Public land protectors are ready for a fight
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
MoreGrumpy talk on the trail
I suppose it’s the human thing on a hiking trail to acknowledge one another when passing. But on a well-used…
MoreGlen Canyon Dam has created a world of mud
When the San Juan River flows out of the San Juan Mountains in Southwestern Colorado, it contributes 15% of Lake…
Calving sediment below Clay Hills, UT San Juan River, courtesy Chad Niehaus
MoreWhat did Westerners care about in 2023?
This past year, Writers on the Range, an independent opinion service based in western Colorado, sent out 52 weekly opinion…
Arches National Park, image courtesy Writers on the Range
MoreThere’s such a thing as trail etiquette
The uppermost switchback on the Bright Angel Trail in Grand Canyon National Park is eight feet wide. Yet the last…
Bright Angel Trail, NPS/Ty Karlovetz
MoreToo many tourists follow a leader
A spectacular picture recently appeared on social media of a young lady in Arizona. She was poised on the edge…
spencer backman, via unsplash
MoreBoondoggle on the Colorado River
You’d think the Earth shook recently when the three states of California, Arizona and Nevada announced they’d reached a deal…
Glen Canyon Dam, Courtesy Bureau of Reclamation
MoreAtmospheric rivers endanger the West
Moab, Utah, gets just eight inches of rain per year, yet rainwater flooded John Weisheit’s basement last summer. Extremes are…
Glen Canyon Dam under construction 1960-63, courtesy USBR
MoreBusiness as usual for the Colorado River
It seemed inevitable that the dwindling Colorado River would be divvied up by the federal Bureau of Reclamation. On June…
Winterhaven, CA, Imperial Dam, where 90% of the Colorado River is desilted and sent to numerous irrigation districts in CA and AZ. Courtesy of Bureau of Reclamation
MoreNever hike without this perfect accompaniment
I have long been known to have pet peeves about the debris hikers drop along trails, but one piece of…
Buster babes with a bandana collar
MoreHow do you you-know-what in the woods
Poop talk makes everybody fidget and giggle uncomfortably. We like our poop to disappear. We want shiny white porcelain toilets…
MoreDon’t blame the Upper Basin states
But the Bureau of Reclamation has regularly and faithfully released to the Lower Basin, from Powell Reservoir, the Colorado River Compact and Mexican Treaty allotments –- 8.23 million acre-feet only dropping a little below those allotments half a dozen times since Powell began to fill in the 1960s.
Bryan Egner US Dept. of energy Glen Canyon Dam 2018
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