BLM Dispatch #27 - Mount Irish Petroglyph Site, Nevada
First, you have to open the wooden gate.
It’s hooked to the adjoining fence via a few pieces of tightly wound barbed wire, which takes me far too long to pry over the post it’s wrapped around.
I push it open, drive through, then shut it behind me. From here, it’s 8.7 miles along Logan Canyon Road to the Mount Irish Petroglyph Site.
The gravel road is in various degrees of September conditions - rutted, rocky, dried to a crisp. I pray to the backroad gods that the highway tires on my 2009 Toyota hang in there, and then treat each rock, divot, and pothole with tentative care.
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BLM Dispatch #26 - A Short Film from Nevada's BLM Lands
Back in May, when Representatives Mark Amodei and Celeste Maloy slipped in a surprise amendment to authorize the sale of BLM lands in Nevada and Utah, the headlines focused on the sheer numbers — 540,385 acres marked for sell-off. What was missing was any sense of the places themselves.
So my friend Roberto and I went to see them. If these lands were going to be handed to the highest bidder, the least we could do was bear witness, to create a record of what stands to be lost.
While I focused on still photographs, Roberto gathered moving images. The result is a four-minute short — a quiet passage through sagebrush, rivers, mountains, and wildflowers, woven with a reading from The Enduring Wild.
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BLM Dispatch #25 - State Route 447, Nevada
The sun dropped over the Carson River, a dark ribbon winding through the basin. Sagebrush and greasewood, silver-green in the last light, spread low across the floodplain. Along the banks a band of weathered cottonwoods stood in loose formation, their green still strong against the fading blue sky. I walked the outside edge of those trees where the BLM land began, tracing the cottonwood line for two miles before letting the river go, returning to the highway, and heading north toward Silver Springs.
I passed through Fernley, Nevada just past seven pm, sky darkening behind a Pilot gas station sign protruding from the earth, green and red bulbs signaling unleaded and diesel prices. Three twenty-five a gallon for unleaded. I stopped and filled up.
Then straight north through Wadsworth toward Empire, crossing over the Truckee River just before it runs into Pyramid Lake along the way.
Gerlach was bustling for a Monday night, or possibly every night, this being my first time passing through. I walked the town from end to end. Half a mile. Bearded patrons stood outside the bars with drinks in hand, their laughter rising and folding into the smoke from their cigarettes, the whole scene carrying the kind of relief that comes when a town finally exhales after weeks of Burning Man’s noise, dust, and strangers.
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BLM Dispatch #13 - Millions of Acres of BLM Land On the Chopping Block
I continue to be dumbfounded by politicians who are ignoring the overwhelming majority of Americans and their own constituents who value our shared public lands.
According to the latest Conservation In the West poll (which does not include California, Oregon, and Washington) want their elected officials to prioritize clean water, healthy air, and wildlife habitat. An overwhelming 89% of voters across party lines support keeping National Monument protections in place.
Public lands - and the wildlife, biodiversity, watersheds, and recreation they support — remain one of the last places where Americans find common ground. Where else do you see hunters, birders, OHV users, and hikers standing shoulder to shoulder, all holding signs about the importance of keeping public lands in public hands?
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BLM Dispatch #12 - Humboldt Sink, Nevada
I woke to the sound of something chewing on the side of my tent at exactly 4:53am, two minutes before my alarm was set to rustle me from sleep. As if the creature and the clock were in cahoots.
Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Tsk, tsk, tsk.
My head, turned sideways on the pillow and snug against the tent wall, put my face just inches from the sound, my breath like a strange little space heater for the fellow.
I gave a gentle flick toward the noise (kangaroo rat? western whiptail?), and the visitor abandoned its post in search of less polyester fare.
Alright pal, I said, I’m up.
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BLM Dispatch #11 - Pershing County, Nevada
On Tuesday, May 6, around 11pm, Republican Representatives Mark Amodei and Celeste Maloy introduced a surprise amendment to the House Natural Resources Committee that would authorize the sale of BLM lands in Nevada and Utah. The provision was quietly slipped into a sweeping environmental bill during the final hour of a 13-hour debate — without public input, transparency, or meaningful discussion.
Initial estimates suggested 11,000 acres would be affected. But as conveyance, disposal and checkerboard resolution maps became available of the exact parcels marked for disposal, the number ballooned to 540,385 acres.
Everyone was talking about the land totals — but no one was showing what the landscapes actually looked like.
So I decided to go see them. If these lands were going to be handed over to the highest bidder, the least I could do was document them. To create a photographic record of what we stand to lose.
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