Publications and Reports

Selected Publications:

Farewell to two radicals with a common goal – changing the West

Lofty Heights: We were young, brown outsiders in the world of outdoor adventure. Climbing Grand Teton marked a turning point
(Winner of the 2022 Folio Award and second place in the Society of American Travel Writers competition)

The Milestone for Public Lands You’ve Never Heard of, and Why It Matters Today

The complexity of color in the environmental movement

Losing Our Grip as a Society

Balancing the consuming reality of COVID-19 with the ever-present need to defend bedrock environmental regulations

Tribes are suffering 2 blows from COVID-19. Here’s how you can help … from afar

Why the next generation needs public lands: Experiences in the wilderness are crucial for troubled youth

The man behind a New Mexico county’s fracking ban

The Courage to Make Change: A Letter to the Land Trust Movement
(with Peter Forbes and Danyelle O’Hara)

Hispanic leaders spearheaded the Río Grande del Norte National Monument

On a rainbow pilgrimage to Navajo Mountain

A Century of Conservation

A short trip, but wild and scenic

Stepping Out on a Limb

It was written on the wind: Cancer takes the life of a radiation-exposed family member

Return to Sacred Places: Taos Land Trust preserves our Tierra Sagrada

The missing puzzle piece:
Bringing native perspectives into archaeology for a more complete picture of the past

Taos’ return to the acequias

The high carbon cost of la vida rural

The mysticism of mud

A seat on the bus

La Vida Floresta: Ecology, Justice, and Community-Based Forestry in Northern New Mexico (see associated editorial here)

Making Environmental Justice Whole

Of Land and Culture: Environmental Justice and Public Lands Ranching in Northern New Mexico

Acequia Waters

Closing the wounds:
A plucky group of New Mexico activists pushes mining reclamation into the 21st century

A Subversive Synthesis of Traditional Land-Based Wisdom and Ecology

The mine that turned the Red River blue:
Activists turn the tables on the biggest, slipperiest mine in the Rio Grande watershed

Little Wild Places

Sustaining Culture through Work: A Cowboy’s Life

Holding to the Middle Path in Ladakh: Tibetan Plateau

Water deal could drain New Mexico’s small towns: Northern New Mexico farmers fear cities will suck their communities dry

After a heavy harvest and a death, Navajo forestry realigns with culture

Selected “For the Land” monthly columns from The Taos News:

Published or Completed Reports:

Funding Stewardship of Natural Resources in New Mexico: Findings and Background Information
(prepared as part of developing a revised grantmaking strategy for the McCune Charitable Foundation’s Stewardship of Natural Resources funding priority)

Stepping into the Food Desert
(report and recommendations commissioned by Rocky Mountain Youth Corps)

Trails for the People and Economy of Taos
(report commissioned by Rocky Mountain Youth Corps as part of the Trails del Norte project below, and similar to another report completed for the Santa Fe Conservation Trust)

Trails del Norte
(final report and trail design recommendations commissioned by Rocky Mountain Youth Corps)

Land Conservation and the Public Trust: The Case for Community Conservation
(report commissioned by the Land Trust Alliance, co-written with Peter Forbes and Danyelle O’Hara for the Center for Whole Communities)

D.H. Lawrence Ranch Feasibility Study on Developing a Conservation Easement
(prepared for the Taos Community Foundation)

A History of Taos County Land Use Ethics, Planning, and Practice
(from the Taos County Growth Management Plan)

Havasupai Traditional and Historical Use of the Grand Canyon Village Area: Literature Review and Annotated Bibliography
(from the Grand Canyon/Havasupai Oral History Project)

Podcasts and Radio

The Healing Ceremony
(podcast about the restoration of Bears Ears National Monument and Tribal co-stewardship)

de la Tierra
(quarterly radio programs produced for Taos Land Trust with assistance from Cultural Energy)

Featured in several episodes of The Shift of Land radio series:

About Ernie Atencio:

Agriculture advocates get op accolades

Mesa Verde’s surprising story

Return of a Sacred Site

Taos Pueblo takes ownership of Ponce de León springs

Thousands of acres later, director to leave land trust

Cultivating Land and Culture

A Voice of the Land:
Director of the Taos Land Trust wins national award for keeping connection to nature alive

Editorial: National Sierra Club Censors Northern New Mexico Group