The lack of diversity in the outdoors often prompts people of color to ponder their sense of belonging in nature.
People & Places
Posted inArticles
On becoming reacquainted with sandhill cranes
I’m on my way south to chase the first harbingers of spring in our High Plains desert home.
Posted inApril 4, 2016: A Land Divided
Where hope lingers like sagebrush on the wind
In his latest collection of Western tales, Percival Everett searches for the good in range life.
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 inApril 4, 2016: A Land Divided
A photographer turns his lens on small-town bliss
A new exhibit in Denver, Colorado, looks at happiness in the rural West, focusing on Bliss, Idaho.
Posted inApril 4, 2016: A Land Divided
Take a page from the mountain goats
A parent contemplates risk assessment with kids in the mountains.
Posted inArticles
Rants from the Hill: After many years of essay writing, a wave goodbye
All good Rants must come to an end and this marks the final missive from the Ranting Hill.
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Podcast: The last Nevada showgirl revue came to a close this year
Preserving showgirl culture, amidst lasting discomfort around the tradition.
Posted inMarch 21, 2016: Making Sense of Malheur
Crime and grit: A retrospective collection from the don of Chicano noir
An uneven but often rewarding collection from one of the West’s masterful storytellers.
Posted inMarch 21, 2016: Making Sense of Malheur
Drought brings unexpected water relief to California communities
State and federal funds are paying for desperately needed infrastructure in the Central Valley.
Posted inMarch 21, 2016: Making Sense of Malheur
Seeds in a sandstorm
A writer contemplates love and disaster in a city of transients.
Posted inArticles
I inherited an oil field. Now what do I do with it?
A writer faces a moral dilemma: fight the bureaucracy to end oil extraction on family land or give in?
Posted inMarch 21, 2016: Making Sense of Malheur
Meet the caribou hunter of Arctic Village, Alaska
Photos of this winter’s hunt and a community’s subsistence way of life.
Posted inArticles
Podcast: Why won’t white West Coast progressives talk about racism?
Conversations about race need to happen regularly, not just every once in a while.
Posted inArticles
Recent criminal justice reforms by state
California has led the way for other states to reduce prison populations.
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The Bundy bust-up
Charges rain down on militant leaders of Bundy family standoffs in Nevada and Oregon.
Posted inMarch 7, 2016: The Parks You Don't Know
NPS unveiled: Meet the people that make the national parks run
Thousands of individuals in parks from Denali to Petrified Forest do little-known but essential jobs.
Posted inMarch 7, 2016: The Parks You Don't Know
Secrets of the National Park Service
Readers and staff speak out on surprising favorites.
Posted inMarch 7, 2016: The Parks You Don't Know
The tricky allure of unpeopled places
Longing for solitude on the land, and feeling uneasy.
Posted inArticles
Rants from the Hill: A romance in Reno, land of the second chance
The Ranter remembers being struck down by love for Tonya Harding, the fallen ice skater.