One of the things that we have missed about living in South Dakota is that where we now live, we don’t see deer in our yard. There are plenty of deer in the countryside and we see them from time to time, but our South Dakota home had a much larger yard and the deer were there every day. We were able to witness the birth of fawns and watched them grow to maturity. We learned to recognize individual animals. We have always enjoyed wild neighbors and living near to the national forest was a good place to view wildlife.

I enjoyed watching the deer in the yard here at our family’s cabin yesterday. A young spike was testing his prowess with a two-point buck with a little head butting. Both of them were put on the run by an older doe who was tired of their behavior somewhat early in the fall. The rut is coming, but she wasn’t ready yet. The weather was blustery and the deer were a bit jumpy as the wind blew through the trees and raindrops fell.

One of the neighbors at this place is a black bear. I haven’t seen it, but there is plenty of bear sign around. The bear has been seen on the security camera and it has pushed over the burn barrel a couple of times. There is scat in the yard between the house and the shed. The bear poses no danger to us, but I would turn on the yard light before venturing out in the dark all the same. There is no need to be startled or to startle the bear.

We saw bears from time to time when I was growing up, mostly in the high country or at Yellowstone National Park. We learned to be bear smart when camping and backpacking and never had any troubles. Grizzlies are less common in our area than black bears and in general making a bit of noised not surprising a bear is a good practice.

I read in the Bellingham Herald that the black bears are on the move in the North Cascades in Whatcom County. Our home is quite a distance from where bears have been sighted, but we did get a good look at a bear when we drove up Mount Baker to show the scenery to visiting friends in June. I suspect that the fires in the North Cascades have given the bears reason to move around.

As important as human neighbors are for our health and well-being, we also enjoy a bit of space from other humans. When we have lived in places that are more densely populated, we have sought places that felt a bit more wild. Years ago, when we lived in a tiny apartment in Chicago, we found trips to the lakeshore to be important. In those days we spent our summers in the high country of Montana where we could see moose, deer, elk, bear and other wildlife. During the summer we managed a church camp, so we also had plenty of opportunities for interaction with humans.

Yesterday we took a walk over to and around a nearby county park. The park has been developed since I lived in this town and it is a really nice improvement. There is a walking loop in the park and if we walk from the cabin over to the park and walk the loop in the park and back we have gone nearly two miles, which is about average for our walks these days. There were other visitors to the park which is a popular place for people to walk their dogs. We decided the there were about as many dogs in the park as there were people. Some folks, like us, didn’t have a dog, but others had more than one. One woman had three dogs. The dogs were all friendly and well behaved, and we enjoyed sharing the space with them. They offered the added bonus of giving us confidence that we wouldn’t run into the bear, but we weren’t worried about the bear in the middle of the day anyway.

Since time immemorial, people have lived with animal neighbors, both domestic and wild. Living in harmony with nature includes an appreciation for non-human creatures. Before the arrival of European settlers the indigenous people in this part of the world developed a special relationship with the American Bison, often called buffalo. We learned a lot about those magnificent beasts when we lived in South Dakota. Now we have moved to a place where the natives had a special relationship with the Salmon. Those magnificent and delicious fish are a bit of a barometer on the health of the environment and the signs have not been good. The number of salmon returning from the ocean to the rivers and streams to spawn is smaller with each passing year. Scientists are studying them, learning of the multiple threats to their survival and some of what we read is alarming. There have been efforts to clean up streams and remove dams to restore salmon habitat, but much more work is needed.

We humans have not always been good neighbors to other animals with whom we share the planet. We have over consumed and we have spread out and taken away habitat needed for animals to thrive. We have failed to see that our health is also threatened by some of our practices. As our carbon emissions continue to cause global climate change and our overpopulation consumes more and more of the planet’s resources, we have been slow to recognize the risk not only to our animal neighbors, but to ourselves as well. We are all dependent upon a healthy planet. We all need clean air to breathe and clean water to drink. We all need wild places where we can experience solitude and immerse ourselves int he beauty of creation.

I’ll keep my eye out for the bear and I’ll county myself luck if I get to see it.