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December 1, 2022

This issue takes us into the Mojave Desert, reminding us that landscapes too often dismissed as wastelands have always been home to Indigenous cultures and complex ecosystems. Our feature profiles artist Kim Stringfellow, who has devoted years to interrogating the desert’s history. We visit other unique landscapes, from the Great Basin’s vanishing sagebrush sea to Montana’s alpine peaks, where a strange pink algae is hastening the already rapid snowmelt. We ask uncomfortable questions: After June’s deluge, will developers rethink plans to build in the Yellowstone River’s floodplain? Is carbon capture really a viable solution to climate change? Will Indigenous nations finally receive their share of the Colorado River? And we explore some human ecosystems, honoring the stories of Diné boarding school survivors and the hidden histories of queer folk; chatting with customers on closing day at a diner in St. George, Utah; resurrecting family traditions with homemade fruitcake and watching a new life is rooted underneath a Wyoming juniper.