I’ve written a number of commentaries and features related to history. Some of this derives directly from archival research and academic scholarship, and some of it comes from broader interests. These pieces generally seek to tell stories or explain people and events. I’m grateful for the opportunity to explore these topics with a public audience outside the classroom and an university libraries.
“Mount St. Helens After the Eruption,” HistoryLink.org Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History (April 2023).
“Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument is created on August 26, 1982,” HistoryLink.org Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History (April 2023).
“Congress funds the Northwest Straits Initiative to protect and restore marine ecosystems on November 13, 1998,” HistoryLink.org Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History (November 2023).
“U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas protests a proposed open-pit copper mine near Darrington on August 5, 1967,” HistoryLink.org Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History (October 2023).
“When American Governors and Moguls Came Together to Prevent Environmental Catastrophe,” Zócalo Public Square (August 2023). Also appearing as: “Once upon a time in America, when the common good prevailed,” Boston Globe (August 20, 2023).
“On This Disputed River, Progress May Mean a Return to the Past,” Smithsonian Magazine (May 25, 2023).
“What Do Mining Claims and National Parks Have in Common?,” Zócalo Public Square (October 27, 2022). Also appearing as “How Did National Parks and Mining Get So Entangled?,” Slate (November 4, 2022).
“The Slaughter of Elk at Yellowstone National Park: And how it changed Park Service policy,” JSTOR Daily August 18, 2021.
“Fighting Kennecott from the Supervisor’s Office: Harold Chriswell, the Wilderness Act, and Independence in the North Cascades,” Forest History Today (Spring/Fall 2020): 26-33.
“An Evolving Idea: Perils and Promise of the Federal Landscape,” Desert Report, September 2020, 8-11. 21.
“The Man Who Tried to Claim the Grand Canyon,” JSTOR Daily, July 31, 2019.
“America’s National Parks Were Never Wild and Untouched: Montana’s Emblematic Glacier National Park Reveals the Impact of Human History and Culture,” Zócalo Public Square, June 11, 2018.
“Public Lands, Private Profit,” OUP Blog, October 29th, 2017.
“Why Sheep Started So Many Wars in the American West,” Zócalo Public Square, October 5, 2017.
“In Latest Skirmish of Western Land Wars, Congress Supports Mining and Ranching,” The Conversation, February 20, 2017.
Bridging the Past, Present, and Future: Commemorating 25 Years of the Idaho Heritage Trust. Boise: Idaho Heritage Trust, 2016. (I wrote eleven short essays to contextualize the work in heritage preservation commemorated in this beautifully illustrated book, available here, from the Idaho Heritage Trust.)
“Traveling Ecologist Rexford F. Daubenmire,” Washington State University Magazine 14, no. 4 (Fall 2015): 19.
“Law and Nature: The Famed Dissent of Justice William O. Douglas.” High Country News 47, no. 1 (January 19, 2015): 6-7.