Monthly Archives: December 2012

Over the Chrismas break we had lunch with Dr. Laura Scheiber while she and Shannon were in Wyoming to move into their new digs in Cody. Part of a buffalo burger lunch was dedicated to planning for the course in our books that Laura is teaching through the Indiana University anthropology department. We’re going to be traveling to Bloomington for the final class on April 29 to discuss the books in a seminar, and to give a public lecture sponsered through the anthro department. While most of the students are anthropology undergrads, assorted other majors have signed up, so advance knowledge of anthropology and North America archaeology are not prerequisites. Readers need only acquire the books on the syllabus. During the course, the students are going to be interfacing on Facebook with the Gear fan club: book series First North Americans. One of the TAs is going to be feeding comments to the fan club and reporting to the class. To our knowledge this is a first. Anyone interested in participating can join the fan club and submit their questions, comments, and observations. You can do so by clicking on the tab on the Gear-Gear.com homepage. We will keep you appraised of developments as they occur. The books to be read and discussed include PEOPLE OF THE WOLF, PEOPLE OF THE RIVER, PEOPLE OF THE SILENCE, COMING OF THE STORM, and THE VISITANT. Meanwhile, we’ve got some reading of our own to do. It’s been a while since we’ve reread these old classics. We’re pretty excited.

Dear All: At Friday night’s awards the Western Bison Association presented Kathleen with a special appreciation award for her work on the behalf of the Western Bison Association and the buffalo industry in general. Kathleen, virtually unassisted, produced and shepherded the “Petitition to Delist Woods Bison” from the Endangered Species list. The petition was submitted to the US Fish and Wildlife and will be acted upon in the next year. Her hard work ensured that our panel on the pros and cons of “free roaming” bison was a success. As an organization we have more research to do. Only one of the invited wildlife conservation groups we contacted bothered to send a representative. But what we heard was not encouraging for the bison industry. While Michael had been aware of Kathleen’s award, the announcement that we had both received the WBA Founder’s Award completely blindsided us. This is the highest honor confered by the WBA. We send our heart-felt thanks and appreciation to the membership of the Western Bison Association. We are honored and humbled.