Rural Colorado county gets ready for wildfire

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
MoreBeware the Trojan Horse targeting public land

Sometimes when I drive past the little house my wife and I bought when we first married, 30 years ago,…
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…
MoreIt’s a perfect storm for fire insurance

Westerners have begun looking at their homes differently these days. Are those trees too close? Should I move all that…
House in Douglas County, CO, courtesy Lena Deravianko, Unsplash
MoreRestoring the land can feel a lot like fun

Driving back to Colorado State University with a van full of students after a day of working to heal some…
Autumn at a cattle ranch in Colorado near Ridgway – County Road 12, Craig Zerbe Photo
MoreWhen giants fall, we need to listen

“God has cared for these trees …but he cannot save them from fools.”— John Muir In just two years, wildfire…
MoreComing soon, the Apocalypse, maybe

Just about every video game, young adult novel and buzz-worthy streaming series agree that we need to prepare for a…
Photo by Intricate Explorer, Via Unsplash
MoreA water-stressed valley needs to curb development

In my drought- and fire-plagued home valley, 40 miles north of San Francisco, a debate has been simmering for decades…
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
MoreWhen immortals die

Giant sequoias come as close to immortality as living organisms can. Many live over a thousand years despite nature’s challenges. So…
MoreWe blame the trees, but whose fault is it?

“But it’s questionable that any amount of “thinning” could protect Ashland from a wind-driven firestorm coming out of the watershed.”
Photograph by Romain Le Teuff, courtesy of Unsplash
MoreIt’s Time to Come to the Aid of Wildland Firefighters

“..many of the men and women who fight those fires on our behalf are suffering from burnout”
Image of Harrison Raine setting a backfire to stop wildfire from spreading
More