Average to middling. That describes the San Juan Mountain snowpack as of March 1 — at least at the higher … More
Author: Jonathan P. Thompson
Journalist, editor and writer focusing on the Western United States and its landscapes, communities, and cultures. Creator of Land Desk. Author of "River of Lost Souls: The Science, Politics, and Greed Behind the Gold King Mine Disaster" (Torrey House Press 2018), "Behind the Slickrock Curtain" (Lost Souls Press 2020), and the forthcoming "Sagebrush Empire: A journey into the heart of the public land wars" (Torrey House 2021).
What the Bears Ears management plan does — and doesn’t do
Public lands lovers have been up in arms since the Trump administration issued the final management plans for what’s left … More
How coronavirus could ripple through the oil patch — and maybe cut carbon emissions
I traveled via international airports in the time of coronavirus and discovered that face-mask fashion is a thing. Twenty-something partiers … More
Sneak peek at SnowScreen, a future title from Lost Souls Press
“Powder snow skiing is not fun. It is life, fully lived, life lived in a blaze of reality. What we … More
San Juan Mountain water year 2020 starts dry, but is on the upswing
The 2020 water year (which started Oct. 1, 2019) began like a desiccated whimper in the San Juan Mountains of … More
Let them eat Blake’s: An excerpt from Behind the Slickrock Curtain
A couple hours later, the ragged silhouette of Tsé Bit’a’í, or Shiprock, rose up ahead of Brautigan, obscured by the … More
Gone Missing: An excerpt from the new novel, “Behind the Slickrock Curtain”
June, present day. Durango, Colorado. “That motherfucker,” Eliza Santos muttered aloud as she coasted into her conspicuously half-empty driveway on … More
The Big Breakdown of coal, illustrated by one chart
After World War II, the federal government, utilities, and developers embarked on a project to build dams, mines, power plants, … More
On the alleged persecution of billionaires
I recently wrote an information-crammed article/dataviz for High Country News about the slow death of coal in Wyoming. One of … More
Gold King documents and map unearthed
While going down a wormhole the other day, I stumbled across a variety of documents on the Gold King Mine … More
Jonathan P. Thompson 