Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson

Russ Schnitzer is a Colorado-based conservationist and professional photographer whose love for the landscapes and people of the American West shines through in all aspects of his life. Russ is the Senior Program Officer for Natural Resources at the Gates Family Foundation, one of Colorado's most effective and generous conservation funders. As a photographer, he's worked with some of the biggest n...

Chandra Brown is an educator, writer, and river guide who has worked on the West's most iconic rivers, including many seasons below the rim of the Grand Canyon. She's also the founder of the Freeflow Institute, a unique Montana-based program that offers multi-day river trips for writers and creatives that combine immersion in the natural world with instruction from some of the West's most well-kno...

Jesse Womack wears many hats, but at his core, he is a rancher. He is the fifth generation to operate his family's ranch near Victoria, Texas, a large-scale cattle operation that uses progressive land management techniques in a very unique landscape. Jesse also works closely with Texas Christian University's Institute of Ranch Management, traveling far and wide to teach sustainable agricultural te...

Melissa DiNino is a biologist, artist, and designer who currently lives and works in Montana's legendary Tom Miner Basin. A native easterner, Melissa moved West soon after college to work as a range rider-- a job that involves monitoring livestock on horseback in an effort to encourage the successful coexistence of livestock and apex predators in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. In her role as a...

Allison Ryan is a West Texas native and co-founder of Explore Ranches, a company that connects its customers with spectacular private ranches throughout Texas and Colorado—some have described it as "AirBnB for ranches." For those seeking a truly unique outdoor experience, Explore Ranches offers access to private land that has rarely, if ever, been visited by the public. And for the ranch owner, Ex...

Jay Kleberg is a conservationist and the Associate Director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation. He's also the co-founder of Explore Ranches, a new company that connects outdoor enthusiasts to some of the most iconic private ranches in Texas and beyond. Jay has built his career and life around a deep respect for land and an inborn sense of responsibility to protect these landscapes, as well...

Daniel Anderson is a Montana native and founder of the Common Ground Project, a nature-based retreat, hiking, and camping experience in which small groups of people from around the world share adventure, education, and conversation. Located on Daniel's family ranch in the heart of Montana's renowned Tom Miner Basin, the Common Ground Project seeks to strengthen connections between people, wildlife...

Alexis Bonogofsky is a rancher, conservationist, and community organizer who is fiercely committed to protecting the landscapes and communities of eastern Montana. While much of Alexis's career has been devoted to environmental issues in the West, the 2011 Exxon oil spill in the Yellowstone River brought the fight to her doorstep—her family's pastures were inundated with oil, threatening not only...

Sara Dant is a historian, professor, and chair of the history department at Weber State University. She's also the author of one of my new favorite books: Losing Eden: An Environmental History of the American West. Sara's work touches many of the topics we discuss regularly on this podcast, including conservation, water, public lands, building consensus around divisive issues, historical figures o...

Anyone who has listened to this podcast surely knows of best-selling author and narrative historian Hampton Sides. I reference his books often and was lucky enough to interview him in August at the Aspen Institute, which I released as a podcast episode. In that conversation, we discussed the history of the 19th-Century American West, and many of you kindly reached out to let me know how much you e...

Erik Petersen is a Montana-based photographer, filmmaker, and photojournalist whose work showcases the American West and the many ways we enjoy our wide open spaces. His most recent film, A Few Steps Further, explores the commonalities between backcountry hunting and mountain endurance sports, while highlighting the spectacular wild landscapes that make these activities possible. Historically, hun...

Normally on the podcast, I introduce you to innovative individuals who are shaping the future of the American West—ranchers, writers, athletes, authors, adventurers, conservationists, entrepreneurs... pretty much anyone who's interesting and doing important work here in the West. • But this episode is a little different. This time the tables are turned, and I'm in the hot seat, being interviewed o...

Juanita Vero is a partner at the E Bar L Ranch, a family-owned dude ranch located on the Blackfoot River, about an hour east of Missoula, Montana. The ranch was purchased and founded by Juanita's great-grandfather and has served as a Rocky Mountain retreat for families from around the world for almost 100 years. If you've never visited but would like to learn more about the ranch, this conversatio...

Geoffrey Keating is a Colorado-based woodworker whose dedication to exquisite craftsmanship and creative design have made him one of today's most sought-after furniture makers. But creating furniture is just a small part of his interesting life story—Geoffrey has also worked as a mechanic on a professional motocross team and holds two graduate degrees in theology, one from Yale and one from Notre...

Hampton Sides is a narrative historian, best-selling author, and editor-at-large for Outside magazine. Mountain & Prairie listeners probably know Hampton best from his book "Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West," but the reality is that Blood and Thunder represents only a fraction of his work. "Hellhound on His Trail," "In the Kingdom of Ice," and "...

Pete McBride is a National Geographic photographer, filmmaker, and writer who tells untold stories from some of the world's wildest places. Most recently, Pete and his friend, author Kevin Fedarko, hiked the entire 800-mile length of the Grand Canyon, documenting the journey for his forthcoming book Grand Canyon: Between the River and Rim. The book is an amazing combination of breathtaking photogr...

Those of you who have been listening to the podcast since the early days probably remember my first conversation with Stephen Smith. We talked for an hour and a half about his career as a professional photographer, his motorcycle adventures around South America, his time working on farms and ranches, surfing, and more. Since that conversation almost exactly two years ago, Stephen has continued to...

Rebecca Jewett is the executive director of Palmer Land Trust, a conservation organization committed to protecting southern Colorado's recreational open space, working agricultural land, and stunning scenic vistas. Under Rebecca's leadership, Palmer has moved away from traditional, decades-old land conservation methods and into a more proactive model, pursuing audacious and outside-the-box conserv...

Sarah Wentzel-Fisher is the Executive Director of the Quivira Coalition, an innovative conservation organization devoted to building soil, biodiversity, and resilience on western working landscapes. Quivira was founded over twenty years ago by two conservationists and a rancher, all three of whom were exhausted by the divisive nature of the relationships between the agricultural and environmental...

David Gessner is an author, a professor, and one of the leading contemporary voices on the natural world and the American West. He has written ten books, including "All the Wild That Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, and the American West," which is one of my all-time favorites and was a former Mountain & Prairie Book Club selection. Thanks to his influences ranging from Henry David Thoreau...

Daniel Vergés is an artist and graphic designer who captures the essence of life in the American West through simple yet amazingly impactful paintings and drawings. Like many of my podcast guests, Daniel grew up obsessed with all things western—but unlike previous guests, Daniel grew up and currently lives in Spain, where he works and creates western-focused art in his rural studio. His life-long...

Adam Foss is a world-class hunter who has transformed his passion for wildlife and wild places into a rewarding career in filmmaking and photography. Adam has been obsessed with wilderness adventure for practically his entire life. At age 24, he was the youngest person to take all four species of North American sheep with a bow, an amazing achievement for a hunter of any age. But despite this acco...

Chris Eyer is a true Western polymath. He is probably best known for his work as a mule packer, in which he uses mules to transport supplies into some of Montana's most remote wilderness areas—he documents the adventures on his extremely popular Instagram account "muledragger." But as you'll hear in our conversation, mule packing only scratches the surface—Chris is an experienced mountaineer and c...

Sarah Calhoun is the founder and owner of Red Ants Pants, a Montana-based apparel company that makes high-quality, American-made workwear for women. But Sarah's business ventures are just the tip of the iceberg—she also started the Red Ants Pants Music Festival, which attracts world-class musicians like Dwight Yoakam and Lucinda Williams. The proceeds from the music festival support Sarah's third...

Becca Skinner is a Bozeman-based photographer, writer, and adventurer whose work has taken her to some of the farthest corners of the globe. Growing up between Colorado and Wyoming, Becca was raised by adventurous and supportive parents who nurtured her love of the outdoors and her artistic endeavors. As a young woman, Becca's genuine interest in social work and helping the less fortunate led to h...