Writing and interviews about the history of the environment, land management, people and place, and environmental identity.
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MEET CARL SCHENCK
November 2025, National Geographic
The German forester changed America’s landscape from a Gilded Age estate.
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ON DANNY GARCIA
September 2023, The Guardian
On the fate of Danny Garcia — tree poacher, father, former mill worker.
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A HISTORY OF TREE HUGGERS
March 2023, The New York Times Book Review
John Muir, Yosemite, lobbyists, and the power of narrative.
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RUFFLED FEATHERS
July 2022, The Walrus
Urban peacocks, small town identity, “will work for crystals.”
- Best Canadian Essays 2024 - -
A BRIEF HISTORY OF SMOKEY BEAR
July 2019, Smithsonian
Forest management, pyrophobia, and the legacy of forest fire prevention.
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WHALES ARE PEOPLE TOO
July 2019. The Walrus
Personhood, extinction, and the fight for orca human rights.
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STOLEN TIMBER AND THE OPIOID CRISIS
May 2019, The Atlantic
On the ties between unemployment, addiction and illegal logging on Vancouver Island.
- Best American Science and Nature Writing 2020 Notable Selection -
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SQUATTERS AND TIMBER POACHERS IN PERU’S AMAZON
April 2019, National Geographic
On land rights, squatters, migration and forest management in Peru
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STAYING ALIVE
Winter 2018, Eighteen Bridges
Small town pipe dreams, women’s hockey, #MeToo, rural identity.
- Finalist for a 2019 Alberta Magazine Publishers Association Award, in the Long Features category -
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UNFOUND ISLANDS
April 2018, Hazlitt
Phantom islands, the fallibility of maps.es here
- Best American Science and Nature Writing 2019 Notable Selection -
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THE LAST WHALERS
March 2018, Aeon
On commuting from Shetland to Antarctica.
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HOW TO STEAL A TREE
May 2017, Smithsonian
Ancient trees are disappearing from protected national forests around the world. A look inside the $100 billion market for stolen wood.
- Best American Science and Nature Writing 2017 Notable Selection -
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WEARING OUT ITS WELCOME
Marc 2017, The Walrus
Species reintroduction, dead beavers in freezers.
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JESUS TAKE THE REINS
March 2017, Hazlitt
Cowboy churches, wild fire, Western nostalgia.
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BORN AGAIN
Fall 2016, Oxford American
A church from Nova Scotia follows the Acadian trail to Louisiana.
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HERD MENTALITY
Summer 2015, Maisonneuve
Sexism during the Calgary Stampede
- Finalist for a 2016 National Magazine Award in the Society category. -
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#AmINext
September 2014, The Gaurdian
Tina Fontaine, murdered and missing aboriginal women.
- This story was later picked up by the BBC, airing on Woman's Hour -
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THE WILDIES OF ALBERTA
June 2014, Roads & Kingdoms
Wild horses, for meat and for money.
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THAT’S MR. TYRANNOSAURUS, TO YOU
May 2014, Reader’s Digest
"Jurassic Park," Antarctica, paleontology in Alberta.
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THE ALL NATIVE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
March 2014, Roads & Kingdoms
Community activism, Enbridge and rez-ball along the Pacific Northwest coast.
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NATURE VS. NUMBERS
Winter 2013, Maisonneuve
Parks Canada and "the jockstrap."
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GRAVE INJUSTICE
April 2013, The Walrus
Grave robbers, colonialism, a man named Captain Gold.
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HURRICANE SURFING
April 2012, The Walrus
Hidden waves, big storms, trespassing on private property.
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THE WIZARD OF ODD
August 2011, The Globe and Mail
Drug-fueled epiphanies, shamans, Toronto's weirdest loft, Tim Burton memorials.