Yeo Won Yarnell's essay was the best of the 2019 FSPW Scholarship Competition.
I was raised in a household that highly values doing outdoor activities like...
Category: Voices in the Wilderness
This series of essays is appearing in the Western News of Libby, Montana, and the Sanders County Ledger of Thompson Falls, as part of the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act, signed by Lyndon Johnson into law on September 3, 1964.
These Western Montana residents each write about their special relationship with wild places, Wilderness and wilderness, designated and not.
David Neils — Introduction to a Wild Life
By David Neils
Growing up in Libby, Montana, I was surrounded by incredibly wild and beautiful country. Our family spent a lot of time in the outdoors. There were trails headed into the...
Leigh Lake September
By Phalyn Fickas
The September day started out early, before the sun rose, as most expeditions like this do. I laced up my boots, filled my water bottles, and headed out the door with my friend...
Man Vs. Nature
By Kelly Butts-Spirito
Eugenio Montale once wrote, “The most dangerous aspect of present-day life is the dissolution of the feeling of individual...
A Winter Forest Choir
By Brian Baxter
After the snowfall, Old Man Winter rests. He is warm now, with his long white hair flowing down his shoulders. After conjuring...
An Intern’s Summer in the Scotchman Peaks
By Jacob Arrington
When I first applied for the Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness Backcountry Ranger position, I knew very little of what I was getting into. I knew that it would be hard,...
Surviving a Wild Wind by Annie Gassmann
By Annie Gassmann
We were nearing the end of a mother–daughter backpack trip into the Scapegoat Wilderness. I was in my late teens, eager to explore tall mountains, dark forests and pretend I...
Lance Shevlan adds his story to “Voices In The Wilderness”
Family and Fall in the South Fork of Ross Creek
We moved West in the early 1970s because we found it quiet and beautiful, and much less busy than Minneapolis. After some substitute teaching and...