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An invitation to play the climate-change game

By Pepper Trail

Let’s play a game, the climate-change game that every living thing on Earth has no choice but to play, starting…

Dead Horse State Park, Moab, Utah, Andres Haro, Unsplash

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Pepper Trail: There’s so much worth saving

By Jonathan Romeo

For a long time, climate change was largely perceived as a distant threat. But Oregon biologist Pepper Trail, 70, who…

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A terrible dilemma faces the Great Basin

By Stephen Trimble

The long drive between Salt Lake City, Utah and Reno, Nevada on Interstate 80 feels endless, the landscape timeless. But…

Toquima Range from Monitor Valley, Nevada, Steve Trimble photo

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What did Westerners care about in 2023?

By Betsy Marston

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

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Requiem for the Joshua tree

By Pepper Trail

Disheveled, gangly, the Joshua tree is surely one of the West’s strangest — and most recognizable — plants.  Named by…

Conglomerate Mesa, Photo by Louis Medina, Friends of the Inyo

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John Fielder, the man who loved natural beauty

By Betsy Marston

If you’ve ever bought a calendar or coffee table book featuring the grandeur of Colorado’s 14’ers, the stunning color photographs…

John Fielder, credit Gary Wockner/Save the Colorado

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Wildland firefighters need our support

By Gregory Mcnamee

At any given moment during this smoky summer of 2023, hundreds of wildfires were blazing in the United States —…

Calwood fire, near Jamestown Colorado, by Malachi Brooks, via Unsplash

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Tips for a new Westerner

By Betsy Marston

Hurray, you’ve moved to the rural West from a crowded subdivision or city where the traffic has become an out-of-patience…

Reno Nevada Mutton bustin’ photo by Cornelius Photography

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A dogged reporter covers our roiling world

By Dave Marston

Usually seen with a camera slung around his neck, Allen Best edits a one-man online journalism shop he calls Big…

Allen Best at work

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Coming soon, the Apocalypse, maybe

By Pepper Trail

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

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We need every tool to fight today’s fires

By Stephen Pyne

We know now that the largest recorded fire in New Mexico history was started by an escaped “prescribed burn,” or…

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A new predator stalks the West

By Pepper Trail

The grizzly bear. The wolf. The cougar. These magnificent creatures, apex predators, how can we not admire them? People cross…

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