Adam M. Sowards — Taking Bearings

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Adam M. Sowards

Skagit Valley

How the U.S. came to protect the natural world

"How the U.S. came to protect the natural world — and exploit it at the same time," Los Angeles Times (September 25, 2022). (Print version titled: "Our troubled history as stewards of public lands.") Op-Ed: How the U.S. came to protect the natural world — and

Stones in a Stream

Stones in a Stream

"Stones in a Stream," Talking River Review, Issue 53 (Fall 2022): 125, The stones of my memory, and in my life, cannot be avoided any more than rain can avoid rivers. They take up space. They force action. No, they demand reaction. They do not interact, they impose.

William O. Douglas (1898-1980)

"William O. Douglas (1898-1980)," Oregon Encyclopedia (September 2022). William O. Douglas (1898-1980)Although he hailed from the State of Washington, William O. Douglas represented the greater Pacific Northwest on the national stage as a U.S. Supreme Court ass…The Oregon Encyclopedia LogoAdam M. Sowards

Submerged Stories, Breaching History

Submerged Stories, Breaching History

"Submerged Stories, Breaching History," Wild Roof Journal, Issue 15 (July 2022): 15-22. All places contain ghost landscapes when you see them as a historian does, which is to say, how I do. Buried beneath today’s scenic vista lies all of the yesterdays, layered one upon another, accreting

Wild Times

Wild Times

"Wild Times," Barzakh Magazine, Issue 15 (Summer 2022). But I realize that time isn’t a refuge any more than the wilderness is an escape from people. You cannot go into it or out of it. You cannot choose to participate in or avoid time. Time beats on

Making America's Public Lands

Making America's Public Lands

Making America's Public Lands: The Contested History of Conservation on Federal Lands. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2022. Publisher's Site

When You Know the Price of a Huckleberry

When You Know the Price of a Huckleberry

"When You Know the Price of a Huckleberry," Weber – The Contemporary West 38, no. 1 (Fall 2021): 110-18. My students sit next to me and Big Creek, on cut logs, because they believe Thoreau remains correct a century and a half later. The universe is the classroom; schoolrooms