A former sports writer tries to find a place for himself in the outdoors.
Features
Posted inJune 13, 2016: Water to Dust
When water turns to dust
In Oregon, a cluster of lakes is drying up — with dire impacts for the millions of migrating birds that survive off them.
Posted inMay 30, 2016: Trial by Fire
Trial by fire
Women in the male-dominated world of wildland firefighting still face harassment, abuse and sexism.
Posted inMay 2, 2016: The Gold King Reckoning
Silverton’s Gold King reckoning
How the Animas River disaster forced Silverton to face its pollution problem — and its destiny.
Posted inApril 4, 2016: A Land Divided
Can a legal victory make Indian Country whole again?
For over a century, federal law has split Native American land holdings into tiny pieces. A settlement unites some of the splinters, but at a steep cost.
Posted inMarch 21, 2016: Making Sense of Malheur
The darkness at the heart of Malheur
A Westerner traces the roots – and meaning – of the Oregon occupation.
Posted inMarch 7, 2016: The Parks You Don't Know
Protecting the Oregon Trail from the development it helped create
Dedicated volunteers fight to preserve one of the trails that brought settlers west.
Posted inMarch 7, 2016: The Parks You Don't Know
Tracing America’s Borderlands history along the Anza Trail
Immigrants still follow Juan Bautista de Anza’s historic route.
Posted inFebruary 22, 2016: Fractured
The fractured terrain of oil and gas opposition
In one of the West’s biggest arguments, the battle lines are complicated and opaque.
Posted inFebruary 2, 2016: Sagebrush Insurgency
Sugar Pine Mine, the other standoff
How a small-time mining dispute in Oregon readied a network of militias for the Malheur occupation.
Posted inFebruary 2, 2016: Sagebrush Insurgency
The rise of the Sagebrush Sheriffs
How rural ‘constitutional’ peace officers are joining the war against the feds.
Posted inJanuary 25, 2016: The Forever War
Wildlife Services and its eternal war on predators
The federal agency has been researching nonlethal means to protect livestock for decades. So why is it still killing so many carnivores?
Posted inDecember 21, 2015: Secrets of the Deep
New clues to the past in Nevada’s desert fossils
Scientific inquiry is a process of constant revision. And revision is where the most intriguing discoveries happen.
Posted inDecember 7, 2015: Good Neighbors
Why being a good neighbor is a good idea
Researchers look to Southwestern ranchers to learn why we share — and what happens when we don’t.
Posted inNovember 23, 2015: Water Hustle
The tenuous revival of Mono Lake
Its defenders won a long fight over water with Los Angeles. Now, drought is raising new questions about its future.
Posted inNovember 23, 2015: Water Hustle
Water hustle
Did one of Nevada’s top water regulators try to cash in on the drought?
Posted inNovember 9, 2015: The Campaign Against Coal
The campaign against coal
Where ‘keep it in the ground’ meets ‘keep the lights on.’
Posted inOctober 26, 2015: Clean Energy's Dirty Secret
Green energy’s dirty secret
Industrial solar and wind endanger wildlife but are getting more support than ever.
Posted inOctober 12, 2015: The Rise of Lisa Murkowski
The rise of Lisa Murkowski
Alaska’s pragmatic senator wants to reshape America’s energy policy.
Posted inSeptember 14, 2015: Close Ties in Big Landscapes
A displaced California tribe reclaims sacred land
The Mountain Maidu return to their valley, but the work of reclamation never ends.