The irrigation of the land defines our West in ways I can hardly explain.
Essays
Posted inApril 16, 2018: Cashing in on Standing Rock
Frackin’ on heaven’s door
How many people over the centuries have loved the Pawnee Buttes, only to see them ravaged?
Posted inArticles
When boyhood friendships were forged outdoors
After his friend’s passing, a writer reflects on a life spent chasing fish and toads.
Posted inMarch 19, 2018: Desert, Divided
You’re made of the same stuff sloshing around in tidepools
When the tides pull back the water line, a writer takes a trip through time.
Posted inFebruary 19, 2018: Unfrozen North
In Oregon’s Coast Range, a writer explores identity
A collection of essays ranges through the histories, trees and wildlife of the state.
Posted inFebruary 19, 2018: Unfrozen North
A celebration of equality and of the land
At a Wyoming wedding, a musician ponders the big questions of life.
Posted inApril 16, 2018: Cashing in on Standing Rock
A Dreamer dreams of running for office
Over a year into the Trump presidency, reflections from a young immigrant.
Posted inArticles
How to learn to love a new landscape
A writer trades in the ‘crack-me-open ache of space’ in Colorado for the lushness of western Oregon.
Posted inFebruary 5, 2018: Caught Between Crises
On love in Death Valley, and what’s been lost
An ode to a time of both sorrow and new found laughter.
Posted inJanuary 22, 2018: A Separatist State of Mind
Climate change forced me to leave the place that I love
After finding their dream town, a family fled drought and fire.
Posted inDecember 11, 2017: Scorched Earth
A ‘selfish’ decision
As neighbors evacuated, one family stayed behind.
Posted inDecember 11, 2017: Scorched Earth
‘Will my tears cool the ash?’
A firefighter contemplates the fire season.
Posted inArticles
In rural Colorado, can art provide an economic engine?
A small town invests in affordable housing for the creative sector.
Posted inNovember 13, 2017: Solace and Perspective
What are we fighting for?
Bell Prize winner: Through the trials of life, a young writer finds she’s fighting for our spirit.
Posted inNovember 13, 2017: Solace and Perspective
A man and his house of relics, in search of a self
What is the right way to treat artifacts that do not belong to you?
Posted inNovember 13, 2017: Solace and Perspective
‘Helpless and culpable’ while fishing the pink’s peak run
2017 Bell Prize runner-up: A writer reflects on salmon as symbol.
Posted inNovember 13, 2017: Solace and Perspective
A book in hand deepens the backcountry experience
What’s the meaning of lugging literature into the wild?
Posted inNovember 13, 2017: Solace and Perspective
What to do if you had just one day left to live
Two writers contemplate their last moments.
Posted inDecember 25, 2017: Bear Essentials
What could be lost in a push for mining in monuments
In Grand Staircase-Escalante, coal and fossils lie side by side.
Posted inOctober 30, 2017: The Changing Face of Woods Work
Pledge allegiance to the Earth, not a flag
Raise up the vulnerable voices of the elderly, impoverished and the wild earth, too.