2016 Bell Prize winner.
Essays
Posted inNovember 14, 2016: The Long View
Terry Tempest Williams and the refuge of change
One of the West’s most beloved authors revisits Great Salt Lake.
Posted inOctober 31, 2016: A Monumental Divide
How to shear a sheep — and why
On the satisfaction of back-breaking labor.
Posted inOctober 3, 2016: Purple Rain
Remembering a ‘free man’ who died at the Grand Canyon
A transient outdoorsman, he only wanted to be in the mountains or down some canyon.
Posted inSeptember 19, 2016: Frontera Incognita
A mother’s flight into the desert
An excerpt from Black Dove: Mamá, Mi’jo, and Me.
Posted inSeptember 19, 2016: Frontera Incognita
How humans nurtured the hated mosquito
Alexander von Humboldt and the spread of Aedes aegypti.
Posted inSeptember 19, 2016: Frontera Incognita
Humans and ecosystems mix it up on the U.S. – Mexico Borderlands
Everything moves across lines here. Nothing’s straightforward.
Posted inSeptember 19, 2016: Frontera Incognita
On borders, north and south
How the natural world challenges human notions of division.
Posted inSeptember 19, 2016: Frontera Incognita
Sometimes a place
A family’s journey from the San Luis Valley to Denver, in illustrations.
Posted inSeptember 19, 2016: Frontera Incognita
The afterlife of cotton
Through the present and past of a border town, on the trail of literary legend José Revueltas.
Posted inArticles
Ranch Diaries: Two years into Triangle P Cattle, we’re coming into our own
My childhood cowgirl dreams and family traditions are settling in and coming to fruition.
Posted inSeptember 5, 2016: When the Doctor is Out
The slaughter of innocents
After prairie dogs invade a corner of her lot, a writer weighs the cost of eliminating them.
Posted inArticles
Ranch Diaries: Late summer rain brings new wild foods
How to use wild purslane and algerita berries, and how to not mistake death camas for wild onions.
Posted inAugust 22, 2016: 100
A visit to the Grand Canyon, without handrails
A wild river is “a necessity of the human spirit.”
Posted inArticles
Ranch Diaries: After a dry spell, we finally have good rain at the ranch
We altered our grazing plan early in the summer to account for aridity, but now we’re rolling in forage.
Posted inAugust 8, 2016: Line of Descent
The family legacy of fishing
In a day on the river, a grandfather and grandson find joy despite the lack of fish.
Posted inArticles
Ranch Diaries: How to have a clear head and rested heart
It’s difficult to prioritize mental and emotional health in ranching, but vital to do so.
Posted inJuly 25, 2016: Salmon Power
The Chickadee Symphony
A composer reflects on three decades of birdsong.
Posted inArticles
The importance of Black Lives Matter in a white rural West
A Westerner reflects on racial injustice close to home.