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Near Butte, Montana we found ourselves traveling through a boulder field. It was a wonder to behold! Seeing these boulders for the first time I had to ask myself, "What happened here?"

What I have learned is that, despite the obvious difference in weight between human brains (tipping the scale at about three pounds) and chickadee brains (similar in weight to a raisin), there are commonalities in structure and function between the two species.

Cedar basket trees are an example of culturally modified trees, or CMTs, in this case identified by the large scars or strips of missing bark that the Salish peoples used to make their cedar bark baskets. CMTs reveal the behavior of Indigenous peoples and their gathering routines. Studying when and where CMT scars appeared helps uncover the Salish ecological knowledge systems and culture.

What is so lovely and reassuring, somehow, is that the migratory birds, from Montana and elsewhere, turn up on cue, as they have been doing for thousands of years.

By the end of the 19th century, and in less than a generation, Chief Plenty Coups and his people had shifted from being nomadic buffalo hunters to living a more individualized, agriculture- based existence. Today, Chief Plenty Coups State Park south of Billings near Pryor, Montana, chronicles the unimaginably swift changes his people underwent and adapted to.

The American Dipper is one of my favorite birds. I love the movement they make standing in shallow water or on a rock, the bend in the ankle and rhythm of their bouncing reminiscent of a dance. Mostly, though, I love that they are one of the only birds that stays in southwestern Montana through the winter.

Humans’ age-old habits of building houses and infrastructure and digging up food have created ideal habitat for dandelions for thousands of years. But they haven’t always been hated and dubbed “weeds.” The plant originated in Europe and Asia, where people valued dandelions for medicine, food, and wine.

Walking along the bicycle path in Polson one April afternoon, I was surprised to see a thumb-sized lump of coal lumbering with great purpose across the pavement. Insect-starved just as much as I was sun-starved from a long winter, I rushed over and squatted down to find a black insect with an iridescent-blue sheen, its head and thorax built like a husky ant, and its abdomen fat yet sleek like a huge, black clove of garlic.

What began as a hike to enjoy an early autumn afternoon transformed into a mission to sow and grow a stand of Pinus ponderosa from seed. I had become enthralled by this possibility as I traversed miles of trails shaded by canopies of pine in Missoula’s Rattlesnake Valley.

A La Niña event typically lasts from 9 to 12 months, and occurs roughly once every three to five years, often following its counterpart, El Niño. Both events influence weather throughout North America and beyond, though these changes manifest in different ways throughout various regions.