Yeah, I feel like letting them outside is important enrichment, even if it's not always safer. (I feel the same way about kids.)

I'm still thinking my best option is supervised Outside Time. We do live next to a national forest, and while three of our in/out cats lived long, happy, healthy lives, one lived a happy, healthy life until suddenly she was eaten by a mountain lion. (At least, that's what we think happened. There was a sick old lion wandering around the neighborhood eating people's pets, and Charlie suddenly disappeared one night, so ...) Fern is a wily old thing, but I don't know if I want to roll the dice completely with these little guys.