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Public land protectors are ready for a fight

By Jennifer Rokala

President Donald Trump’s first term was a disaster for America’s public lands. While the prospects for his second term are…

The Citadel, Bears Ears National Monument, Dave Marston photo

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Nature is becoming unreliable

By Pepper Trail

Twice a year, I hike a favorite trail in Oregon’s Cascade Range. I have done this for over 20 years,…

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Acidic mine drainage haunts Western rivers

By Dave Marston

It was the summer of 2015 when the Animas River in southern Colorado turned such a garish orange-gold that it…

Reid Christopher in font of textile bags, mining ruins in background, Gladstone Treatment Plant, San Miguel County, CO. Dave Marston photojpg

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How a controversial poison saved Utah Lake

By Ted Williams

Ninety-five-thousand-acre Utah Lake is a major water source for the Great Salt Lake. If it dries up or sickens, so…

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Coal continues its precipitous decline

By Peter Gartrell

The coal mining industry reacted with outrage when the Bureau of Land Management recently announced plans to stop issuing new…

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Ditch “inefficiencies” give us wetlands

By Richard Knight

Imagine Westerners waking up one morning only to discover that many of their most cherished wetlands have dried up, gone….

Since 1917, five generations have lived along the Animas Consolidated Ditch outside of Durango, CO, Patty Zink pictured, courtesy Dave Marston

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An invitation to play the climate-change game

By Pepper Trail

Let’s play a game, the climate-change game that every living thing on Earth has no choice but to play, starting…

Dead Horse State Park, Moab, Utah, Andres Haro, Unsplash

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Pepper Trail: There’s so much worth saving

By Jonathan Romeo

For a long time, climate change was largely perceived as a distant threat. But Oregon biologist Pepper Trail, 70, who…

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We need to know avalanches inside and out

By Molly Absolon

There’s a fine line between learning from the mistakes of others and shaming people for their ignorance. Twelve people have…

Image by Will Turner, via Unsplash

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Glen Canyon Dam has created a world of mud

By Dave Marston

When the San Juan River flows out of the San Juan Mountains in Southwestern Colorado, it contributes 15% of Lake…

Calving sediment below Clay Hills, UT San Juan River, courtesy Chad Niehaus

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A terrible dilemma faces the Great Basin

By Stephen Trimble

The long drive between Salt Lake City, Utah and Reno, Nevada on Interstate 80 feels endless, the landscape timeless. But…

Toquima Range from Monitor Valley, Nevada, Steve Trimble photo

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What did Westerners care about in 2023?

By Betsy Marston

This past year, Writers on the Range, an independent opinion service based in western Colorado, sent out 52 weekly opinion…

Arches National Park, image courtesy Writers on the Range

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