A common misconception is that fire is always bad, that it destroys landscapes and tears communities apart. When settlers arrived in the American West, wildfire suppression became a standard practice. What many did not realize is that the suppression of fire allowed for fuel loads to build, causing larger, hotter, and more destructive wildfires.   Today, […]

In mid-April, I was fortunate enough to witness greater sage-grouse courtship displays on Pathfinder Ranches in south-central Wyoming. Below is a short film I edited together from the footage I shot from this trip accompanied with a short essay about these birds. Platte Basin Timelapse will continue to develop the larger story about grouse species […]

“Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. What is soft is strong.” -Lao-Tzu Across Wyoming’s sea of sagebrush, two cargo vans full of students approach the Wind River […]

In June, a small team of PBT interns set out for the highest point in the Platte Basin watershed. We had big intentions of catching 5-star media to fill in cracks for the Grays Peak scene in the upcoming PBT documentary featuring Mike and Pete’s 55-day, 1,300-mile journey across the watershed. Grays Peak is the highest point in the Platte Basin […]

Climate scientists in Nebraska and Colorado are training Native American water managers how to collect and understand local climate data and make better predictions about their water supply.

During the long weekend of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s fall break, I decided to take a short trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. The park and the surrounding areas have always had a soft spot in my heart. I’ve spent countless days during my summer vacations exploring the alpine tundra and meadows of the park, […]

Lake McConaughy is nearly full. The giant reservoir on the North Platte River has been receiving lots of inflows from heavy snows and continued rainfall in the headwaters in Colorado and Wyoming. Formed by the Kingsley Dam, Lake McConaughy is one of the largest reservoirs on the North Platte River. Built as a hydro-irrigation project […]

Water loss through porous canals and ditches has always been an issue for irrigators, so districts and farmers alike have lined or sealed the waterways to reduce loss. “We can’t afford to lose a whole lot of water out of the canal,” Busch said, but “sealing a canal is a catch-22 because that water that comes out of them canals does replenish our groundwater system.”