Sonoran Desert in the spring, seen through the windows of the old stone house on the David Yetman Trail.

This thread! I work with archival materials that aren't available online, and it is slow and painstaking and totally inefficient, and guess what? I love it, and I find humor and heart and surprise and awe in my work. AI can't do that. It shouldn't even try.

Bought a used book today and found a package of wildflower seeds tucked inside .... From 1998. Think any of them will still sprout? #books #nature

Hummers are heading back our way! Here's some tips on filling your feeders. 🪶 www.knau.org/earth-notes/...

update: not a scam. It's a tariff. Apparently this is happening a lot, where the seller puts the tariff bill on the buyer long after the fact. $15 tariff on a $25 item... 🤷‍♀️

Flagstaff friends, I'm teaching a (free!) nature writing workshop Tuesday at Willow Bend Environmental Center at 5pm. Also, Thin Air magazine has other workshops coming up on comics and the science of storytelling, so keep an eye out! #writing

Starting in 10 minutes! Join me. 👇

Early cherry bloom plus smoky skies (Rx burn) making things both beautiful and apocalyptic today.

Cool project run by a friend of mine to save Liberty Hyde Bailey's home/herbarium and turn it into an #ecology #scicomm center. (Look him up - he was one of America's earliest environmental educators!) The folks involved in this do good work; if you can donate, please do. www.bailey-center.org

I keep getting letters from FedEx saying I owe shipping costs on an item I did not order or receive. Is this just a mistake, or anyone know if it's a weird kind of scam?

Interesting historical fact: there was research on predator/prey relationships way back in the '30s by the Muries (who concluded ecosystems do need predators). Curious to know the (undisclosed) design of this study; any controls; random replicated plots? Probably not. 🧪 www.hcn.org/articles/uta...

If you haven't had a chance to hear me talk about my botany/adventure book BRAVE THE WILD RIVER, I'm giving a virtual talk Thursday night for Vermont River Conservancy - open to the public! #authors 👩‍🔬#scicomm 🧪 vermontriverconservancy.org/news/brave-t...

Finally had the courage to take a look at the White Sage fire scar north of the Grand Canyon. Devastating to see a familiar landscape so radically changed. #wildfire #grandcanyon

For more about this book, here's an interview with the author in @highcountrynews.org. I love the parting question: what does it mean to embrace the ephemeral? #lakes #ecology #womeninstem www.hcn.org/issues/58-3/...

Nice to see The Feather Wars on bookshelves. I had fun blurbing this one. It's an intriguing history of the early days of the #conservation movement for protecting birds and full of oddball characters. #books #birds

A little more peace and quiet... Paria Riffle on the Colorado River.

Desert canyons are the most healing spaces I know.

For #WomensHistoryMonth, resurrecting this story from @atavist.com, which grew into my book BRAVE THE WILD RIVER. (Your perennial reminder: women's history IS history!) #womeninstem magazine.atavist.com/2019/the-wil...

"This violent reaction was not the way science was supposed to be functioning" - a fascinating story about a fight between (older, male) scientists w/ a woman over dinosaur color. I wish the author had called out the sexism more overtly; still a good read.👩‍🔬#scicomm nautil.us/when-scienti...

In the mail today, this brave, haunting, powerful book from @wwnorton.com. If you're looking for an elegantly written memoir mixed with natural history, this one's for you. 💙📚 #scicomm #nonfiction

The 1930s were a heyday of #nationalpark proposals, but the vast majority of them didn't make the grade. A niche group of scholars investigate why. Here's my story about beautiful places in #Arizona that never became parks. www.arizonahighways.com/article/land...

Fun today to discover one of my old poems (under my maiden name) resurrected in the Internet Age in @rattlepoetry.bsky.social. I was a teenager when I wrote this one; it reminds me of a time when I wrote unself-consciously for joy. Good roots to grow from. #poetry #writing rattle.com/broken-egg-s...

First robin of the spring. Also first blizzard of the winter. 🪶

Flagstaff friends, don't miss this film screening on Saturday of WHAT THE RIVER KNOWS, a beautiful tribute to Glen Canyon. See you there! #coloradoriver

Finally set up my new #writing space, and it's been christened with a tiny, exquisite little spiderweb. An art-making companion, hooray! 🕸️

I really enjoyed interviewing Sarah Boon, author of MELTDOWN, about glaciers, #womeninstem, #mentalhealth. As she says, it's time to "open up the silence" about mental health in academia. Give it a read. @terrainorg.bsky.social @snowhydro.bsky.social

Plant lovers, don't miss the bit about @doctorzedd.bsky.social's next book! #books #writing #botany #womeninstem 👇👇👇

Bought a new computer and spent the past week disabling AI features. Here's what I've figured out so far. I am not a tech person, so feel free to add -- and I'd love to see a guide for the #WritingCommunity all in one place! Here goes: 1/

So glad sometime finally told this story. I learned about pioneer cemeteries holding the last remnants of tallgrass prairie when I lived in Iowa. Christian Elliott in @noemamag.com does justice to a complex story about loss, restoration, and a clash between culture and nature. #scicomm #Writing

Making a living as a writer is a privilege; it's also really hard. Yet art & storytelling are the soul of being human. Thanks to all those working to bring the unacceptable theft behind AI technology into the light.

A really thoughtful reflection on the use of the phrase "time immemorial" when speaking about Indigenous presence in North America. Give it a read.

Ebook readers -- my book BRAVE THE WILD RIVER is on a promotional sale right now, just $2.99! Anywhere you buy ebooks. Happy reading! #books #womeninstem

New Mexicans - do you have a name for that little extra square that sticks down on the southwestern corner? Asking for a friend. (Okay it's me, I need to know).

For #writers and writing-curious folks on here, how about a peek behind the curtain on this story? What does it take to bring a #scicomm feature like this one together? Short answer: time, and lots of people. Long answer: keep reading... 1/5

What a pleasure it was to write the epic story of plate tectonics - and the woman who brought the theory from the ocean to the land - with the fabulous editors at @highcountrynews.org. Give a read! #womeninstem #science #geology #scicomm

For your Sunday reading, proud to have this piece in @orionmagazine.bsky.social about the legendary Sand Trout. (Photo is a real life horned lizard, not a mythical creature). More stories about cryptids in their winter issue. orionmagazine.org/article/the-...

Ringing in the New Year the only possible way... With a LOTR marathon and a Hobbit feast.

Happy New Year! Start off your reading list with this profile of a Grand Canyon mule wrangler - my words accompanied by gorgeous photography of John Burcham. www.arizonahighways.com/article/ridi...

Such a treat to receive today my contributor's copy of @orionmagazine.bsky.social with my story on the Santa Cruz Sand Trout. Look for that, and other stories if cryptids, in the winter issue!

(One day I will stop writing about river trips.... BUT IT IS NOT THIS DAY!)

My latest in @protectparks.bsky.social's magazine, about a trip down Cataract Canyon to see how drought has drained a reservoir... and revived a river. www.npca.org/articles/112...

I wrote a nonet today (nine line poem with descending syllables). Someone here on Bluesky introduced me to the form and I'm forgetting who, so reintroduce yourself if that's you.

Happy solstice. May the days grow brighter as we turn toward the light.

Chased down the NEVILLS EXPEDITION '38 inscription on the Green River earlier this year - though it's nearly obliterated by vandalism. (Yes, I suppose the original inscription was also vandalism... but at a time when there was comparatively little access to this area.) 📷 @morgansjogren.bsky.social

A sighting in the wild... never ceases to bring me joy. 😍

New today in @terrainorg.bsky.social, an interview with the amazing ecopoet Elizabeth Bradfield. "If we truly open ourselves, a walk around the block at home can become a mystery." 🌎💙📚 www.terrain.org/2025/intervi...

What a fantastic gift list for fans of the Grand Canyon and outdoor adventure. Thanks @grandcanyontrust.bsky.social #books #writing 🎁

A poem for your Friday evening, "Because we can't carry the light / of a million fallen stars..." I hope wherever you are, you can see some constellations. www.terrain.org/2025/poetry/...

Catching up on local work and loving this story by @melissasevigny.bsky.social for Arizona Highways Mag about a 1900s birder who "stood out because she was standing very still." Nothing like women who love the wild west and aren't afraid to be weird about it. www.arizonahighways.com/article/stan...