Common Land

Before embarking upon a 6-month-long hike across the spine of the Appalachian Mountain range, my 8-year-old son Rowan had some questions. This is the interview that Rowan conducted with me just a few…

In this bonus episode of the show, shared with you via the podcast HumaNature, we’ll hear about a father who takes his young daughter out on her first backpacking trip in one of our most treasured pr…

John Freemuth was a public policy professor and the Cecil Andrus Endowed Chair of Environment and Public Lands at Boise State University whose voice was featured in season one of Common Land. He pass…

Season Two of Common Land was supposed to be focused on the Appalachian Trail, and production was scheduled to start in March of 2020. Unfortunately, the spread of COVID-19 has forced us, along with …

The future of the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey NCA is highly uncertain as the area and its unique raptor population face a multitude of threats stemming from our current climate crisis. De…

Cheatgrass, an invasive annual grass species, has spread throughout the Intermountain West, including the entire area that makes up the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey NCA. As this invasive s…

The arrival of substantial numbers of European American settlers in Southwest Idaho in the mid-1800s led to conflict over land ownership with the Shoshone and Paiute tribes. Although attempts were ma…

While our primary focus in this series has been the very recent history of the Snake River Canyon region, this area has been occupied by humans for over 14,000 years. In this episode we look at the h…

Conflict erupted in the newly designated Snake River Birds of Prey NCA as land managers and recreational users were forced to deal with the presence of an active military training area within the con…

Although Idaho is known as one of the most politically conservative states, it also has a long legacy of land protection. In this episode, we analyze the political process behind the establishment of…

Just two years after the expansion of the Snake River Birds of Prey Natural Area, an extremely controversial water rights issue exploded into the forefront of Idaho politics. The epicenter of this co…

The 1970s saw the emergence of a truly unique partnership in the Snake River Canyon between scientific researchers and policy makers. Raptor biologists Mike Kochert and Karen Steenhof, at the directi…

By the late 1960s Morley Nelson had a clear goal - to establish federal protection for the Snake River Canyon. He began to steer his ever growing cadre of falconry apprentices towards conducting the …

One man is largely responsible for establishing the vision for protection of the Snake River Canyon - Morley Nelson. Our first episode tracks Morley's deep passion for birds of prey, and examines how…

Season One of Common Land explores the creation story behind the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area. This unique stretch of the Snake River Canyon in Southwest Idaho i…