Report from Burning Man 2023

After a quiet year of preparation and premature eulogies, Burning Man roared into the news this August. There were unplanned…
BM Build Day 3/credit Dennis Hinkamp
MoreWe can help shape this Utah monument

When President Joe Biden restored the original boundaries of both Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments in 2021, public-land…
Grand Staircase Escalante, Unsplash/Halie West
MoreThere’s such a thing as trail etiquette

The uppermost switchback on the Bright Angel Trail in Grand Canyon National Park is eight feet wide. Yet the last…
Bright Angel Trail, NPS/Ty Karlovetz
MoreWomen shouldn’t be second-class citizens

I felt like a second-class citizen when the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to abortion last summer. After a…
Idaho State Capitol, Wikimedia commons
MoreRequiem for the Joshua tree

Disheveled, gangly, the Joshua tree is surely one of the West’s strangest — and most recognizable — plants. Named by…
Conglomerate Mesa, Photo by Louis Medina, Friends of the Inyo
MoreJohn Fielder, the man who loved natural beauty

If you’ve ever bought a calendar or coffee table book featuring the grandeur of Colorado’s 14’ers, the stunning color photographs…
John Fielder, credit Gary Wockner/Save the Colorado
MoreWildland firefighters need our support

At any given moment during this smoky summer of 2023, hundreds of wildfires were blazing in the United States —…
Calwood fire, near Jamestown Colorado, by Malachi Brooks, via Unsplash
MoreTips for a new Westerner

Hurray, you’ve moved to the rural West from a crowded subdivision or city where the traffic has become an out-of-patience…
Reno Nevada Mutton bustin’ photo by Cornelius Photography
MoreA dogged reporter covers our roiling world

Usually seen with a camera slung around his neck, Allen Best edits a one-man online journalism shop he calls Big…
Allen Best at work
MoreThe problem that just won’t go away

When I read the Salt Lake Tribune editorial on July 2, my heart sank. A Utah man with severe mental…
Ante Samarzija via Unsplash
MoreAlaska needs to value its live bears

Grizzly bears in Alaska, called brown bears, that live around the town of Bethel, population 6,325, should have a good…
Grizzly bear on the beach, Alaska, USA
MoreToo many tourists follow a leader

A spectacular picture recently appeared on social media of a young lady in Arizona. She was poised on the edge…
spencer backman, via unsplash
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