Native Peoples Episodes

Chris argues that federal environmental law remains indispensable but insufficient, calling for durable local power, community narratives and relationships capable of defending desert places when national protections are weakened or ignored.

Writer Morgan Sjogren describes the emotional and ecological stakes of renewed attacks on Bears Ears and Grand Staircase–Escalante, connecting monument boundaries to rivers, cultural landscapes, resource extraction and everyday life in southern Utah.

After a personal loss and production hiatus, Chris speaks candidly about the podcast’s reach and asks listeners to help by reviewing, recommending and sharing the show so desert reporting can find the people who need it.

Content note: sadness. Due to the death of a close family member, we will return on June 5. Listen if you want a few details.

Russ McSpadden documents plans for a second wall through Organ Pipe and Cabeza Prieta, including damage to sacred geoglyphs, groundwater and wildlife habitat made possible by sweeping REAL ID Act waivers.

Chris explains how collapsing local media has stripped desert communities of context and institutional memory, and introduces the Fellowship for Desert Reporting as a way to support emerging journalists and deeper, systems-aware work.

Laiken Jordahl describes the unusually broad Big Bend coalition opposing border-wall construction, where ranchers, conservationists and local officials are defending wildlife, the recovering Rio Grande and cross-border community life.

Caroline Tracey discusses Salt Lakes: An Unnatural History, tracing how water diversion transforms terminal lakes while using natural history, queer theory and personal narrative to challenge the idea that saline landscapes are barren or disposable.

Responding to sexual-assault allegations against César Chávez, Chris examines the damage caused by hero worship and argues for accountable, distributed movements that value collective work above charismatic leaders.

Dr. Jackie Grant explains how a Congressional Review Act attack on Grand Staircase–Escalante’s management plan could destabilize public-land planning nationwide, despite extensive local participation and the monument’s ecological and economic importance.

Desert tortoise biologist Tim Shields explains experimental tools for deterring ravens, confronting invasive schismus grass and measuring ecosystem health—work intended to give future restorationists practical ecological leverage.

Timbisha Shoshone leaders commemorate the Homeland Act’s 25th anniversary in Death Valley, recounting displacement, return and the continuing struggle for honest representation, cultural survival and respectful federal partnership.

Mary O’Brien of Project 1100 explains how commercial honeybees compete with and spread disease to native solitary bees, why public lands are essential pollinator refuges and what genuine bee conservation requires.

Gilberto Manzanarez of Valle Imperial Resiste explains why Imperial County residents are demanding a moratorium on data centers until officials address their enormous energy, water, noise and community impacts.

Chris explores desert quiet as an ecological soundscape rather than emptiness, showing how noise pollution masks wildlife, displaces animals and makes ecological loss harder for people to recognize.

Andrea Hoerr explains why 27 miles of border wall through the San Rafael Valley would fragment a major wildlife corridor, damage waterways and threaten exceptional grassland biodiversity—and how residents are organizing resistance.

During the 2025 federal shutdown, Chris urges visitors to avoid understaffed national parks because reduced protection increases risks to landscapes and people, while suggesting nearby public lands and local businesses as alternatives.

For his father's 91st birthday, Chris revisits an essay connecting a formative 1966 desert journey, the mutual dependence of Joshua trees and their moths, and the literal kinship joining every generation of life.

A monsoon in Twentynine Palms becomes an exploration of how scarce water shapes desert land and life, why rain smells so extraordinary, and how to stay safe when celebration turns into flash flooding.

Brendan Cummings explains California's Western Joshua Tree Conservation Plan, the compromises behind the 2023 law and the difficult work of protecting climate refugia while development and fire continue.

Poet and former wildland firefighter Ruth Nolan reads work about Ruby Mountain, the Dome Fire, invasive grasses and renewable-energy development, joining personal memory to the desert's ecological wounds.

Rubén Martinéz reads an essay connecting the deadly U.S.–Mexico border desert with the spiritual desert of monastic retreat, exploring migration, silence, trauma, faith and the possibilities of refuge.

In the 99th episode, Chris explains how the elimination of federal public-broadcasting grants threatens rural and tribal stations that provide emergency information, local culture and community connection across the desert West.

Prompted by the loss of the Grand Canyon Lodge, Chris shares nine desert destinations he hopes to experience—from Kofa and El Pinacate to the Ruby Mountains and the Wave—and reflects on visiting while we can.