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Americans face a test of community and citizenship

By Stephen Trimble

Each of us Americans conducts our daily life in bubbles, all shockingly siloed from each other. These days, we don’t…

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Erasing history, one park at a time

By Ernie Atencio

As the philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” It’s true that…

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Must we kill one species to save another?

By Writers on the Range

Barred owls, with their vivid brown stripes, are acting like bullies of the forest in the Northwest, driving their smaller…

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Protect the firefighters who protect our homes and forests

By Riva Duncan

You probably don’t see wildland firefighters on the job because they usually work in remote areas. But with wildfires moving…

Federal firefighters digging a fire line, photo courtesy National Interagency Fire Center

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Energy dominance harms our public lands

By Barbara Vasquez

I live in Jackson County, in northern Colorado, where hundreds of inactive and abandoned oil wells litter the landscape. Not…

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For waste and ineficiency you can’t beat ethanol

By Writers on the Range

Corn ethanol, also known as grain alcohol, has been burned in gasoline engines and human stomachs since before Henry Ford…

An ethanol production plant in South Dakota. Credit: photos by jim

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The threat of tariffs is already my problem

By Crista Worthy

Unless revoked or substantially reduced to what they are now, 30 percent for 90 days, President Trump’s tariffs will still…

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Public lands are a national treasure and must not be sold

By Tracy Stone-Manning

Public lands are one of our country’s great equalizers. It doesn’t matter how much money you have—a billionaire and a…

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“De-extinction” is a fool’s errand

By Pepper Trail

To breathless media coverage, a company called Colossal Biosciences now claims to have produced three genetically engineered pups of the…

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ICE is eroding the rule of law

By Benjamin Waddell

“I got lucky,” José told me. “Because they got the wrong person.” José, 28, who did not give his last…

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Solar panels have more than proven themselves

By Andrew Carpenter

I’d never heard of “net metering” until my electric bill hit $600 last February. Desperate for a way to reduce…

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Rural Colorado county gets ready for wildfire

By Dave Marston

When La Plata County in southwestern Colorado needed a director of emergency management in 2021, they found a winner in…

Shawna Legarza Kennebec Trail Race 2024

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What others are saying See More

The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction, Colorado places a premium on content that examines management of public lands and natural resources. We’re big fans of Writers on the Range. The contributors come from all walks of life, but their column always hit home with our readers, for whom access to public lands is an important part of the lifestyle in western Colorado. Cutbacks to the newsroom have seriously hampered our coverage of the environment. Most often these stories are best told by people who have first-hand experience dealing with a particular challenges — from loving favorite trails to death to rebuilding coal communities or threats to the sagebrush sea. Writers on the Range consistently identifies problems and solutions in a thorough and engaging way. We need more of this kind of advocacy journalism on our opinion pages because it fosters understanding and dialogue about the unique living conditions in the American West.

Andy Smith, Opinion Page Editor
Grand Junction Sentinel, Grand Junction, CO

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