We received a letter to the editor from S. Boyle who was concerned about the off-leash dogs showcased in the latest issue as well as the skinny cougar in the bike feature.

In Kootenay Mountain Culture #39 there’s a photo essay by Laura Szanto showcasing female mountain bikers in Revelstoke and their dogs. There’s also a sidebar in the “Aluminum Lining” feature story about the bike industry that shows a cougar photographed by a remote camera on a mountain biking trail. One reader had this to say about the two images.

S. Boyle writes:

Dear Editor,

I really enjoyed the Summer 2021 edition of KMC. Couldn’t help but notice an article on mountain biking with dogs off lease (page 40), then on page 71 the pic of a really skinny cougar using a mountain bike trail.

Wildlife have such a hard go of things; when adding record levels of recreation to the mix, it’s even harder to find a meal or raise young. It would be wonderful for KMC to have a series of articles on how to be wildlife wise when recreating in the woods. You can  find some great stuff on the website of the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative. 

Thanks for your consideration.

The editors reply:

Thanks for your note. We’ve featured Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) in the magazine before and are huge fans of their work. For example, our piece on the disappearing Caribou included an interview with program director Candace Batycki and our story about the proposed Jumbo resort discusses Y2Y, “recognized internationally as heavy hitters in mountain conservancy.” As for the mountain biking dogs piece, photographer Laura Szanta confirmed all trails featured in the story allow off-leash pups. The only areas prohibiting off-leash dogs in that particular region is the city of Revelstoke itself and Mount Revelstoke National Park.

That said, there can never be enough material about being wildlife wise and we’ll take your story suggestion into consideration. Another excellent resource we’re big fans of is WildSafeBC.