I’m an independent journalist and author whose work tends to orbit the supermassive field of wildlife coexistence. Our own slovenly species is redeemed, at least occasionally, by the compassion we show others — the hellbender, the humpback chub, the tricolored blackbird — and it’s my mission and privilege to tell stories about how our fitful empathy becomes conservation action. My first book was about beavers; my next will be about roads. I live in Spokane, Washington, with my wife, Elise, and my dog, Kit — which, as you may know, is also what you call the juvenile version of a certain semiaquatic rodent.