. Repeatedly he tries to lift a foreleg and stride forward, but cannot. He seems to sense that if he falls, he will not rise. After several seconds, he finally succeeds. One step. Debow followed him until dark, he said, before he had to head home. The next morning he found the calf dead, just a few yards from where he had last seen him.
When I did the AT in '79, it was a big deal to have seen a moose. I saw three -- each time with no film in my camera.
In '00-'05, hiking the LT, AT, and Cohos with my twin sons, we saw moose poop everywhere (and bear, too), but with those boys yammering everywhere we went, we still managed to see 3-4 per (3-week) trip while on trail. (And when in transport by automobile, double of that.)
Now, it's already a decade-and-a-half later, ....... yowser.
Back in 1979, the "big deal" was the recovery of the coyote in northern Maine. Now, coyote can be found in NYC, fergawdsakes. Bear? In '79, I was as shocked to see the large sow in front of me, in that little NJ swampy loop that is the closest the AT gets to NYC, as the bear was to see me. Now? "Problem bears" are a phenomenon in a linked chain up the AT from Georgia on. WOW! "Bear Protocol" is now an AT thing, not just a CDT or PCT thing.
"Recovery" is nice, to be sure. But here comes a different effect: climate change.
Do yourself a favor and take note of what's around you -- where populations are at, water sources, encroaching development and such -- so that you can appreciate the good things that have *not* changed, far into your future, and so that you can sound an alarm of changes not-so-good.
(Of course, we've all gotta get our arses out the door, first. February 22..... Is there *anyplace* on the AT that's not warm, wet, and icky right now? Ugh.)