How far will you go for the person you love?
Essays
Posted inNovember 12, 2018: Old Wests, and new
Reconciling wildness and the American dream
A writer finds a home in the wild landscapes of the West.
Posted inArticles
A fishing rod stronger than war’s dark legacy
After his father’s suicide, a son seeks solace in the streams.
Posted inArticles
The impermanence of wonder and whales
A writer comes to grips with the plight of the Puget Sound orca.
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The lone punk rocker of Paonia
A musician finds a home among a small town’s orchards and fields.
Posted inOctober 15, 2018: Nature Retreat
Can hunting keep us human?
In the New Machine Age, hunting helps us accept mortality as truth.
Posted inSeptember 17, 2018: The Pioneer of Ruin
The pioneer of ruin
Amid a desolate mess in Cisco, Utah, a young woman resurrects a home.
Posted inSeptember 17, 2018: The Pioneer of Ruin
Relittering: Take your trash and show it in the sun
Philosophy teaches us little more than how to confuse our settled opinions.
Posted inDecember 10, 2018: Critical Mass
The arresting quiet of a crane migration in Washington
Sandhill cranes, cattle and the surprising benefits of their coexistence in the West.
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A strange feeling of safety for a Black American
Under the gaze of tribal police, a writer finds a new sense of freedom.
Posted inAugust 6, 2018: What Are We Doing Here?
In this rapaciously dry year, a quiet question grows louder: What are we doing here?
Drought, dread and family in the American Southwest.
Posted inAugust 6, 2018: What Are We Doing Here?
After the mountain yellow-legged frog disappeared
A wildlife biologist returns to a childhood stomping ground, devoid of its once-plentiful amphibians.
Posted inJuly 23, 2018: Pay for Prey
Saving baby Jo from the smoke
A mother grapples with her decision to flee the 416 Fire with her infant daughter.
Posted inJune 25, 2018: Little Weed, Big Problem
Monument Valley
The spectral lines between life and the inert.
Posted inArticles
In a desert, I learned to fish
Dams, invasive species and roadways. All this, so I could go fishing.
Posted inJune 11, 2018: Reclaiming the Klamath
What the Ice Age West predicts about our future
An American creation story.
Posted inMay 28, 2018: The River of Lost Souls
A bird’s song adds wonder to the world
If a song defines a place, what does it mean to lose it?
Posted inMay 14, 2018: Death in the Alpine
The nowhereness of airports
The way air travel has devolved says something awful about humans.
Posted inMay 14, 2018: Death in the Alpine
Your stoke won’t save us
The idea that outdoor recreation leads to meaningful conservation rests on a big ‘if.’
Posted inArticles
Why we tell stories of the missing and murdered
A crisis continues across Indian Country, highlighted by a forthcoming documentary.