Dear Readers,

Autobiography Journal of Sage Sweetwater are my future newsletters for awhile. Some of my fans think I am Stone Creek Woman and have said so. What do you think?

SAGE SWEETWATER CREATIVE PROPERTIES is the flagship of Stone Creek Woman, my autobiograpy journal, divided into six parts: Shared Blessings, Endangered Species, Sacred Shelters, Canoe Medicine, Moving the Pack, and Reintroduction.


ENDANGERED SPECIES:

The special woman the "grandmothers" spoke of in 1986 could have been a woman by the name of Renee Askins, founder and director of the Wolf Fund, which she established in the same year.

Stone Creek Woman has a strong belief this was the special woman, and accepted her name as a female who would make a stand on an important environmental issue. Renee Askins mission was to reintroduce wolves into Yellowstone, quoting, "It's like returning the heartbeat to the heart."

Wolves were wiped out, trapped, shot, poisoned, and dynamited to extinction in the Rockies in the 1930s for the benefit of ranchers who feared their livestock would be slaughtered by the wolves, and the ranchers still opposed the reintroduction of the wolves today, because they still have those same fears.

In 1973, the Endangered Species Act was enacted to develop recovery plans for endangered species, later including the wolf and other imperiled wildlife such as the bald eagle, black-footed ferret, and Florida panther.

The Endangered Species Act protect wolves in every state except Alaska and Minnesota where they are abundant. In 1982, the act was amended by the Wildlife Commission so the problem wolves could be killed legally and farmers would be reimbursed for the livestock they could prove were killed by wolves.

Renee Askins was granted her wish in January of 1995 when fourteen Canadian gray wolves were relocated to Yellowstone National Park as a part of the federal government's reintroduction program, while another fifteen wolves were released in the central Idaho wilderness near the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness.

Stone Creek Woman believes the true test of judicial sincerity about protecting battered women revolves around whether or not the wolf remains protected, but until more women are appointed to the bench as judges, and more female attorneys and lady lawmakers can be counted upon, the system is whitewashing, denying, and refusing women and wolf the right to be protected.


*Sage Sweetwater is a wolfkeeper. She had 7, two have passed, now has a pack of 5 white wolves, their bloodline is from Ellesmere Island. Sage has raised over 12 litters of wolf cubs and has pulled them away from their mother before their eyes opened and bottle-fed them as to imprint with them, a human lesbian writer, the first thing they saw. She socialized each set of litters that ranged from 4 to 8 cubs. At two months of age, Sage held wolf school, the women required to take her wolf classes before placing the cubs in homes of battered women, women that had lost spouses, and divorced women going through lifestyle changes. One of the women who purchased one of her cubs stands out in Sage's mind. The freshly-divorced woman owns a 58-foot houseboat docked at Lake Powell in Utah. She wanted the wolf cub for a mascot. She named the male cub Wintun, the Native American spelling. Sage no longer raises cubs, her journey through her own healing process complete. There is no longer a need to raise cubs. The spirit lives on. It is a journey she will never forget.

Carla HighEagle helped relocate the Sawtooth Pack, a pack of wolves in Idaho monitored for six years by wolf specialists Jim & Janey Dutcher, to Nez Perce land.

Stone Creek Woman studies wolves in the same way as she studies battered women. She feels the private sector, like herself should manage and move packs of battered women to fertile mental and physical lands, as safe houses are only temporary grounds.

Stone Creek Woman moves her packs of battered women through many lands, developing strong directions along the way, padding toward personal growth. She says, "To howl in the wind and chase the scent of the new moon drifting across the pines is to have sore paws, and to have sore paws is to belong completely to nature, and when one is whole, one is healed."

Until next time, peace and love dear readers. I appreciate you all~~~~


~~~~Copyright 2006 Sage Sweetwater, firebrand lesbian novelist, brainchild of Sage Sweetwater Creative Properties, flagship of Stone Creek Woman~~~~