Columns

Categories

Archives

Coming soon, the Apocalypse, maybe

By Pepper Trail

Just about every video game, young adult novel and buzz-worthy streaming series agree that we need to prepare for a…

Photo by Intricate Explorer, Via Unsplash

More
Fire · Water

Spring is coming too soon

By Pepper Trail

Photo by redcharlie via Unsplash

More

A new predator stalks the West

By Pepper Trail

The grizzly bear. The wolf. The cougar. These magnificent creatures, apex predators, how can we not admire them? People cross…

More

Wind-driven fire ran until gusts died

By Dave Marston

The Marshall Fire that demolished more than 1,000 homes along the front range of Colorado two weeks ago was not…

Nasa recorded image of MM117 fire via Wildfire Today

More

Telling the truth about the way we live now

By Laura Pritchett

Evonne lives in a fire lookout in Oregon, and since I meet with these graduate students on Zoom, we’ve all…

Lookout tower

More

Our new age of fire

By Stephen Pyne

Fire in the West is expected, and not so long ago, it seemed something the West experienced more than anywhere…

More

When wildfire keeps coming back

By Char Miller
Malachi Brooks via Unsplash

Since January 2021, more than 6,272 fires have burned 917,000 acres in California

Smoke plume from wildfire in Boulder County, CO

More

When immortals die

By Pepper Trail
Photo by Joshua Earl on Unsplash

Giant sequoias come as close to immortality as living organisms can. Many live over a thousand years despite nature’s challenges. So…

More

What do we owe wildland firefighters?

By Jonathon Golden

Vacancies, of course, limit how much federal firefighters can do. If Western communities want to be protected, they need to ensure that their firefighters receive better pay and benefits.

More

We blame the trees, but whose fault is it?

By Pepper Trail

“But it’s questionable that any amount of “thinning” could protect Ashland from a wind-driven firestorm coming out of the watershed.”

Photograph by Romain Le Teuff, courtesy of Unsplash

More

We can act now to fight wildfires

By Harrison Raine

“In 2020, the highest we got to anywhere, was a D2 — Severe Drought. Now we are looking at D3 — D4 — Extreme and Exceptional Drought across much of the West and almost all of the Southwest.”

Cameron Peak Fire, Near Red Feather Lakes, Arapahoe and Roosevelt National Forest, Colorado – 2020 Image courtesy of Harrison Raine

More

It’s Time to Come to the Aid of Wildland Firefighters

By Harrison Raine

“..many of the men and women who fight those fires on our behalf are suffering from burnout”

Image of Harrison Raine setting a backfire to stop wildfire from spreading

More

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Once a week you’ll receive an email with a link to our weekly column along with profiles of our writers, beside quirky photos submitted from folks like you. Don’t worry we won’t sell our list or bombard you with daily mail.