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...

TONIGHT. www.archaeologysouthwest.org/event/path-o...

Tomorrow I’ll be presenting about the 1920s Bernheimer Expeditions in the Four Corners region for @archsw.bsky.social. Tune in online here: www.archaeologysouthwest.org/event/path-o...

A boat dropped us off along a temporary shoreline to meditate on yesterday, eternal and ephemeral, in the canyon country archive. Nine days to lose count of with no words to find. Just you, me, the desert, and more water and wonder than we can absorb. open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

Imagine if Colorado River Basin decision makers considered such expansive views instead of clinging to development plans. With decisions being made by people behind closed doors, what, if anything, has changed since the 1922 Colorado River Compact except less water? open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

Last week, more than a dozen tribes across the U.S. commented on a new proposal by the Trump administration to let developers obtain preliminary permits for hydropower projects on reservations in spite of tribal opposition.

The love for the river, and especially Glen Canyon, was palpable at the The Rivers of Change Symposium in Moab last week. I felt like I was going to the Church of the River. substack.com/@wildwords/n...

Tomorrow I’m presenting on the Century Old Dream to protect Glen Canyon at the Rivers of Change Symposium. It’s appropriate timing as Colorado River states drag their feet to change archaic water policy as drought steadily returns Glen Canyon to fresh air (again). www.eventbrite.com/e/rivers-of-...

Sounds like every non-committal situationship to me!

Calling all writers rooted in the Colorado Plateau! The Entrada Institute’s Writer-in-Residence program offers $5,000 and up to two weeks in Torrey, Utah, to create work inspired by the region’s ecology, culture & history. Open to poets, fiction, and nonfiction writers of all levels. bit.ly/43fBAJp

Books should be included on a menu to nourish our ability to learn, grow, question, resist, discuss, help each other, and advocate for the rights of nature, which includes humans. open.substack.com/pub/wildword... @hellsbackbonegrill.bsky.social

I just want to say that I’ve hiked a great deal on the Colorado Plateau and your dispatches reawaken my connection to those places. Thanks!

As our human line of sight shrinks ever further into our phones, I believe it is critical right now to dream at a landscape scale. To seek a place, even in our backyards, where our strength and characters is drawn. open.substack.com/pub/wildword... open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

Meandering around the next bend. 〰️

Instead of writing last week, I was walking around dressed like Edward Abbey in the desert, apparently.

Was visiting my dad with son and grandkid, missed this. There's a link to a comment by Oct 24th you might be interested in

The ESA protects wildlife and its habitat by preventing illegal “Take“, a legal word meaning “harass, harm, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture or collect or attempt to engage in any such conduct“ except by federal permit. Removing HARM protection will increase their greatest threat: habitat loss.

We must point ourselves downstream, square up to the rapids, ready to carry ourselves and each other through the muck. Here are a few news items for you, desert rats, and far-flung lovers, to keep on your radar: open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

Pushing a canoe downstream, it’s comical to imagine decision makers hanging foolishly onto the belief that they can continue to develop the West beyond its means with this vanishing river. open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

The Endangered Species Act has protected species and their habitats for over 50 years. A single word change could significantly alter the way the law is implemented. The only beneficiaries of this plan are extractive industries. 🌎 by @morgansjogren.bsky.social

Momentary time travels to desert treks of yesteryear are vital escapism right now. 🤎

This is the way "I did not want to be told where to go. I wanted to learn from the desert"

When I’m 80, I hope to be hiking to protect public lands like my friend, Rudi Lambrechtse. substack.com/@wildwords/n...

This fall I’m hitting the road for an encore Path of Light tour!🧡2 years after its release into the wild this book has taken on a life of its own. The best part has been connecting with readers who resonate with this story & the desert landscapes it advocates for. I hope to see you there!

Last chance to comment & defend the Roadless Rule! open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

Back to work after a blissful three-day vacation, and the leap in my anxiety and stress this morning is so considerable that I am really wondering if I should just throw in the towel on a career and commit myself to idleness and the quiet contemplation of beauty.

Though I may never see Path of Light on the shelf, I know it is real. That is, a bound book I spent 5 years writing & walking to complete will live in the Library of Congress’s book canyons. The stories in Path of Light are already archived in the desert. open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

We slept beside the same river, or its tributaries, every single night. The absence of the river song that haunts me with a new loneliness. Not just for the river, but for the creatures we shared it with. 🪶🤎 open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

90 Miles From Needles’ 100th Episode: Morgan Sjogren shares an evocative reading from her book Path of Light-A Walk Through Colliding Legacies of Glen Canyon discussing uranium mining's impact on red rock country & broader implications for desert landscapes www.90milesfromneedles.com/s4e26-episod...

On Thursday, I will be joining the podcast 90 Miles From Needles to celebrate their 100th episode. The event is live on Zoom, Thursday, August 7 at 7:00 pm PST: 90milesfromneedles.com/100 (Meeting ID: 874 3735 7514).

Even if we only focus on wildfires, there is much to unpack about the way we have suppressed these natural processes. I would like to look beyond the villain and into our grief. Even for just a moment. Grief mirrors what we hold dear. open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

“Wasting Time.” That was the subject line of an email from publisher Brett Van Emst requesting a short submission with a tight turnaround. I replied with a list of excuses. That email is what he published as “Bad Capitalist” in issue eight. wildwords.substack.com/p/wasting-time

Thoughts on my self-employed mental health benefits policy, having excuses published in a magazine, and why wasting time is essential to protecting what we love. open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

Southwestern #Drought Likely to Continue Through 2100, Research Finds -- Wyatt Myskow (InsideClimateNews.org) coyotegulch.blog/2025/07/22/s...

A beautifully written and researched piece by @melissasevigny.bsky.social . A must-read while the Grand Canyon weighs heavy on many hearts right now.

It’s rare to return from the backcountry (the read world) to good news. This was a glimmer of joy amid smoky skies. It is an honor to share the Utah Book Award for Memoir/Narrative with Christopher Cokinos!🧡

Read the full article to understand what’s at stake and why Tribal leadership matters now more than ever. www.sierraclub.org/sierra/trump...

Thank you @bearsearscoalition.bsky.social and Mr. Yanito for sharing your perspective: www.sierraclub.org/sierra/trump...

A DOJ Opinion Cannot Dismantle Our Geography of Hope open.substack.com/pub/wildword...

During my recent visit to Zion Nat. Park, I walked away from the bus to the Virgin River. Less than a quarter mile from the shuttle station and main road, I could not hear the traffic; only birds chirping, breeze fluttering cottonwood leaves, and the river babbling on.

Long range efforts to care for the environment/wildlife and manage visitation are still buzzing along in Zion National Park. For @reasonstobecheerful.world.