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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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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