A grieving daughter encounters solace in an unexpected place.
Essays
Posted inArticles
Of hawks and hope
In a climate collapse, a wildlife biologist turns from sadness to action.
Posted inDecember 1, 2020: A Community Divided
How an intimate burial can make death human-sized
In burying a stranger, a writer learns that dying can be as small and personal as life.
Posted inNovember 1, 2020: When the Smoke Clears
Hunting for myself in the high Montana sagebrush
A hunter celebrates a new vision of queerness and rural culture.
Posted inArticles
Inhospitable, remote and compelling: The island swallowed by nowhere
Alaska’s St. Matthew Island has had its share of human visitors, but none can remain long.
Posted inOctober 1, 2020: Democracy's Frayed Western Front
COVID-era lessons from homeschool
Don’t be terrified. Be ready.
Posted inOctober 1, 2020: Democracy's Frayed Western Front
When home is next to an oil refinery
All I knew about Wilmington, California, was poverty, so I long hid my connection to it.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2020: The Next West
Now that you’ve gone West, young man
Toward unlearning Manifest Destiny.
Posted inSeptember 1, 2020: The Next West
The physics of connection and solitude
In the middle of a pandemic, a lifetime of lessons from a parent.
Posted inArticles
Who’s looking out for elders on the Navajo Nation?
A reporter documents lack of food and harsh conditions for many Diné elderly, and few willing to take responsibility.
Posted inAugust 1, 2020: Infectious Ideologies
Am I an invasive species?
How COVID-19 and ‘murder hornets’ compelled a writer to rethink invasions.
Posted inArticles
Heartache, compounded
After her son’s death, a writer searches for a path forward through personal and climate grief.
Posted inMay 1, 2020: Lives on Lockdown
Safe at home in Los Angeles
Even under restrictions, the city shines for all to see.
Posted inMay 1, 2020: Lives on Lockdown
During the pandemic, how do you ethically get outdoors?
Sheltering responsibly doesn’t mean you have to stay inside.
Posted inMarch 16, 2020: Wiring the Wild
Searching for winter in Palm Springs
As the West warms, hunting for snow becomes part of the adventure.
Posted inMarch 16, 2020: Wiring the Wild
The wildness is in me, too
People were excluded from the wild, historically, and in today’s rapidly digitizing West.
Posted inMarch 16, 2020: Wiring the Wild
Overcoming winter’s alienation
I long felt shut out of the season. Snowshoeing changed that.
Posted inMarch 1, 2020: Predator (Mis)perceptions
The mystery of mountain lions
Despite decades of research, myth and fear still surround the animals.
Posted inMarch 1, 2020: Predator (Mis)perceptions
Colorado throws wolves to the vote
Should democracy take over where science ends?
Posted inFebruary 1, 2020: How One Woman Took a Stand Against Tribal Disenrollment and Paid For It
We went to jail for our great-granddaughters
Protesting the Jordan Cove natural gas facility and its pipeline brings an environmental writer and a rancher together.