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The Joy Trip Project

Alaska, Diversity, Film Review, Native Culture, Natives Outdoors, The Arctic / 27.02.2019

In 2017 the Trump administration opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. The development of this fragile ecosystem for energy extraction puts at risk the culture and livelihood of a community that has called the Alaskan wilderness home for millennia. The Gwitch’in People, who rely upon the unimpeded migration of the porcupine caribou herd, will likely witness not only the destruction of the habitat from which they derive a critical source of food, but also the natural environment that defines their ancestral heritage. Much like efforts...

Interview, LGBTQ, Podcast / 13.02.2019

Just a few days before the 2019 Outdoor Retailer Snow Show in Denver I got my reporting assignments. Among the various topics I was tasked to report on was a human interest profile on a young man attending OR for the first time. Wyn Wiley is a professional photographer from Lincoln, Nebraska. He's also known as the drag queen Pattie Gonia. Photo courtesy Wyn Wiley I’ll be honest I’ve  never interviewed a drag queen before and I have to say that I was a little nervous. I was more than...

Commentary, Diversity, Essays / 05.02.2019

Thank you to the many people who read, shared and commented on my recent reporting piece for SNEWS on the CEO Outdoor Equity Pledge. I felt compelled to write it and I am sincerely grateful for the support of my editor-in-chief Kristin Hostetter. She really held my feet to the fire, insisting that despite my personal biases and emotions I remain objective and write this story with the balance it demands. As I have received several complements from both sides of this issue I take great pride in...

Diversity, Environmental Justice, Outdoor Retailer, Podcast / 28.01.2019

On Friday the Trump administration signed legislation to reopen the federal government. For many of us, an end to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history couldn’t have come soon enough. The announcement arrived just in time for the 2019 Outdoor Retailer Snow Show that’s starting this week in Denver Colorado. Tens of thousands of federal employees in service of environmental protection can now get back to doing their very important work. And those of us in the business of outdoor recreation can continue our efforts to make...

National Monuments, National Parks, Podcast, ReThinkOutside / 25.01.2019

For 34 days The United States Federal Government has been in a partial shutdown.  Pretty much since the beginning, the natural environment has been feeling the effects. Big Cities and small towns from coast to coast that serve as gateway communities near our national parks are on the frontlines of a political conflict that has put at risk the conscientious management of public land.  About 800,000 federal employees have been furloughed from their jobs or are required to work without pay. Among them are more than 27,000 National Park...

Interview, Podcast / 14.01.2019

Being an environmentalist doesn’t necessarily limit your outdoor recreation pastimes to hiking, mountain biking, skiing or rock climbing. Those of us who indulge these so-called action sports should remember that we share the natural world with folks whose connection to the outdoors also includes activities like hunting and fishing. Personally I took up fly fishing a few years ago and pardon the pun I’m hooked. And on a trip to Wyoming in 2017 I met a young woman who has a passion for hunting. Jessi Johnson is an...