This photo is dedicated to the young man who lost his life during a grizzly encounter in Glacier National Park on May 6th 2026.
I was in the park that day, too. I’d never met him, but no doubt we were after the same things on that day. Things like adventure, escaping the sprawl, probably temporarily escaping girl problems (lol) and hoping to take a photo of something cool. To bask in the most scenic park in the world. To just exist and be happy.
I was out hiking alone, too. Bear spray in one hand, camera in the other. He just had bad luck, and I did not. His trail was a bad one on that day and mine was not. Just bad luck. Just a flip of the coin. No one’s fault.
After hearing the news, I cut my Glacier trip short and left the park. I just didn’t have the heart to stick around. On my way out, I encountered this spectacular moment…a bald eagle perching on a lone branch with a ridiculous alpine backdrop. And I thought that in the end, we all fly free like the great eagle. Regardless of how it ends for any of us.
This is a massive moment for the future of the American West, and it’s hitting close to home.
In Montana, the dust is finally settling on a huge decision from the Bureau of Land Management that has a lot of us feeling like the balance of the plains is being tipped.
Governor Greg Gianforte and the Trump Administration just made it official by pulling the plug on bison grazing leases on federal land. For years, there has been a standoff over whether these public acres should be used for rewilding projects or kept strictly for the cattle industry. By siding with a narrow definition of livestock, the Governor and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are sending a message that Montana’s public lands are for production, period. While Senators Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy are calling this a win for the rule of law, it feels like a heavy handed blow to the idea that our plains can be both a working landscape and a wild one.
For anyone who cares about the soul of the Big Sky, this is a tough pill to swallow. These bison aren’t just an “ideological experiment.” They are a keystone species that belonged long before the fences went up. They create a mosaic on the landscape that cattle just can’t replicate, supporting everything from songbirds to soil health.
Seeing a September deadline set to force these herds off the land feels like a step backward for conservation and a slight to the Tribal nations who have worked so hard to bring the buffalo back.
We have always been a state that prides itself on wide open spaces and a respect for the wild. If we lose the ability to have bison roaming alongside our ranching heritage, we are losing a piece of the Montana we all love. What do you think? Can we find a way to keep Montana balanced, or are we watching the wild get pushed out for good?
Back in January, I broke this story on my Facebook (I think Outdoor Life was the only other entity paying attention). It was read by 1.5 million people in 24hrs.
The issue is now being covered by the mainstream media, months later. But better late than never.
“A sad day for the great Montana bison.
Interior Secretary Doug Bergum, at the request of Greg Gianforte and the Montana Senators and Representatives ( It pains me to say any of their names because, quite frankly, they’re beneath me, especially the unpopular little Greg Gianforte) has decided to end conservation grazing permits for bison on the great American Prairie, a huge section of restored bison land in central Montana.
Make no mistake, the decision by Bergum is an extension of the nepo-baby, grifting cronyism that currently plagues our federal government.
But this time, the victim is the great American bison. “
Hey friends, this is my viral guest essay on Grizzly Bear 399, her cubs, sprawl and greed. It appeared recently in the Chicago Tribune and I promised I’d post it here when I was able to. You can still read it at the Chicago Tribune’s site (and listen to it) at this link.
They called it paradise. The place to be. A mountain realm like no other.
A place where the spectacular Teton range rises six thousand feet above the valley floor, offering one of the most distinct and dramatic mountain fronts in the world.
Below the striking peaks, the mighty Snake River meanders through a sagebrush valley dotted with aspen and pine. And it is here that I once met a great grizzly bear.
She was known as Grizzly 399.
I’ve been filming in Grand Teton National Park and the Northern Rockies for twenty years. A few years ago, I had the honor of filming 399 when she had her quadruplets. It was the first trip I’d made to Grand Teton to specifically see the great bear.
And the last.
Why the last?
Because I saw what was happening. Could feel what was happening. I wanted to give the great bear space. I didn’t want to be chasing her around the park, waiting in my car with heated leather seats, hoping she’d cross the road, all the while hemming her in.
I knew what was happening. Full size commercials jets were flying overhead, landing at an international airport that should never even be there. Dropping off passengers to a growing town that wasn’t meant to be there. Driving to stores that should have never been built there.
For 28 years, Grizzly 399’s world shrunk all around her. Slowly, year by year she had to make adjustments to the sprawl and greed of Jackson Hole. To the sprawl and greed of the human race.
She did the best she could as we closed in. As we built more and more storage facilities and hotels and developed properties merely for vacation rentals, so we could stuff more cash in our pockets, ultimately sacrificing one of the most beautiful places the world has ever known in the process.
She raised her cubs in all this for decades. Navigated through it all, a steady ship in a stormy sea. Each wave just a little taller than the last.
And yet the people came. More full size commercial airliners roaring into an international airport that should never have been there. Dropping off people who wanted to “own a piece of the Tetons”.
But when you buy or develop a house next to a national park, you don’t capture a piece of that park.
You ruin it.
What had once been a wild valley slowly turned into the suburbs, and Grizzly 399 handled it all with aplomb. She didn’t have to. But she did.
More and more photographers swarmed to the Tetons to see her every year. More and more “investment properties” went up, causing more people to drive the roadways. More stores were built. More drones flew overhead. More airplanes roared in the sky.
Each year her world shrunk.
And this fall, it finally closed in on her.
That poor driver didn’t kill the great Grizzly 399.
We did.
You see, Grizzly 399 was not just a bear. She is a symbol of a truly wild animal trying to hang on in a changing world, a world that is all about “me me, I, I” and very little of “why?” or “what can I do to help?”.
This is a world where if the stores start to fade or look a little old, we build the *exact same* stores two miles down the road. And ten years later, we do it again. And again. Until that’s all there is.
It never stops. Our need to consume, to stuff our pockets. To turn prairie meadows into U-store it facilities. To pave over everything that is true and wild. To pave over what is real.
Grizzly 399 deserved better.
The single best way you and I can honor her amazing legacy is to look at what happened to Grand Teton. And not repeat it elsewhere. We can honor her legacy by protecting our national parks by not bringing sprawl to their doorsteps. We can honor her legacy by pulling back on our obsessive need to develop everything and finally showing some tact and humility , *the same way she did when dealing with us*.
You see, Grizzly 399 was so much more than a bear.
She is a lesson. And she is teaching us all, still. Always had been teaching us. Because that’s just what a great mother does.
First, I’m in a new anthology from Titan books edited by Johnny Compton, titled “Where Devils Stand”. The anthology features the best horror writers in the biz, and will be distributed worldwide in hardcover. I really like the concept I wrote for this one. The theme is “the moments when we stand at the crossroads where devils appear”. And my story is already making the rounds at a few studios, so fingers crossed.
There’s another new anthology, too. This one is with Evil Twin Books (imprint of Zando books) titled “Haunted Minds: Tales of Possession”. It’s edited by Nick Roberts with a foreword by Stephen Graham Jones, with stories by Cynthia Pelayo, amongst others. I had a lot of fun working on the story for this, too. This will be out in 2027.
In other news, I’ve been incredibly busy working on other projects, such as a screenplay I just wrapped up for a feature film (it’s a dramedy, not horror sci fi, oddly). And the Montana documentary continues to push forward. I want all these writing projects to be their absolute best. In addition, I’ve been managing my social media, which over the years has really taken up a lot of my time (I’m not complaining). I’m now reaching a hundred million people a year organically, which has brought some challenges.
Also, my “The Invasive” series is with a new publisher! Like my novel “The Puller”, this specializes in suspense in where the protagonists cannot escape. There are three books. The original, “The Invasive: Remnants (the official sequel) and “The Invasive: Pulse (the prequel). The fourth and final book is in the works. If you like animals, Montana, woods, and sci-fi horror, you’ll like it. The first book is over at award winning Tantor Audio in audiobook, and is performed by Charles Constant, who also did Mark Cuban’s “How to Win at the Sport of Business”. Click here to grab it!
Also, my short story collection “The Gloaming” will be a featured title on the most popular Ebook site in the world, BookBub in March.
Whew.
On top of this I have *several new* novels on submission with my agent. You thought I stopped writing? Think again. I just took a breather and focused on my social media for a bit.
I want to thank all my readers and followers who’ve stuck by me over the years. You are everything solid and real to me in a world that isn’t always what it seems.
