As a kid, I thought a lot about quicksand. After watching The Princess Bride, I assumed it would be an inevitable problem I would have to address in adulthood. Before

“Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” -Khalil Gibran The intrinsic value of nature is hard to

It can seem to the untrained observer that natural history isn’t very relevant in society today. What can a sophisticated urbanite learn from a bunch of plants anyway? Let me

I picked up a branch of leaves and observed the shifting shadows as it spun between my fingers. There I sat, starring at an unassuming desert plant. My three-hour plant study

What do you think of when you hear about the Wild West? Tumbleweeds, outlaws and cattle rustling? Well, this lore is true on the Colorado Plateau in Utah. Here, those

  Perched on a cliff, overlooking the Missouri River and surrounding plains, I was confronted by the expansiveness of this place. The vast open space was overwhelming and made me

  “Land is many things to many people,” writes Richard Manning in his book, Rewilding the West. What land means to one individual is a matter of perspective. It is

A lot goes into our perception of the West, and a conversation with two Montana grass growers can help clarify what actually shapes the landscape. Our WRFI group was lucky

What is a land ethic and what does having a land ethic mean? To quote the famous environmentalist Aldo Leopold, “A land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from

I know I will always remember the trip into the Snowcrest Mountains at the beginning of my course. About 2-3 days the weather began to turn and it started snowing as we climbed in elevation. Not having the proper clothing... (read more)