The best places to write are where the wifi cannot find me. Also, my co-author, the Colorado River watershed, requires daily in person workshopping.

Beautiful essay, Melissa. 🤎

"At @protectwildutah.bsky.social we are not shy about asking people outside of UT to join us in speaking up for protecting public lands in UT…we urge people to tell their elected officials to speak up for public lands, sacred sites & intact ecosystems in UT-because our politicians won’t."

Want to learn more about the Colorado River *on* the river? There are 5 spots left on Glen Canyon Institute’s Cataract Canyon trip, June 11-15. We will witness Glen Canyon coming back to life, time travel through history, talk policy, & explore this evolving landscape. glencanyon.org/product/2026...

Technoexistentialism and questions about data centers in Utah. open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

My carousel of nature photos, taken on a day offline between mega deadlines, turned technoexistential in a blink. When we turn the lens on ourselves, that is, make it about us humans, we must be prepared to see harsh, unfiltered truths. wildwords.substack.com/p/utah-natur...

Here is another one, we drained all our wetlands in the American West and Colorado River flows even through ag have served as a surrogate, Pacific flyway etc. bsky.app/profile/morg...

There’s not economic adjustments that the birds can make. A payout doesn’t help the birds that use those habitats.”––Jennifer Pitt, Colorado River program director for Audubon. Photo credit: Morgan Sjogren — wildwords.substack.com

I am so grateful for the support of the Ellen Meloy Fund for Desert Writers as I toil over my next (two) books. ellenmeloy.com/2026-award-w...

Thanks to @morgansjogren.bsky.social for introducing me to an Ellen Meloy themed cocktail

Last year, 100 “dead beat dams” were removed in the U.S. Bravo, @carabuckley.bsky.social @nytimes.com. #wildrivers

A step toward reckoning with the changing Colorado River. Plus some news from floating the San Juan with the spirit of Ellen Meloy. open.substack.com/pub/wildword... #coloradoriver

Can the #ColoradoRiver Survive 2026?: Reporting on the front lines of low water for Sierra Magazine -- Morgan Sjogren (Wildwords.Substack.com) #COriver #aridification coyotegulch.blog/2026/05/06/c...

Last year, Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) granted the Colorado River legal personhood under tribal law: “The needs of this river have been long overlooked. Now is the time that we need to give back to the river." www.sierraclub.org/sierra/can-c... @sierramagazine.bsky.social #coloradoriver

Important reporting in @sierramagazine.bsky.social by @morgansjogren.bsky.social on stalled Colorado River negotiations: "the only common ground between the states is disapproval for all alternatives put forward. " #water #scicomm www.sierraclub.org/sierra/can-c...

I and millions of others sure hope so

Can the Colorado River Survive 2026? open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

Can the Colorado River Survive 2026? This mighty river’s water levels are approaching dangerous lows, which could impact millions of people For @sierramagazine.bsky.social www.sierraclub.org/sierra/can-c...

I just wrote my first note on Substack substack.com/profile/2496...

Desert friends Colorado River folk Water Wish I was younger healthier Glad I did a multi-day canoe trip down the Colorado when I was younger Sjogren links to recent excellent writing by Len Necefer, @zakpodmore.bsky.social , and @landdesk.bsky.social

We are a generation born too late to see this stretch of river before dams and diversions, but just in time to watch the spectacular freak show that is climate change and water overallocation bringing back a fabled riverine landscape. substack.com/@wildwords/n...

Thirst, uncertainty, (boat dragging), and decision making in Glen Canyon. open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

Thanks but dyeing things rainbow and wearing a fur suit to worship a shirtless man is just a regular weekend for me.

“Many climate activists and psychologists warn that nihilism can be a “luxury” or a coping mechanism that leads to compliance with the status quo, whereas “therapeutic hope”—acting as if change is possible—is necessary for mental resilience and actual progress.”

Some pretty Colorado River watershed pictures and a call to help protect Chaco Culture National Historical Park. open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

This is a graph of snowpack above Lake Powell using 104 snow measuring stations. It was 9 inches of water on March 7, now 6 inches. Other dry years shown.There is no historical analog to this.

New post on Weather West: As historic March heatwave finally fades, a brief cooler/wetter interlude will occur across the U.S. West in early April before warmth & dryness likely return. Also: a deeper dive into now record-low Western snowpack.

Yesterday a plane picked up 5 desert rats to observe Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument as the birds do. This is what we saw: open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

Join me in Tucson for my book launch! This special event will take place in the San Pedro Chapel, built in the early 1900s & also Tucson’s first historic landmark designated on the National Register of Historic Places. Visitors will pass through an intact Sonoran Desert ecosystem right before sunset

I adore that this is the way this poem is introduced to the world. As I replied to Riley, queer history has always been a reckoning between love and mortality.

Reporting on the West’s record heat from below Glen Canyon’s bathtub ring. open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

March 2026 Water Supply Briefing -- Colorado Basin River Forecast Center #ColoradoRiver #COriver #aridification coyotegulch.blog/2026/03/14/m...

To immersively write about public lands and rivers, I need to be on the scene. If you’re not out there, is the landscape’s voice included in the story? open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

Could Colorado River “conservation pools” provide a path out of deadlock? -- Shannon Mullane (Fresh Water News) #COriver #aridification coyotegulch.blog/2026/03/07/c...

This.

Another day of shitty public lands news in Utah. open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

A thorough history of compact details past and present that reveal much about the current Colorado River impasse.

Come write beside the Colorado River. A writing retreat in Marble Canyon, AZ is the perfect fall treat to look forward to. Details here: pronghornexpeditions.com/retreats/ pronghornexpeditions.com/retreats/

This op-ed explains a lot about McCay's effort to destroy this tax relief program for low-income seniors. He's worked against it for years. www.deseret.com/opinion/2026...

Living our best life in the West requires a healthy Colorado River. Do state leaders care? open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

How to Plant a Billion Trees comes out in two weeks. I am so honored that the book is graces with an endorsement from Luis Alberto Urrea: "Nicole Walker’s How to Plant a Billion Trees gives me hope. It has resonance and life, and will always be on my shelf."

Field notes from beside a thirsty river and some book news! #ColoradoRiver open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

I wonder what her Grand Canyon route will be? Adventure aside, her message about the Colorado River’s future is clear and correct. Are the people with puppet strings to the pipelines & dams listening?

The art of not forgetting who we are. open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

Entsminger put a 5-year idea on the table at CRWUA2025. Problem is the current state of the basin is dire. No snowpack on top of a dry year in 2025. Time to decommission Glen Canyon Dam.

Wait, wasn’t there already a deadline? The can continues bouncing down the very dry and dusty road alongside the #ColoradoRiver.

Such a memorable river trip with @melissasevigny.bsky.social. Historic inscriptions are fascinating in their complexity, part vandalism part critical documentation. One thing is certain: don’t even think about scratching your name in the rocks today!

Happy solstice! Don’t forget to look up! 🌞https://open.substack.com/pub/wildwords/p/solsticing?r=73kg&utm_medium=ios

There is a major Colorado River water conference this week. Instead of attending as a journalist, I am touring Hohokam canals, bighorn guzzlers, and modern water infrastructure. I’m more interested in what the watershed has to say. open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

Want to float the San Juan together? Join me on Glen Canyon Institute’s 2026 Membership trip! glencanyon.org/product/2026...