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If You Like Fish and Birds, Hug a Cow

By Sharon and Pat O’Toole

“Eighty-five percent of grazing lands — think sagebrush steppe or high desert landscapes — are not suitable for any other type of food production”

Photograph by Angela Mulligan, Courtesy of Unsplash

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If the Water Goes, the Desert Moves in

By Dave Marston

“Without water, you’ve got nothing around here.”

Photograph by David Marston

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The wall with Mexico will come tumbling down

By Gary Paul Nabhan

But one needs to read only a bit of world history to realize that walls can come down as a quickly as they were put up.

Photograph by Greg Bulla, Courtesy of Unsplash

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The Bomb and Me, 75 Years Later

By Paul Krza

“my face received about a hundred times more radiation than Japanese nuke bomb”

Photograph by of Thomas van der Veer, courtesy of Unsplash

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Climbing Walls While Sitting in a Chair

By W.S. Robinson

Suddenly tears flowed. “Geez, you could say I squashed a bug.”

Photograph by Kuma Kum, Courtesy of Unsplash

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We Either Lie About Them or Omit Them

By Rich Wandschneider

And, according to Indian friends, there are strong tribal memories of the devastating 1918 flu

Photograph by Taylor Ruecker, courtesy of Unsplash

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WILDFIRE IS MEANER THESE DAYS

By Stephen Pyne

As I look out my window, the smoke from the Bush fire is belching upward behind the fabled profile of…

Photograph by Marcus Kaufman, courtesy of Unsplash

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AIN’T NONE OF US CAN BREATH

By Wayne Hare

How do you explain racism when it is so subtle and ingrained that it became invisible to white people generations ago?

Photograph by Vince Fleming, courtesy of Unsplash

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LOOKING HATE IN THE EYES IN WHITEFISH

By 'Asta Bowen

He would constantly remind us that ‘no matter the threat, always look them in the eye so they have to acknowledge you’re human.

Photograph by Grace Hansen

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MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN RODEO CLOWNS

By Patty Limerick

When all hell breaks loose and disorder rules, rodeo clowns stay self-possessed and focused.

Photograph by Ken Okum, courtesy of Unsplash

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THE WORLD IS ALIVE

By Pepper Trail

Climate change and the conversion of wild ecosystems, if unchecked, threaten to collapse the global bounty of “nature’s services.”

Photograph courtesy of Unsplash

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ALMOST 70 WHEN THE VIRUS ENDED HIS JOB

By Dave Marston

Brezonick knows that the huge furnaces that burn coal are closing fast. “I don’t think coal will recover and society has turned against it,”

Photograph by Matt Brezonick

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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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