Native Peoples Episodes

Basin and Range Watch co-founder Kevin Emmerich explains how Nevada's Greenlink West transmission project threatens desert tortoise habitat, rare plants, cultural sites and intact landscapes while serving industrial growth.

Diné leader Davina Smith explains Bears Ears as a living cultural landscape, the legacy of her grandmothers' resistance and the necessity of Indigenous leadership in protecting sacred lands.

Journalist David Helvarg revisits his 1994 investigation The War Against the Greens and explains how the Wise Use movement's tactics evolved into today's attacks on environmentalists, public lands and democracy.

Chris Clarke reflects on how the desert became central to his identity, reviews a year of reporting across North American deserts, and connects personal attachment to the continuing work of ecological advocacy.

Mexican wolves once ranged into Texas before persecution and conflicts with livestock helped eliminate them from the state. Chris Clarke talks with Rick LoBello, Erin Hunt, and Philip Sozanski about efforts to restore the lobo to suitable West Texas habitat. They explore the wolf's ecological and historical importance, persistent cultural fears surrounding predators, and efforts to build support among ranchers, landowners, and other residents. Their case for restoration rests not just on saving wolves, but on returning an important missing species to the Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem.

Desert snakes inspire fascination, fear, and a remarkable amount of misinformation. Chris Clarke and Lucas Basulto trade snake stories while examining some of the misconceptions surrounding these important reptiles. They discuss snake behavior, bites and appropriate responses, road mortality, habitat protection, and how to coexist safely with snakes rather than treating every encounter as a threat. Along the way, they offer resources for identifying snakes throughout the desert Southwest and explain why these often-maligned animals matter to desert ecosystems.

Along the Colorado River, Daniel Leivas and his family are restoring traditional Chemehuevi agriculture on land profoundly altered by twentieth-century water development. Leivas, Southern Paiute-Chemehuevi from Lake Havasu, talks with Chris Clarke about rebuilding a farm, reviving ancestral growing practices, working with wildlife, and reconnecting land, water, culture, and spirit. Their conversation also examines the larger history of water projects that inundated or transformed Native lands—and the resilience involved in bringing traditional relationships with those landscapes back to life.

Along the Rio Grande in El Paso, Rio Bosque Wetlands Park provides a rare riparian refuge within the Chihuahuan Desert—and a vision of what ecological restoration can accomplish. Chris Clarke talks with conservationist Jon Rezendes about threats from proposed highway development, community efforts to protect the wetlands, and the extraordinary diversity of birds and other wildlife that depend on them. Their conversation expands into a larger vision of rewilding the Rio Grande Valley, restoring ecological connections, and perhaps someday welcoming Mexican wolves back to the region.

Looting archaeological sites isn't harmless collecting: it destroys irreplaceable information and damages places that remain culturally important to Indigenous communities. Chris Clarke talks with Shannon Cowell and Dustin Whiting of Archaeology Southwest about looting and vandalism across the Southwest, the laws governing cultural artifacts, and the larger question of heritage justice. They explain how visitors can recognize threats, behave responsibly around cultural sites, and help protect places whose significance extends far beyond the objects someone might carry away.

Some landscapes become part of who we are. Chris Clarke reflects on his relationship with Avi Kwa Ame, the southern Nevada landscape protected as a national monument in 2023 after years of Indigenous-led advocacy. Personal stories of desert exploration mingle with excerpts from the monument's designation celebration and voices from the campaign to protect it. The result is both a portrait of an extraordinary place and a meditation on how loving a landscape can change the course of a life.

The U.S.–Mexico border wall doesn't divide only people. It cuts across wildlife habitat, migration routes, watersheds, and some of North America's most biologically diverse desert landscapes. Chris Clarke talks with conservation scientist Myles Traphagen of Wildlands Network about the ecological consequences of border barriers and the humanitarian crisis unfolding alongside them. They discuss wildlife movement, habitat fragmentation, border policy, and what a more humane and ecologically informed approach to the border might look like.

The Chihuahuan Desert stretches across northern Mexico and the southwestern United States, encompassing extraordinary biological and cultural diversity. Chris Clarke talks with Janae Reneaud Field, Kathia Gonzalez, and Rocio Ronquillo of El Paso's Frontera Land Alliance about protecting this often-overlooked desert. They discuss community conservation, environmental education, and the campaign to protect Castner Range, while exploring what it means to build a conservation movement rooted in the communities that call the Chihuahuan Desert home.

Arizona's Great Bend of the Gila holds an extraordinary concentration of Indigenous cultural sites, wildlife habitat, and largely intact Sonoran Desert landscape. Chris Clarke talks with advocates Skylar Begay and Mike Quigley about efforts to secure permanent protection for the region. They discuss its cultural and natural history, threats from development and destructive recreation, habitat for species including Sonoran pronghorn, and why protecting the Great Bend means recognizing a landscape shaped by thousands of years of human history.

Groundwater and surface water may have different names, but ecologically they're often the same resource. Chris Clarke talks with Patrick Donnelly of the Center for Biological Diversity about a major Nevada Supreme Court decision involving Coyote Springs, a proposed desert city whose groundwater pumping could damage the Muddy River and endangered wildlife. The ruling affirms Nevada's ability to consider interconnected groundwater and surface-water systems together, with potentially important consequences for water management throughout the state's arid landscapes.

The federal government is reconsidering where utility-scale solar development should occur across the American West. Chris Clarke examines the Bureau of Land Management's draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, the alternatives it considers, and the enormous areas of public land potentially available for solar development. He looks at exclusion zones, environmental impacts, and an alternative largely absent from the discussion: putting far more solar on rooftops and already-developed land instead of intact desert habitat.

In this episode of "90 Miles from Needles: The Desert Protection Podcast," host Chris Clarke introduces four books that will challenge preconceptions about the desert. The first book, "The Arid Lands: History, Power, and Knowledge" by Diana K. Davis, challenges the notion that deserts are wastelands in need of development. The second book, "Peoples of a Sonoran Desert Oasis" by Jared Orsi, explores the history and culture of Quito Bacito and the impact of border policies on the oasis. The third ...

Artist, naturalist, and bestselling author Obi Kaufmann joins the podcast to discuss California's deserts, public lands, and the stories maps can tell. Together we explore how art, science, and conservation can help people see familiar landscapes with fresh eyes—and inspire them to protect what they discover.

The saguaro cactus is an enduring symbol of the American Southwest, yet its life story is even more remarkable than its silhouette. This episode explores the biology, ecology, and cultural significance of the Sonoran Desert's iconic giant, revealing how saguaros support countless other species throughout their centuries-long lives.

For generations, Americans have been taught that deserts are barren wastelands waiting to be developed. This episode challenges those misconceptions by exploring what science—and the desert itself—actually tells us about biodiversity, resilience, and why changing our understanding of these landscapes is essential to their protection.

Across the Southwest, Indigenous communities are leading efforts to protect sacred places, public lands, and cultural traditions. In this episode, Native advocates discuss the connections between environmental stewardship, tribal sovereignty, and the enduring relationship between people and the desert landscape.

Wonder Valley is more than a quiet Mojave community—it's a place where residents are working together to defend the character of their desert home. This episode explores the challenges facing Wonder Valley, from industrial development to land-use conflicts, and highlights how local organizing can help protect both communities and the landscapes that surround them.

Arizona's controversial shipping-container border wall was erected in a matter of weeks—but dismantling it became a powerful symbol of the legal and political battles surrounding border policy. This episode examines why the barrier was built, the environmental damage it caused, and what its removal means for wildlife, public lands, and the future of the U.S.–Mexico border.

Few people have done more to protect the desert than Phil Pister. In this tribute, we remember the pioneering conservationist whose work helped save California's desert fishes from extinction and inspired generations of environmental advocates. We reflect on his legacy, his approach to conservation, and the lasting impact of a life devoted to protecting some of the desert's smallest—and most remarkable—creatures.

Despite decades of habitat loss and declining populations, there are still reasons for optimism about the Mojave Desert tortoise. This episode explores the threats facing this iconic reptile, the conservation efforts showing promise, and why protecting connected desert habitat remains essential to its recovery.