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Old fire lookout towers find renewed purpose

By Zeke Lloyd

There’s a small wooden cabin at the top of Northwest Peak, a few miles from Montana’s borders with Idaho and…

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Imagine a river more fascinating than football

By Patricia J. Rettig

Imagine a best-selling, 900-page novel using “a sad, bewildered nothing of a river” as its centerpiece, connecting the earth’s geologic…

South Platte at 52 bridge image by Laura Perry, courtesy USGS

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Let’s scrap the stigma of mental illness

By Dave Marston

Even though one in five Americans is estimated to suffer from mental health illness, talk about mental health in the…

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Public land protectors are ready for a fight

By Jennifer Rokala

President Donald Trump’s first term was a disaster for America’s public lands. While the prospects for his second term are…

The Citadel, Bears Ears National Monument, Dave Marston photo

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Nature is becoming unreliable

By Pepper Trail

Twice a year, I hike a favorite trail in Oregon’s Cascade Range. I have done this for over 20 years,…

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The Trump triumph portends an economic fallout

By Dave Marston

As I watched Donald Trump arrive at an astounding victory election night, I was struck by his strong turnout in…

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Grizzly 399 was a bear for the ages

By Kristin Combs Wendy Keefover

She was 28 years old and dealt with aplomb the hordes of picture-taking tourists and repeated motherhood. When she was…

Bear 399 with cubs Thomas Mangelsen:Images of Nature Gallery

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Acidic mine drainage haunts Western rivers

By Dave Marston

It was the summer of 2015 when the Animas River in southern Colorado turned such a garish orange-gold that it…

Reid Christopher in font of textile bags, mining ruins in background, Gladstone Treatment Plant, San Miguel County, CO. Dave Marston photojpg

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How to learn where we live

By Dorothy Bradley

I was driving on Montana’s Highway 89 just as fall began showing up at one of my favorite spots for…

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Wyoming shoots itself in the foot

By Jonathan Thompson

This summer, the Biden administration offered Wyoming $35 million to help the state plug and clean up abandoned oil and…

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We need mountain lions to do their job as predators

By Dan Ashe

I am a former director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and have hunted practically as long as I…

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Glen Canyon Dam faces deadpool

By Zak Podmore

In 1998, when I was in fourth grade, I joined a class field trip to Mesa Verde National Park in…

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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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