Since 2011, when a wolf wearing a radio collar crossed into the state from Oregon, California's gray wolf population has grown into the dozens.
As news of the settlement spread, however, it quickly became clear that many in the community did not agree. In fact, they thought it showed no understanding at all of local needs.
As I stood atop a rocky precipice in central Montana, the most striking thing before me was nothing. More precisely, it was space: the all-encompassing nothingness for which the West is famous.