What do we owe wildland firefighters?
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.
MoreIs the American Dream fading in the West?
I recently spent two days with a Mexican national named Alfredo because his experience and many of his surprising opinions…
MoreA backroad journey through time
Moab on a mid-fall weeknight was full. All the motels, RV parks and tents sites had “no vacancy” notices. Every…
Car Forest is 30 miles outside of Tonopah, NV, photo credit, Dennis Hinkamp
MoreA grassroots effort can defy the odds
This year marks the 25th anniversary of one of the most spectacular conservation victories in recent history: the defeat of…
MoreTelling the truth about the way we live now
Evonne lives in a fire lookout in Oregon, and since I meet with these graduate students on Zoom, we’ve all…
Lookout tower
MoreA community of river guides copes with loss
The Grand Canyon boating community — devoted to each other and to the Colorado River — was shocked to learn…
MoreA Japanese-American internment camp has much to teach us
“While other children were sent to daycare, when I was 3 years old I was sent to a Japanese-American prison,”…
MoreThis rancher has radical ideas about water
If Jim Howell, a fourth-generation rancher in Western Colorado, has a guru, he’s Allan Savory, the champion of intensive cattle…
MoreSometimes, the simplest things can help wildlife
“Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roamWhere the deer and the antelope playWhere seldom is heard a discouraging…
Ranch manager Zach Thode, works beside professors and students to help wildlife
MoreLet’s redefine those bucket lists
What did we learn this summer and fall? We learned that people who’d been cooped up, thanks to COVID-19, flocked…
MoreIf you see racism, call it out
Black Americans get a lot of messages about who matters and who does not in this country, and the question…
Dixie National Forest
MorePlease don’t pet the wildlife
“I can’t believe that person is getting that close.” Just off the road stands a bull elk — a 700-pound…
MoreChaco Culture National Park is under siege
It is not an exaggeration to say that New Mexico’s Chaco Culture National Historical Park is under siege. A surge…
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