• 1 hour 18 minutes
    Distance Champions – TNC's "On the Move" Podcast (M&P Special Episode)

    My longtime partners and collaborators at The Nature Conservancy recently launched a great podcast series called "On the Move," hosted by TNC storyteller Leah Palmer. It's all about wild animals, their migrations, and the people working to keep those journeys wild and free. If you're a longtime Mountain & Prairie listener, then many of these people, places, and conservation issues will be familiar to you. In fact, a few of the experts you'll hear over the course of the full series are past M&P guests, including Sammy Matsaw Jr., Kelsey Molloy, and Nancy Fishbein.

    So I'm excited to share one of my favorite episodes today: Episode 4, "Distance Champions." This episode is about creatures of the sky—sandhill cranes, Greater Sage-Grouse, Wilson's phalaropes—and it digs into why these birds migrate, how new tracking tech reveals where they actually go, and what stands in their way. You'll also hear from Ted Floyd of the American Birding Association, a good friend of TNC here in Colorado.

    Big thanks to The Nature Conservancy for creating such an interesting and engaging podcast series. If you enjoy it, go subscribe to "On the Move" and listen to the whole series.

    And as always, thanks to everyone who supports the Mountain & Prairie via Patreon, and the additional podcast support from the Freeflow Institute, The Nature Conservancy in Colorado, and the Well Done Foundation.

    Here's Leah Palmer and "Distance Champions." Enjoy!!

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    THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

    Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Freeflow Institute, The Nature Conservancy in Colorado, and the Well Done Foundation for their generous sponsorship.

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    ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:

    29 May 2026, 6:27 pm
  • 54 minutes 9 seconds
    Holly Bamford & Marshall Johnson - A 30-Year Vision for North America's Grasslands

    This is a live episode recorded at the 2026 Great Plains Stakeholder Workshop, hosted by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The workshop brought together many of the country's leading grasslands conservationists, scientists, funders, and policy experts to tackle a huge question: what would it look like to create a bold, practical, long-term plan for conserving North America's grasslands over the next 30 years?

    My guests are two people helping to lead that effort: Dr. Holly Bamford, Chief Conservation Officer at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (known as NFWF for short), and Marshall Johnson, Chief Conservation Officer for the National Audubon Society. Both have spent years working at the intersection of science, conservation, agriculture, and partnership-building, and both bring a realistic but hopeful perspective to the future of the Great Plains.

    In this conversation, we dig into the current state of the Great Plains and grasslands conservation more broadly– from grassland loss and declining bird populations to the creative partnerships helping ranchers, nonprofits, businesses, and government agencies work together toward solutions. We discuss the importance of voluntary conservation, the complicated economics facing ranching communities, the role of programs like the Farm Bill, and why grass-based agriculture and healthy wildlife habitat are far more interconnected than many people realize. Holly and Marshall also share stories from their own lives that explain how they each became so deeply connected to these landscapes– from prairie chicken blinds in Minnesota to the wide-open grasslands of the American West.

    More than anything, this conversation is about long-term thinking. What does it look like to create a 30-year vision for one of the most ecologically important and underappreciated landscapes in North America? What gives these conservation leaders hope? And what keeps them up at night? There's a lot of realism in this discussion, but there's also a surprising amount of optimism, practicality, and momentum. I learned a ton from this conversation, and I think you will too. Be sure to check out the episode notes for links to the organizations, initiatives, and resources we discuss throughout the episode.

    Thank you again to the amazing team at the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for inviting me to moderate this discussion.

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    THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

    Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Freeflow Institute, The Nature Conservancy in Colorado, and the Well Done Foundation for their generous sponsorship.

    ---

    TOPICS DISCUSSED:

    • 0:00 - Introducing a live convo
    • 3:25 - Looking behind instead of ahead
    • 5:40 - Why grasslands
    • 6:57 - The state of grasslands today
    • 10:22 - The meadowlark
    • 12:47 - Rancher relationships
    • 22:41 - Money is the key
    • 25:20 - Farm Bill feelings
    • 29:15 - Prairie potholes
    • 36:20 - Voluntary conservation easements
    • 39:24 - Accounting for change
    • 43:41 - Data collection
    • 48:40 - The next 30 years

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    ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:

    12 May 2026, 10:52 pm
  • 1 hour 2 minutes
    Hillary Rosner - Why Wildlife Needs Room to Roam

    Hillary Rosner is an award-winning journalist and author whose work combines science, storytelling, and the natural world. She's been writing about environmental issues for decades, with bylines in publications like The New York Times, The Atlantic, and National Geographic. Her new book, "Roam: Wild Animals and the Race to Repair Our Fractured World," explores one of the most urgent—and often overlooked—challenges in conservation: the loss of connectivity across the landscape, and what that means for the movement and survival of wildlife.

    Like so many fascinating people, Hillary's path into this work wasn't a straight line. She grew up in New York City, far from the wide-open spaces she now writes about, but spent formative summers in the Adirondacks and Berkshires that quietly shaped her connection to nature. After getting her start in fast-paced daily journalism at places like the New York Post and The Village Voice, she realized she wanted something deeper—slower, more immersive storytelling. That shift eventually led her west to Boulder, where she pursued environmental studies and built a career focused on long-form environmental journalism.

    In this conversation, Hillary and I dig into the big ideas behind "Roam," including why movement is so essential to life on Earth and how human infrastructure—from highways to fences—has fractured the natural world. We talk about surprising barriers to wildlife, like roads that even birds won't cross, and explore solutions ranging from wildlife corridors to collaborative conservation efforts with local communities. We also get into the realities of modern journalism, the importance of "bearing witness" in difficult times, and why curiosity, empathy, and action are still the most powerful tools we have for building a more connected and hopeful future.

    I loved the book, and I loved this conversation. Hope you enjoy both as much as I did!

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    THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

    Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Freeflow Institute, The Nature Conservancy in Colorado, and the Well Done Foundation for their generous sponsorship.

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    TOPICS DISCUSSED:

    • 0:00 - Introducing Hillary Rosner and highlighting TNC Colorado
    • 6:09 - Book congrats and growing up in NYC
    • 9:03 - The heading West bug
    • 11:20 - More long-form journalism
    • 13:36 - Making money in journalism
    • 16:41 - Ted Scripps fellowship
    • 19:01 - Patagonia publishing
    • 21:20 - Roads are only good for people
    • 28:20 - Why this should matter to you
    • 35:23- SLOSS
    • 38:39 - Doing everything you can
    • 40:52 - Fence removal project
    • 43:50 - Virtual fencing
    • 44:57 - Author's note
    • 49:47 - Poignant
    • 53:16 - Out of the box thinkers
    • 58:15 - Book recs
    • 1:00:36 - Wrapping up

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    ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:

    1 May 2026, 6:52 pm
  • 1 hour 8 minutes
    Miriam Horn - George Schaller and the Transformation of Wildlife Biology

    Miriam Horn is an award-winning journalist and author whose work lives at the intersection of conservation, food production, and the people working—often quietly and pragmatically—to hold those worlds together. Many listeners will recognize her from her excellent book "Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman," a title that's come up repeatedly on this podcast for its nuanced look at how working lands and conservation can coexist. But her new book, "Homesick for a World Unknown: The Life of George B. Schaller," zooms out to tell the story of a man whose influence touches nearly every corner of modern wildlife biology.

    If you're like I was before reading this book, you may not fully appreciate the importance of George Schaller and his work—but it's hard to overstate his impact. If you're working in wildlife science today—whether studying elk in Wyoming or snow leopards in Central Asia—you're building on a foundation he helped create. He helped shift wildlife biology away from specimen collection and distant population management toward long-term, immersive observation rooted in patience and deep respect for animals in their natural environments. And beyond his own research, his legacy lives on through the countless scientists he mentored around the world, many of whom went on to lead conservation efforts in their home countries.

    In this conversation, Miriam and I explore Schaller's remarkable life and the long arc of his influence—from his early days in Alaska to his groundbreaking work with gorillas, big cats, and high-altitude species across the globe. We talk about the tension between conservation and human needs, the role of humility and local knowledge in effective wildlife protection, and what Miriam learned after nearly a decade spent researching and writing this biography. It's a wide-ranging conversation about one man's life, but also about the bigger question of how humans can live responsibly within the natural world.

    "Homesick for a World Unknown" is available at your favorite bookseller now. I hope you enjoy this conversation and the book!

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    THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

    Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Freeflow Institute, The Nature Conservancy in Colorado, and the Well Done Foundation for their generous sponsorship.

    ---

    TOPICS DISCUSSED:

    • 0:00 - Introducing Miriam Horn and highlighting the Well Done Foundation
    • 6:17 - Feedback from George
    • 10:00 - Beginning a decade of work
    • 15:52 - Getting George to open up
    • 19:52 - A bit of George's biography
    • 24:39 - Becoming a charismatic megafauna
    • 26:53 - Putting the gun down
    • 31:03 - Humility and hard-headedness
    • 33:29 - Seeking the full picture
    • 36:57 - Husband and wife team
    • 41:00 - Not protective parents
    • 47:30 - George and Kay to the modern-day
    • 52:39 - How George changed Miriam
    • 59:11 - The writers Miriam admires
    • 1:04:54 - Words of wisdom

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    ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:

    21 April 2026, 4:24 pm
  • 1 hour 30 minutes
    Meriwether Hardie - What You Learn Riding Across the West

    Meriwether Hardie has built a life around long, ambitious horseback journeys through remote landscapes, and she uses those adventures as a way to better understand land, food, and the people who depend on both. In her early twenties, she rode for a year through South America, and this past summer, she spent five months traveling solo across the American West with two horses and a dog. Along the way, she's not just covering ground, she's asking questions, listening closely, and connecting with agricultural producers and rural communities. That combination of adventure, inquiry, and agriculture is also at the core of her professional work, which has spanned everything from small-scale producers to global supply chains, including time with Rainforest Alliance, all focused on building more resilient, equitable food systems.

    She grew up in Vermont, splitting time between her parents' farms—one centered around horses, the other around commercial beekeeping—which gave her both independence and a deep love of working landscapes. As a teenager, she attended a NOLS course in the Wind River Range, which cemented her love for wild places and outdoor education. That foundation eventually led her west to Colorado College, where she studied environmental science and journalism. After college, she received a competitive environmental journalism fellowship that funded her first major horseback expedition through Argentina—an experience that helped define her path and solidified her belief that storytelling can be a powerful tool for understanding complex issues.

    In this conversation, we talk about all of that, with a special focus on her most recent ride across the West—what it actually takes to pull off a trip like that, the risks and realities of traveling solo on horseback, and the incredible generosity she encountered along the way. We also talk about what she learned from the farmers and ranchers she met, from the challenges they face to the unexpected pockets of hope she discovered. This is a conversation about big, wild adventures, but it's also about the act of showing up, moving slowly through landscape, asking good questions, and listening to people who don't usually get heard.

    Enjoy!

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    THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

    Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Freeflow Institute, The Nature Conservancy in Colorado, and the Well Done Foundation for their generous sponsorship.

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    TOPICS DISCUSSED:

    • 0:00 - Introducing Meriwether Hardie and highlighting the Freeflow Institute
    • 5:36 - Growing up between two Vermont farms
    • 8:15 - Bee stings
    • 9:42 - An old, free pony
    • 13:25 - Being a different kind of kid
    • 15:23 - Colorado College
    • 18:12 - NOLS in the family
    • 21:58 - The badge of honor that is being a NOLS instructor
    • 25:36 - First horse trip
    • 30:04 - Asking for help
    • 32:34 - Post-Bill McKibben grant
    • 34:34 - Meriwether's journey across South America
    • 40:24 - How the journey changed her
    • 43:22 - Her current adventure
    • 47:40 - Burnout
    • 49:08 - Injury and change
    • 53:55 - Navigating vast landscapes
    • 1:00:29 - The best of humanity
    • 1:07:04 - Celebrating generational knowledge
    • 1:08:38 - The book process
    • 1:17:26 - Expectations vs. reality
    • 1:22:05 - Book recs
    • 1:28:00 - Wrapping up

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    ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:

    9 April 2026, 10:58 pm
  • 1 hour 5 minutes
    Jazmine Ulloa – The Untold History of El Paso

    Jazmine Ulloa is a national reporter who covers immigration for The New York Times and is the author of the new book "El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory." It's a sweeping, deeply researched look at one of the most overlooked regions in the American West. Born and raised in El Paso, Jazmine brings both a journalist's discipline and a personal connection to the story, weaving together archival research, oral histories, and her own family background to explore how this border community has shaped the broader story of the United States.

    What makes Jazmine's work especially compelling is the path she took to get here. She started reporting as a teenager, crossing the border with her grandmother to interview families affected by violence… real, high-stakes journalism while she was still in high school. From there, she worked her way up through local papers across Texas, covering crime, courts, and immigration, eventually moving into national political reporting and earning her role at The New York Times. It's a career built the old-fashioned way: curiosity, extreme hard work, and a clear sense of purpose.

    In this conversation, Jazmine and I focus on the long, layered history of El Paso and the surrounding borderlands—how people, cultures, and economies have moved through this region for generations, shaping the Southwest in ways that often go unrecognized. More than anything, this is a conversation about people and place. By following the lives of five families across generations, Jazmine brings a human lens to a complicated history, one that is rich with resilience, identity, and connection, and that adds real depth to our understanding of the American West.

    This is a thoughtful conversation with a very smart, purpose-driven author that adds some much needed historical context to this current moment in American culture. I think you'll enjoy it and learn a lot.

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    THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

    Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Central Grasslands Roadmap, The Nature Conservancy in Colorado, North Bridger Bison, and the Old Salt Co-op for their generous sponsorship.

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    TOPICS DISCUSSED:

    • 0:00 - Introducing Jazmine Ulloa and highlighting Good News and book recs
    • 5:47 - How Jazmine ended up in El Paso
    • 12:34 - Pursuing journalism as a career
    • 18:19 - Going to the border for the story
    • 23:02 - Getting to the New York Times
    • 27:09 - Jazmine's speciality
    • 30:27 - Dealing with trauma
    • 32:38 - Getting into Jazmine's book
    • 36:01 - Fear of the unknown
    • 36:55 - 2019 El Paso shooting
    • 41:29 - Seeing history reflected in the present
    • 46:56 - Leaning into the complexity
    • 49:33 - Focusing on family
    • 54:20 - Knowing her hometown better?
    • 57:44 - Time management at its best
    • 1:00:24 - Book recs
    • 1:02:34 - Wrapping up

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    ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:

    2 April 2026, 9:32 pm
  • 1 hour 5 minutes
    Pete McBride - Witness to Water

    Pete McBride is a photographer, filmmaker, and author whose work has taken him all over the world, but at the center of it all is a river much closer to home: the Colorado River. He's been a frequent guest on this podcast over the years, and his work has consistently offered one of the most thoughtful and visually compelling perspectives on the landscapes and water systems that define the American West. His latest book, "Witness to Water: One Photographer's Mission to Defend the Colorado River," is a departure from his previous photo-driven projects—it's all words, and it brings together two decades of stories, observations, and hard-earned insight from time spent on and around rivers.

    In this conversation, Pete and I talk about the Colorado River—where things stand today, what he's seeing across the basin, and why this moment feels especially urgent. We discuss drought, over-allocation, and the complicated, often frustrating realities of water management in the West. But we also zoom out, exploring how Pete's perspective has evolved over time—from adventure photographer chasing stories around the globe to someone deeply committed to telling one layered, long-term story about a single, essential river.

    We also spend quite a bit of time on the more personal side of Pete's new book. He opens up about family, the influence of his parents, and a period of his life that didn't match the outward success people might assume. It's honest, vulnerable, and, like the best stories, deeply relatable. As always, there are plenty of wild experiences and hard-earned lessons woven throughout, but what stands out most is Pete's willingness to share the full picture—the wins, the struggles, and everything in between.

    Pete is also a talented musician, and the song you heard at the beginning is him playing. And at the end of the episode, you can hear the full song. Be sure to check out the episodes for timestamps and links to everything we discuss, and be sure to grab a copy of "Witness to Water." Enjoy!

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    THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

    Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Central Grasslands Roadmap, The Nature Conservancy in Colorado, North Bridger Bison, and the Old Salt Co-op for their generous sponsorship.

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    TOPICS DISCUSSED:

    • 0:00 - Introducing Pete McBride and highlighting TNC Colorado
    • 5:43 - The "all words" book
    • 8:51 - How Pete's dad ended up in Colorado
    • 10:50 - Resisting the Colorado River
    • 13:36 - Working in India
    • 18:45 - Watching the water run out
    • 22:51 - Len and Pete's horrific death march
    • 27:09 - Combining the reservoirs
    • 29:31 - The deadline
    • 35:17 - How to get informed on the water conversations
    • 39:28 - Adventurers of the Year
    • 44:35 - Nobody knows what they're doing
    • 49:57 - Not nervous
    • 51:53 - Flying nerves
    • 55:41 - The most scared Pete has ever been
    • 59:24 - Djibouti
    • 1:02:02 - Discussing judgment and wrapping up

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    ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:

    26 March 2026, 9:48 pm
  • 1 hour 7 minutes
    Sebastian Junger - On Meaning, Mortality, and Belonging

    Sebastian Junger is an award-winning journalist, a New York Times bestselling author, and an Academy Award–nominated filmmaker. Regular listeners are surely familiar with his work, as I've mentioned his books a ridiculous number of times on this podcast over the years—especially his book "Tribe," which has had a lasting influence on how I think about community, purpose, and the kinds of experiences that give people meaning.

    So for Episode 300, I was excited to sit down with Sebastian for a real, in-person conversation.

    Sebastian is the author of "The Perfect Storm," "War," "Tribe," "Freedom," and most recently "In My Time of Dying," and he's spent decades reporting from war zones and writing about how humans behave under extreme pressure.

    In this conversation, we start with his early experience with NOLS and use that as a jumping-off point to explore a theme that runs through much of his work: why small groups facing real adversity create such strong bonds, and why those experiences often feel more meaningful than anything in modern, comfortable life.

    From there, we get into boxing, jiu-jitsu, and the idea that environments with real consequences tend to strip away status and surface-level differences, leaving people to be judged on effort, character, and how they show up for others.

    We also spend a good amount of time on his recent powerful book, "In My Time of Dying"—including the near-death experience that led to it, how he processed it afterward, and what it changed about how he thinks about fear, mortality, and what actually matters in life.

    We talk about parenting, contentment versus happiness, and how different phases of life demand different kinds of attention and energy. And toward the end, we get into writing, his new Substack project (that I highly recommend), smartphones, and why he's chosen to opt out of many versions of modern technology, including social media.

    This one covers a lot of ground, but it all ties back to a few core questions: what makes a life feel meaningful, what we lose when things get too easy, and how to stay connected to the people around us.

    We recorded this in Aspen, the morning before Sebastian was scheduled to speak at the Aspen Institute, and I'm grateful he took the time to do it—especially on a such a busy day.

    As always, check out the episode notes for a full list of topics and links to everything we discuss.

    Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoy!

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    THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

    Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Central Grasslands Roadmap, The Nature Conservancy in Colorado, North Bridger Bison, and the Old Salt Co-op for their generous sponsorship.

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    TOPICS DISCUSSED:

    • 0:00 - Intro + thank you to our sponsors
    • 6:54 - Introducing Sebastian Junger, another NOLS grad
    • 11:33 - A sense of duty
    • 14:22 - The melting pot of a boxing gym
    • 17:29 - Developing toughness
    • 20:29 - Happiness vs. contentment
    • 26:46 - A nice, summer day on Cape Cod
    • 33:08 - The loneliest moment of Sebastian's life
    • 37:46 - Processing the whole experience
    • 40:57 - No blessing without blood
    • 43:46 - Can't hide from death
    • 46:54 - Being in the moment (benefit of a flip phone)
    • 53:15 - Sebastian on Substack
    • 1:00:09 - Dealing with the angry internet
    • 1:02:05 - A different type of book rec segment
    • 1:04:21 - What's new and next for Sebastian

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    ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:

    19 March 2026, 10:26 pm
  • 1 hour 6 minutes
    Darcy Chenoweth - Helping the Helpers

    Darcy Chenoweth is a Montana-based Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner whose career sits at the intersection of medicine, trauma recovery, and the outdoor world. Darcy works with individuals and organizations—especially those in high-stress helping professions such as first responders, healthcare workers, and other frontline roles—to address burnout, trauma exposure, and the long-term impacts of stress. Her work blends psychotherapy, medication management, and practical tools that help people metabolize the intense experiences that often come with caring for others.

    Darcy grew up in Colorado's Front Range mountains, and later moved north to Missoula for college, drawn largely by the pull of the northern Rockies and the culture of Montana. Over the years, her life has included living off-grid in western Montana, working as an ER nurse in a small critical-access hospital, teaching backcountry emergency medicine around the world, and maintaining a parallel life as an artist working in ceramics.

    Those experiences—especially her years in emergency medicine and mountain environments—shaped her understanding of how trauma and stress accumulate in people who dedicate their lives to helping others. Today, Darcy's practice focuses on helping those individuals build awareness, resilience, and sustainable ways of engaging with difficult work while maintaining healthy lives outside of it.

    In this conversation, Darcy and I talk about the hidden drivers of burnout in helping professions, why community is essential for metabolizing trauma, and how modern life—despite all its conveniences—often strips away the friction and connection that humans need to stay mentally healthy. We also discuss the role of nature, trust, and shared experience in healing, along with Darcy's work supporting mountain communities through organizations like Mountain Muskox, which helps people process grief and loss connected to accidents in the mountains.

    Although much of Darcy's work focuses on first responders and other helping professionals, the ideas she shares in this conversation are relevant to anyone navigating stress, hardship, or big life transitions. It's a wide-ranging discussion about how humans process difficulty and how we can build lives and communities that help us come out stronger on the other side.

    Be sure to check out the episode notes for links to Darcy's practice, her work with Mountain Muskox, and several of the books and resources we discuss. Enjoy!

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    THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

    Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Central Grasslands Roadmap, The Nature Conservancy in Colorado, North Bridger Bison, and the Old Salt Co-op for their generous sponsorship.

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    TOPICS DISCUSSED:

    • 0:00 - Introducing Darcy Chenoweth and highlighting M&P supporters
    • 6:32 - Rollinsville, Colorado and skiing
    • 8:57 - Outdoors influence
    • 10:58 - Darcy's plan at 17
    • 12:39 - Adjusting to Montana
    • 15:00 - Western medicine forays
    • 17:47 - And a foray into ceramics and art
    • 20:00 - How a compassionate person compartmentalizes
    • 23:37 - What is burnout?
    • 28:49 - Darcy's practice
    • 32:17 - The value of community
    • 38:20 - Finding real meaning in the real world
    • 42:13 - Is action the anecdote?
    • 46:01 - Alcohol advice
    • 48:38 - And social media advice
    • 50:20 - The change that is being a mother
    • 52:50 - Mountain Muskox
    • 55:28 - Darcy's role models
    • 58:39 - Loss of structures
    • 1:02:12 - Book recs and parting words

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    ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:

    13 March 2026, 7:30 pm
  • 1 hour 36 minutes
    Our 10 Favorite Adventure Books, with Mark Kenyon

    Mark Kenyon is no stranger to Mountain & Prairie listeners—he's the author of "That Wild Country," host of the Wired to Hunt podcast, and the newly minted Director of Conservation at MeatEater. He's also one of the most voracious readers I know.

    Every few years, Mark and I record a special episode where we discuss our top 10 favorite books in a particular category. The first one was our top 10 conservation books, then we explored our top 10 books about the American West—you can find links to both of those episodes in the show notes.

    For this episode, we decided to discuss our top 10 adventure books—a category that both Mark and I love and have spent decades reading. We each brought five books that have stayed with us. Some are classics. Some are newer. Some are brutal. Some are unexpectedly funny. All of them reveal something about the human drive to embrace discomfort and move toward the unknown rather than away from it.

    Yes, Mark and I love reading adventure books for entertainment and enjoyment, but we also both try to extract lessons from these wild stories that can be applied to our own lives. Whether we're thinking about family, assessing risk, leadership, attitude, or simply not taking ourselves too seriously, there are important lessons to be learned from even the most outlandish adventures. So this conversation goes much deeper than a simple "Read this book because it's good"—we discuss how these books have shaped us and how they continue to influence our thinking.

    And if you like book recommendations, be sure to sign up for my bimonthly book recommendations email. For more than ten years, I've been sending one email every other month featuring books I recently read and highly recommend. The topics and genres are all over the place—and can admittedly be a little weird—but people seem to enjoy them, so I keep sending them. I just published my recommendations for January and February 2026, so you can find a link in the show notes and sign up if you're interested.

    Thanks so much for listening!

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    THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

    Mountain & Prairie is listener-supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Central Grasslands Roadmap, The Nature Conservancy in Colorado, North Bridger Bison, and the Old Salt Co-op for their generous sponsorship.

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    TOPICS DISCUSSED:

    • 0:00 - Introducing Mark Kenyon and highlighting North Bridger Bison
    • 6:05 - Mark's new role at MeatEater
    • 13:03 - Mark's next book timeline
    • 18:28 - A new MeatEater podcast
    • 21:43 - Getting into the books, starting with a Doug Peacock classic
    • 28:17 - The first TR book Ed ever read
    • 35:30 - The layers of Teddy Roosevelt
    • 37:59 - Mark's next pick, a more recent option
    • 42:21 - Ed's up, with a cliche?
    • 47:55 - Bonus rec from Mark
    • 50:33 - American Buffalo
    • 1:03:03 - Navigating risk outdoors
    • 1:07:48 - Pivoting to lighter adventure books
    • 1:12:53 - An adventure book by a woman
    • 1:17:57 - Mark's last choice and a caribou conversation
    • 1:26:35 - And Ed's last choice, connecting with mountaineering
    • 1:34:45 - Wrapping up

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    ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:

    5 March 2026, 9:40 pm
  • 1 hour 7 minutes
    Stella Maria Baer – Moons, Horses, and New Mexico Light

    Stella Maria Baer is a Santa Fe–based painter whose work is deeply rooted in land, light, and place. Known for her luminous depictions of moons, desert skies, horses, and wide-open Southwestern landscapes, Stella often makes her own pigments by hand—grinding rocks, dirt, and minerals into paint that quite literally contains the places she portrays. In addition to her studio practice, she teaches intimate workshops on natural pigment painting for land-based artists on her New Mexico property, creating space for people to reconnect with their creativity, their hands, and the earth itself.

    Stella grew up in New Mexico in a family of artists—her mother was a weaver, her grandfather a photographer, her grandmother a sculptor—and spent summers on a Wyoming ranch that shaped her lifelong love of horses and open country. Though art was always around her, she initially pursued religion and philosophy, studying questions of desire, goodness, and the inherent value of land. Painting began not as a career move but as a private, prayerful practice—drawing birds in journals to quiet a busy mind. Over time, that contemplative discipline evolved into a full-time vocation, one that ultimately drew her back home to New Mexico after years on the East Coast, where she had found herself painting the desert from memory and longing.

    In this conversation, we talk about that journey—from philosophy classrooms and sacred poetry to moon paintings and hand-ground pigments. Stella shares how critique shaped her work in unexpected ways, how motherhood has influenced both her art and her priorities, and the powerful story behind rescuing her horses from kill pens—animals that now carry deep personal meaning connected to her late mother. We also discuss the importance of play, silence, and being a beginner in a screen-saturated world. Stella rarely does interviews, so I'm especially grateful for her willingness to sit down and speak so thoughtfully and authentically about her life and work. It's a reflective conversation about creativity, land, faith, and following one's unique artistic curiosity.

    I feel like Stella and I only scratched the surface of her curiosity, land ethic, and artistic journey, so I'll look forward to having her back for another conversation in the future. But for now, I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did.

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    THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

    Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Central Grasslands Roadmap, The Nature Conservancy in Colorado, North Bridger Bison, and the Old Salt Co-op for their generous sponsorship.

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    TOPICS DISCUSSED:

    • 0:00 - Intro and sponsor highlight
    • 7:50 - Stella's origin story
    • 12:00 - Art in Stella's childhood
    • 14:35 - Zoning in and drawing birds
    • 19:39 - Religion and philosophy degrees
    • 21:58 - Wendell Berry and the Bible
    • 25:07 - Responding to critiques
    • 27:42 - New Mexico love
    • 33:01 - Why moons?
    • 36:07 - Importance of play
    • 44:12 - How having kids changed things
    • 50:54 - Stella's horses
    • 55:28 - Stella's workshops
    • 1:02:08 - Book recs
    • 1:06:00 - Wrapping up

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    ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:

    24 February 2026, 11:36 pm
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