Articles
Devon's writing focuses on sustainable food systems and intersectional outdoor adventure, as well as book reviews, profiles, and essays. Below are some of her previous clips.
bioGraphic
An age-old tradition in Norway illuminates the bonds between wild ducks, wild places, and the people who care for both.
The Atlantic
Science created summer oysters. Climate change might doom them.
High Country News
An author speaks on growing up black in 1990s Portland and countering his city’s hipster image.
High Country News
A natural and human histories expert of the West reflects on her work.
High Country News
Terry Tempest Williams's book When Women Were Birds resonates with her signature gift—the ability to salvage beauty from great heartbreak.
Guernica
The writer-activist on the qualities of silence, bearing witness to trauma, and seeking sustenance in the world’s fragile beauty.
High Country News
Although it's set during the Gold Rush era, Oregon author Patrick DeWitt's second novel, The Sisters Brothers, is modern Western noir at its finest.
Indian Country Today
The name for the center, Wünüt Novi, roughly translates to “Standing House,” based on the word wünüt, which means “stand up” in the Paiute language.
The Sheet
“The Paiute people are very humble,” said Sage Romero, a youth prevention worker for Toiyabe Indian Health Services. “We don’t have a lot of flashy costumes, but we maintain a deep spirituality. The Circle Dance is an embedded part of our culture.”
The Sheet
Although he probably runs more and drives less than the average American, last year Phill Kiddoo set out to see whether he could traverse more terrain with his own physiological power than with a motor. For 365 days he logged his travel distances by bike, by car, and by foot, recording them to the nearest tenth of a mile.
The Sheet
There’s the type of outdoorsy badass who accomplishes a noteworthy feat for the bragging rights. Then there’s the kind of badass who—like John Muir, Mary Austin or Norman Clyde—follows the tug of nature to the source of its extremes because he just can’t help himself, lives to tell the tale, and tells it beautifully.
The Sheet
At the opening ceremony for the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, William Mulholland, engineer of the project, said his famous words: “There it is. Take it.” Now, almost one century later, the Owens Valley Committee is still trying to take it back—or at least hold the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) accountable for excessive groundwater pumping and other management practices.
The Sheet
Scientists know the Universe is getting bigger, and what’s more, it now appears to be accelerating. About 10 years ago scientists discovered that more than 70 percent of the Universe is made up of an unknown substance, dubbed “dark energy,” which they believe might be the driving force behind the accelerating expansion.
The Sheet
Throughout Inyo County, the motorized recreation community is revving up for a potential pilot project that could designate certain county roads as dual-use. Pending legislation, Inyo County might soon have a five-year window to design and implement a plan that would allow all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) to access county roads to reach existing off-road destinations.
The Sheet
It took me five months and four days to read War and Peace. In my defense, though, I have a life . . .
The Sheet
Two months ago, a distressed mother called Carol Archuleta and said, “You’re my last hope.” The mother was calling about her son, who was diagnosed with bipolar and attention deficit disorders. At seven years old, he had already tried to commit suicide twice. After the family had tried every other kind of therapy to facilitate his anger management, the mother turned to Archuleta’s therapeutic horse riding program as a final resort.
The Sheet
Members of Thursday’s meeting looked to Storey for advice on how to get the biomass ball rolling in Mammoth. Although Storey described Placer County’s success story, he said biomass projects must be tailored specifically to each proposed location. Since Mammoth Lakes is surrounded by a wealth of forest thinnings and wood waste, Storey said the town has a lot of potential for securing a sound biomass operation.
The Sheet
Have we reached an age when both physical books and independent bookstores will become obsolete? Amazon.com is the largest grossing book retailer in the world, Borders and Barnes and Noble sales run close behind, and portable electronic reading devices can now replace tangible books with virtual reads. Despite these unfavorable odds, local independent booksellers contend that they will continue to serve a loyal niche market.
The Sheet
A pilot project has been approved to cover 616 acres of the Owens Lake area with solar panels. If the project shows signs of long-term viability, it could lead to a solar array covering thousands of acres.
Food Safety News
As urban homesteading becomes increasingly popular, more people are refraining from store-bought eggs to try their hand at raising backyard chickens. However, despite the many potential benefits, it’s still necessary to take precautions against disease and pathogens like Salmonella.
The Sheet
Deena Kastor, the 2004 Olympic marathon bronze medalist in Athens, said her calling wasn’t clear until she had tried almost every other sport before attempting long-distance running. Not having much success in soccer, she said, “I was the girl who scored goals for the other team.”
The Sheet
Finding alternatives to fossil fuel dependence may seem daunting, but the town of Mammoth Lakes is surrounded by a relatively untapped biological reservoir for renewable energy. Biomass, or forest thinnings and wood waste removed from national parks, may provide potential for energy diversity and security in Mammoth Lakes.
The Sheet
When people from 181 countries united in more than 5,200 events around the globe on Saturday, Oct. 24, organizers in the Eastern Sierra made sure this pocket of the world was also represented.
The event focused on the number 350, or the number of parts per million (ppm) of CO2 in our atmosphere that scientists say is a safe upper level goal to set when world leaders draft an international treaty at the climate conference in Copenhagen in December.
Food Safety News
When meats are grilled, broiled, or seared, the high cooking temperature breaks down the amino acid creatine (an amino acid found in muscle), forming chemicals called heterocyclic amines (HCAs). The federal government added HCAs to its list of known carcinogens in 2005.
The Sheet
Considering propane prices and high electric bills, “free energy” sounds enticing, but it’s probably too good to be true, right? Correct. However, local solar power contractors are labeling sunshine “free energy” to advertise their businesses to Owens Valley residents. While in theory, owners of solar panels can tap the sun’s rays free of charge, installation costs are often too high to make solar energy seem worth the expense.
The Sheet
Elizabeth Strout’s novel is essentially a book of short stories, and the thread sewing them together is the character Olive Kitteridge. The story weaves through the lives of those residing in a small town on the coast of Maine. As the characters’ narratives unfold, truths about the human condition come to light, revealing a complete portrait of a complicated woman.
The Sheet
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is proposing a 600% monthly sewer rate increase from $3.50 to $21 for single-family residence users of the Independence Wastewater System.
The Sheet
Tainted by a water history steeped in political tension, California has always treated water issues with an air of uncertainty. What to do with water has been an age-old controversial question, influenced by the interests of politicians, engineers, environmentalists and tribes. Over the past century, engineers have developed water projects to cork, dam, divert, trap, and transport almost all water bodies in the state. As a result, battles over water rights have left many communities drowning in bitter, eternal grudges.
The Sheet
As law enforcement cracks down on illegal marijuana growing operations in the Western Sierra, drug cartels are moving to the Eastside, but even here, they roll the dice and take their chances. The Mono Narcotic Enforcement Team (MONET) raided two sophisticated large-scale cultivation operations August 10 and 12 in remote areas of the Glass Mountains and Wildrose Canyons as part of the annual campaign to eradicate Mono County marijuana cultivation.
The Sheet
When John Muir ascended Mount Ritter, his apprehension about the last leg of his journey was not enough to persuade him to turn back. Even when the cliffs near the summit looked most foreboding, it was as if the mountain was coaxing him on.
“We little know,” Muir wrote, “until tried how much of the uncontrollable there is in us.”
