Thanks Bill for your musings on the micro and macro. I think that we humans need some unifying image of the Sierra Nevada to give us that sense of the bird's eye view. The vast beauty itself gets in our way of seeing and understanding the range in a holistic way. It's a concept that we grapple with while producing the radio stories from this project--how to create a sense of place in the writing and speaking about what's going on to conserve the range. One of my broadcast colleagues from the Bay Area questioned our name--Saving The Sierra. "Isn't it already saved?" she quipped. "It's so lovely when I go up there. I thought that was all taken care of." I think she was only half joking with me. I think for most of us there's some sense when recreating in the vast public landscapes that the details are being handled by someone else, hopefully anyway! Sure one can manage their own impacts, pick up the trash, don't take native plants, Leave No Trace, etc. There's a sense of thoroughly knowing a place that can only come with time and experience. And only when you begin to grasp that sense of a place can you determine whether it is doing well or poorly, whether it needs help and how. Heck, when I first moved to the foothills I just loved this feathery green plant that bloomed bright yellow right around my birthday in the spring. Once I almost stopped on the roadside to dig some out and take it home with me. Thank goodness for laziness. I have NO Scotchbroom at my elevation. And I've taken many a hoe to the pest at the lower elevation digs of my friends during "Scotchbroom Parties" where the goal is to eliminate it altogether. Live and learn, micro and macro indeed. Catherine Stifter