The Salton Sea’s weirdness is what’s appealing
Fascinating and fetid, the Salton Sea in southern California lures me back, every year. Driving south from Utah, I take…
Bales of straw along the banks of the Salton Sea, Hinkamp photo
MoreHey, Utah, Americans love our public lands
If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while hoping in vain for different results,…
Natural arch, the terminus of Grandstaff Canyon Trail, near Moab Utah, Dave Marston photo
MoreTime to get real about plastic recycling
I’m a dedicated recycler. I fret when I see people throwing garbage in with soda cans and empty water bottles….
Plastic garbage in the Himalayas, Sylwia Bartyzel via Unsplash
MoreLos Angeles is a wake-up call for the West—especially Durango
After fierce winds whipped fire out of brush-covered hills on January 7, entire Los Angeles neighborhoods burned down. Within a…
MoreHow to learn where we live
I was driving on Montana’s Highway 89 just as fall began showing up at one of my favorite spots for…
MoreWyoming shoots itself in the foot
This summer, the Biden administration offered Wyoming $35 million to help the state plug and clean up abandoned oil and…
MoreGlen Canyon Dam faces deadpool
In 1998, when I was in fourth grade, I joined a class field trip to Mesa Verde National Park in…
MoreCoal continues its precipitous decline
The coal mining industry reacted with outrage when the Bureau of Land Management recently announced plans to stop issuing new…
MoreDitch “inefficiencies” give us wetlands
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
MoreLive rough and know the real world
Guides in the outdoor industry inevitably come up with collective nicknames for customers. On horseback they’re “dudes,” on the river…
MoreCreative builders get rural housing done
Here’s a statistic to be unhappy about: Colorado and Utah host the fifth and sixth most expensive housing markets in…
Community Rebuilds houses in Moab UT, courtesy Emily Niehaus
MoreWhen a skunk goes after your garden
Skunks love autumn as our backyard gardens fill up with ripe vegetables. But in my northern New Mexico corn patch,…
Bryan Padron via Unsplash
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