A Plea for the Public Lands
Tuesday, July 21 2026
On July 13, 2026, President Trump issued orders reducing Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments for a second time. Grand Staircase-Escalante was reduced by approximately 1.69 million acres, representing a 90% reduction of the monument's land area, shrinking its total size from roughly 1.87 million acres to 181,541 acres. Bears Ears National Monument was reduced from 1.36 million acres to 121,100 acres.
- Published in Features
Is There an Answer to American Decline?
Monday, July 13 2026
Recently, I wrote about what is great about America at 250. This week, I reflect on what I see as palpable American decline. I do not enjoy criticizing America, but if we don’t, on our 250th birthday, step back to reflect on what we have achieved, how we got here, what remains unresolved, and where we seem to be headed, when will we do so?
- Published in Features
Crazy Horse and His Massive Memorial in South Dakota’s Black Hills
Thursday, June 18 2026
Clay shares his thoughts on the Crazy Horse Memorial begun in 1948, a privately funded monument under construction in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The monument depicts Oglala Lakota warrior Crazy Horse on horseback, pointing toward his tribal lands. Once completed, it will be the largest mountain carving in the world, at 641 feet long, 563 feet high — larger than nearby Mount Rushmore.
- Published in Features
In a Far Corner of Colorado: One Chapter in the Great Dispossession
Monday, June 08 2026
A recent visit to northwest Colorado reminds me of the paradox of Manifest Destiny and our American history.
- Published in Features
Edward Abbey — Now More Than Ever, Even With All His Faults
Tuesday, April 21 2026
A recent visit to Arizona had me thinking about the legacy and prescience of Edward Abbey. With warts and all, he’s a kind of modern-day Henry David Thoreau.
- Published in Features
A Struggle for the Public Commons: Buffalo, the Department of Interior & American Prairie Reserve
Tuesday, January 20 2026
Clay reflects on a recent announcement from the U.S. Department of the Interior to revoke bison grazing leases from American Prairie, an organization that has long been working to establish a buffalo wildlife reservation in Northern Montana.
- Published in Features
My Year in Review
Tuesday, December 30 2025
Last week, I reviewed the year 2025 by way of Time magazine’s Year in Review issue. Today I want to review my year as the traveling editor of Listening to America.
- Published in Features
Reopening the Wounds of Wounded Knee
Monday, October 06 2025
Wounded Knee, really?
- Published in Features
The Stubborn Enigmas of Lewis and Clark
Monday, September 29 2025
After decades of close study and a year following their trail, Clay remains dogged by the many unknowables surrounding the famous American expedition.
- Published in Features
Four Perfect Days
Monday, September 08 2025
Clay and friends are just off four perfect days canoeing remote sections of the Missouri River in central Montana.
- Published in Dispatches from the Road