Photo Credit Nicholas Albrecht
A conversation about the bond between people and predators, the responsibility that comes with loving wild places, and what happens when sentiment overtakes science.
Author Malcolm Brooks joins us for a conversation that moves from the landscapes that shaped his fiction to the messy realities of modern wildlife management. He talks about how his novel, Painted Horses, grew out of those old archeological surveys in the West and the frontier stories he devoured as a kid. For Malcolm, the land is never just scenery. It has a presence, shaped by art, history, and the way people learn to pay attention. That way of seeing carries into his current project on Butte, Montana, a place with a long environmental scar and a surprising tie to the rise of modern technology.
Things get heavier when Malcolm explains what led him to write about California’s mountain lion policies. The story starts decades before the attack that took his nephew’s life, and he lays out how Proposition 117 changed everything, from management tools to lion behavior to public safety. Bill and Anders ask hard questions about our fondness for charismatic predators and what real science-based management looks like. Malcolm is clear about why non-lethal hazing works, how the black bear boom has reshaped the deer base, and why wildlife laws often miss the full ecological picture.
The episode keeps circling back to bigger questions. What happens when sentiment pushes science to the side? How do we hold space for both our admiration for predators and our responsibility to keep people safe? What do we owe the places we alter, whether through dams, mining, or policies that ignore ecological feedback? And how do we put experts back in the room so management is rooted in ecology instead of politics?
Today’s highlights:
- Origins of his novel, Painted Horses
Malcolm explains how archeological surveys in the West, frontier history, and a lifetime spent outdoors all shaped the novel and its sense of place.
- Landscape as a Living Character
He describes why terrain is never just scenery, drawing on Western painters and his childhood reading, and how he learned to hold people and place in equal focus because modern life always reshapes the ground it depends on.
- Ballot Box Biology
They walk through the history of California’s 1990 mountain lion ballot measure, how it removed key management tools, and how lion behavior shifted in the years that followed.
- A Personal Turning Point
Malcolm shares the story of the mountain lion attack on his nephews, how the loss reshaped his sense of responsibility, and why he began speaking publicly about predator policy.
- Ecology in Full View
Malcolm explains why non-lethal ‘tree and free’ hazing is the only method that reliably keeps lions wary of humans, and the group looks at the broader ecological picture, including how booming black bear numbers have reduced deer populations and pushed lions into new areas with unintended consequences.
- Emotion, Science, and Public Perception
They dig into the divide between urban sentiment and rural experience, and why charismatic species often attract policies that ignore ecological dynamics.
- The Story of Butte
Malcolm shares details about his upcoming book on Butte, touching on its environmental legacy, its central role in electrifying the country, and the pull of its complex history.
Links & Resources:
Connect with Malcolm
Media
- Threads
- New York Times Magazine: A Mountain Lion Attacked My Nephews. What Could Have Stopped It?
- Substack: View from the Bluff
Books
Video
About Today's Guest
Photo Credit Jeremy Lurgio
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