Asking the public to decide if it’s a good idea to ban hunting mountain lions and bobcats is no way for a state to run its wildlife agency. We all have opinions, but most of us aren’t …
Unlike the rest of modern wildlife management, killing bobcats is unregulated, driven not by science, but by fur prices. We’re stuck in the 19th century, when market hunters, for example, shot …
A few years ago, I turned a carport into a bedroom. But first I had to empty out the books, papers, furniture, rugs and tools that were in the carport. Then I took it all to a storage unit where …
It’s legal in Wyoming to chase coyotes and run over them with snowmobiles, but, recently, a man used his snowmobile to run down a wolf until it was disabled. Then he taped the wolf’s …
By Pepper Trail PREVIEW Columnist Let’s play a game, the climate-change game that every living thing on Earth has no choice but to play, starting — now. The game is called …
There’s a fine line between learning from the mistakes of others and shaming people for their ignorance. Twelve people have died in avalanches in the United States this winter, including …
Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument rarely leaves the news. The political tussle over this stunning expanse of red rock canyons exemplifies all the cultural dissonance in the rural West. …
What was it like for 10 captured Oregon wolves when Colorado Parks and Wildlife opened their crates on a December day last year? The wolves had been chased by helicopter, drugged, blindfolded and …
When the San Juan River flows out of the San Juan Mountains in Southwestern Colorado, it contributes 15 percent of Lake Powell’s water. But there’s a problem: The river carries a …
When my friends and I encountered the fresh grizzly bear scat, we were deep in Wyoming’s Teton Wilderness, 20 miles from a trailhead. I’d seen grizzlies before — from the car. But …
Moab, Utah, is a growing town of 5,300 that up to 5 million people visit each year to hike nearby Arches and Canyonlands national parks, ride mountain bikes and all-terrain vehicles, or raft the …
The experts tell us an energy gap looms. Fossil fuels are phasing out, and solar and wind power can’t produce enough electricity to meet the demand in coming decades. But that’s not …
The long drive between Salt Lake City, Utah, and Reno, Nev., on Interstate 80 feels endless, the landscape timeless. But these basins and ranges of the Great Basin Desert are changing dramatically. …
Exactly what causes people to leave their homeland and make a difficult trek of 3,000 miles? A young woman I’ll call Jhovid, who came here from Venezuela, has asked me to listen to …
Nearly two decades ago, I moved to the mountains to be a ski bum, chasing snow. I was a stereotype — an East Coast kid pulled west by the promise of bigger adventures and higher mountain …