Oregon forests are a test case for stripping protections
Picture a clear stream where spawning salmon undulate over clean gravels, pressing upstream through waters the iconic fish once vanished…
Joseph Canyon Roadless Area Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, David Mildrexler photo
MoreWendell Berry, champion of rural life
When Wendell Berry, 92, died this Monday, August 31, the West lost a writer who focused on the importance of…
MoreWhat keeps you going?
I’ve been asked that question twice recently, in very different contexts. The first time was after I described a hike…
Hiking the rugged Siskiyou Mountains of Oregon, photo by Pepper Trail
MoreThe West is about to inherit more abandoned oil wells
Here’s a true story about the West: An oil company leases some public land, drills a well, pumps the oil,…
Midland Texas pumpjack, Delfino Barbara, unsplash,
MoreMust water be enhanced and encased in plastic?
If someone told me 10 years ago that people would willingly pay over $5 for a one-gallon container of water,…
MoreJane Goodall told us never give up
In her “Last Words” interview that was broadcast after her death, Jane Goodall talked about her calm in the face…
The Lee-Curtis proposal would bring OHV traffic into the wildness and quiet of Cathedral Valley in Capitol Reef National Park. Photo courtesy Stephen Trimble
MoreThe push is on to strip big trees from our national forests
It didn’t get much notice, but President Trump has turbocharged logging on public lands in ways that are likely to…
MoreMust we kill one species to save another?
Barred owls, with their vivid brown stripes, are acting like bullies of the forest in the Northwest, driving their smaller…
MoreEnergy dominance harms our public lands
I live in Jackson County, in northern Colorado, where hundreds of inactive and abandoned oil wells litter the landscape. Not…
MoreWhen reality weighs you down
A lot of us feel hopeless today. There’s the return of energy dominance as a federal goal, which places oil,…
MorePublic land protectors are ready for a fight
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
MoreNature is becoming unreliable
Twice a year, I hike a favorite trail in Oregon’s Cascade Range. I have done this for over 20 years,…
More
