Olivia Amber is a professional ultrarunner, climber, and adventurer, and a North Face sponsored athlete based in Bishop, California. I met Olivia at The Rut Mountain Runs in Big Sky, where she was on a public lands panel I moderated. She was also there to talk about her biggest project to date: Norman's 13. Norman's 13 is a route, a link-up of all thirteen of the Sierra's 14,000-foot peaks. It's more than 100 miles with over 40,000 feet of climbing, much of it exposed, off-trail, fifth-class scrambling. Last September, Olivia did the whole thing in one non-stop push, finishing in about 89 hours and becoming the first woman to complete it. The North Face made a short film about that effort, also called "Norman's 13," and I'll link to it in the show notes. And earlier this summer, Olivia and her friend and fellow North Face athlete Erika Flowers set the fastest known time on Granite Peak, the highest point in Montana.

Olivia grew up in a tiny village in the woods of northern Wisconsin, the daughter of two schoolteachers who spent their summers road-tripping around the country with Olivia and her older sister. She went on to become an All-American Nordic skier at Colby College, and after graduation she made the hard decision to not pursue pro skiing. Instead, she began working in the corporate world in San Francisco, where the Bay Area trail running community pulled her in and she began to make a name for herself in the world of ultrarunning. Along the way she has dealt with serious health challenges, including a diagnosis of stage four endometriosis, which she speaks about openly and honestly.

In this conversation, we talk about her upbringing and her college years, and about her idea that choosing to suffer is a privilege, because she has become acquainted with the kind of suffering you don't choose. We get into how she thinks about risk and ego on technical terrain, what she looks for in a mountain adventure partner, her upcoming trip to Bhutan for the Snowman Race, and the Wallace Stegner book she has reread more than any other. As you can probably tell by now Olivia is a hardcore athlete, but she's also incredibly humble, down-to-earth and funny– the exact kind of person I love talking to on the podcast. There's a link to "Norman's 13" in the show notes, and you should absolutely watch it.

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• Olivia Amber
• "Norman's 13" film
• Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/olivia-amber

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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust, MIRASOL: Looking at the Sun, Patagonia Books, the Rye Resurgence Project for their generous sponsorship.

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TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• 0:00 - Introducing Olivia Amber and highlighting MIRASOL
• 6:42 - Growing up in Wisconsin
• 8:40 - Congregating at the local school
• 11:20 - Endurance sports activated
• 13:39 - Finding passion in difficulty
• 15:30 - Olivia in high school and college
• 20:21 - D1
• 22:13 - All-American designation
• 25:13 - Moving away from professional skiing
• 27:34 - Athletics + corporate world
• 29:48 - San Francisco running community
• 32:58 - Going hard core
• 35:06 - Health scares
• 39:39 - The privilege of elective suffering
• 45:07 - The North Face and Norman's 13
• 51:26 - Not afraid
• 57:24 - Credit roll
• 59:50 - What to look for in an adventure partner
• 1:02:47 - Upcoming projects
• 1:03:56 - Book recs
• 1:05:37 - Wrapping up

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ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:

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Dan Flores is back for another visit on the podcast. If you're a fan of the history of the American West, then Dan is no stranger—he's the author of many of my favorite books, including American Serengeti, Coyote America, and Wild New World. Most recently, he wrapped up a 42-episode series with the MeatEater network called The American West with Dan Flores, covering everything from bison and wolves to the origins of our public lands and what it means to belong to a place. It's the closest most of us will get to sitting in one of Dan's university classes, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Dan is Professor spent much of his academic career at the University of Montana, but he's always been less interested in the Old West of cattle drives and gunfights than in what he calls the natural West—the landscapes, animals, Native people, and ideas that make this region unlike anywhere else. He grew up in Louisiana, a place with almost no public land, and spent the 1970s looking for a foothold in the real West. He found three: the canyon country outside Lubbock, Montana's Bitterroot Valley, and the Galisteo Valley south of Santa Fe, where he and his wife, Dr. Sara Dant, live today. In each place, he dug in, learned the country, and went to work restoring it.

As expected, we covered a ton in this episode: We started with the story behind The American West series and how a decades-long friendship with Steven Rinella finally turned into 42 episodes. We discussed the biggest epiphany Dan had while making it—that for those of us living here now, the public lands matter far more than the frontier ever did. Dan traces the origins of public lands back to George Perkins Marsh, a wildly influential public intellectual most of us have never heard of, and forward through John Wesley Powell, the first forest reserves, and the end of homesteading in the 1930s. We dug into Theodore Roosevelt's transformation from a young man who rushed to Dakota Territory to kill a buffalo before they were all gone into a president willing to break with his own Gilded Age class to protect the landscapes and wildlife he loved. We also talked about repeat photography and the staggering disappearance of the glaciers in Glacier National Park, the willful destruction of Western wildlife, bioregionalism and rewilding on a scale that any of us can manage, and a few book recommendations to round it out.

Be sure to check the episode notes for links to everything we discussed, including the full American West series and the new 2026 edition of Coyote America. Dan is as generous with his time and wisdom as anyone I know, and I always come away from these conversations with a longer reading list and a better understanding of this place.

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• The American West with Dan Flores podcast
• Dan's Books
• Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/dan-flores-2

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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust, MIRASOL: Looking at the Sun, Patagonia Books, the Rye Resurgence Project for their generous sponsorship.

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TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• 0:00 - Introducing Dan Flores and highlighting the Rye Resurgence Project
• 7:24 - From writing to audio
• 13:10 - The natural West
• 20:01 - Aha! moments
• 28:41 - George Perkins Marsh
• 44:43 - Animal eradication
• 52:31 - Teddy Roosevelt deep-dive
• 1:05:18 - Place
• 1:13:56 - Rewilding the Bitterroot
• 1:20:12 - Rewilding on your own scale
• 1:23:06 - Book recs and wrapping up

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ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:

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Fitz Cahall is the creator of the legendary outdoor podcast The Dirtbag Diaries, co-founder of the creative agency Duct Tape Then Beer, and author of the excellent book States of Adventure. But most recently, he's gone from prolific creative mind to public lands advocate with the launch of Save Public Lands, a campaign that gives public land lovers of all stripes, from climbers to hunters, a way to go on the offense against the ongoing attacks on our public lands. The goal is a million signatures on a short letter with three clear demands: no more sell-offs, no more giveaways to foreign companies and billionaires, and no more backroom deals. Those signatures get delivered to DC and statehouses around Public Lands Day on September 26th. Partners include Outdoor Alliance, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, MeatEater, The Conservation Alliance, and The Wilderness Society.

Fitz got his start in the mid-2000s scraping by as a freelance journalist, a job he refers to as "naked subsistence hunting." In 2007, he took a few stories that hadn't sold and turned them into a podcast. He emailed it to 30 friends. The next day 30 people had listened, then 300, then 3,000. Nearly 20 years later, he and his wife and creative partner Becca have built Duct Tape Then Beer into a story studio behind award-winning films and podcasts, all guided by one rule: the work has to strengthen people's connections to the natural world and to each other.

We talked about how Save Public Lands came together, why Fitz chose offense over defense, and how a coalition this politically diverse—hunters, climbers, skiers, veterans, and legacy conservation groups—managed to find common ground and rally around a shared goal. Then we lightened it up and got into his creative life, including why he treats creative work like a band rather than a solo act, how he and Becca avoided chasing money for its own sake, what he does when his enthusiasm dips, and why he believes doubt and optimism are far more powerful together than either one alone.

It's worth noting I consider Fitz a role model in a lot of ways, and I don't think Mountain & Prairie would exist without his example. I've been listening to The Dirtbag Diaries since the days when you had to download podcasts onto your computer, load them onto your iPod, then plug the iPod into the tape deck in your truck to listen. That's exactly what I was doing back then, driving around trying to sell real estate, and those stories cracked open a whole way of living and working that I didn't know was available to me. So thank you, Fitz, for all of it.

There's a link below to sign the letter. It takes about 20 seconds, so there's no excuse not to do it. I loved this conversation, and I hope you enjoy.

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• SAVE PUBLIC LANDS – Sign the Letter!
• The Dirtbag Diaries
• Duct Tape Then Beer
• Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/fitz-cahall

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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust, MIRASOL: Looking at the Sun, Patagonia Books, the Rye Resurgence Project for their generous sponsorship.

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TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• 0:00 - Introducing Fitz Cahall and highlighting Patagonia books
• 7:45 - Jumping right into Save Public Lands
• 13:22 - Going on the offense
• 18:05 - Partnerships for public lands
• 22:30 - The money
• 29:32 - How people can help
• 32:40 - And how orgs can help
• 33:56 - Fitz's creative life
• 39:42 - Evolving as a collaborator
• 43:12 - States of Adventure
• 46:26 - Keeping values intact
• 50:22 - Dealing with the dips
• 54:32 - Book recs
• 59:48 - Wrapping up

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ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:

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T.A. Barron—known as Tom to his friends—is a renowned author, a lifelong conservationist, and someone whose work sits at the intersection of two subjects that are near and dear to my heart: books and the natural world. Tom has written more than 30 books, including the internationally bestselling Merlin Saga, and his newest book, "Naming Nature: A Cabinet of Natural Curiosities for Word Lovers," gave us the perfect excuse to finally sit down together. It's a beautiful, fascinating exploration of the stories behind the names we give to plants, animals, and other parts of the natural world, and I think it's a must-read for anyone who loves nature and loves words—which probably describes most people listening to this podcast. Tom is also a deeply committed conservationist who has spent decades supporting and leading conservation efforts, so as you can imagine, we had plenty to talk about.

Tom grew up first in New England and then on a ranch north of Colorado Springs, where watching the surrounding landscape disappear to development helped shape his conservation ethic at an early age. After Princeton and a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford, he initially pursued a career in business in New York City, while waking up at four or four-thirty every morning to write before work. Eventually he realized that those early-morning hours were the happiest part of his day, so despite having already endured plenty of rejection as a young writer, he left a successful business career, moved back to Colorado, and gave writing another shot. More than 30 books later, I think it's safe to say that gamble worked out. Along the way, conservation has remained a central part of his life, including his longtime involvement with The Wilderness Society and many other conservation organizations and initiatives.

Tom and I talked about his adventurous parents, his childhood in Colorado, his spectacular early failures as a writer, and the decision to walk away from a successful career to pursue the work that made him feel most alive. We talked about mortality and the importance of using our limited time well; managing the constant barrage of news and social media; optimism, wonder, and our shared love of the natural world; and how Tom became so deeply involved in conservation. And, of course, we dug into "Naming Nature" and some of the wonderfully strange stories behind names like hellbender, sarcastic fringehead, narwhal, praying mantis, elephant, and even the Yeti. We also talked about why names matter, how paying closer attention can lead to caring, and how caring can ultimately lead to conservation. This was a fun, wide-ranging conversation with a thoughtful and endlessly curious guy, and I think you'll really enjoy it.

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• T.A. Barron
• Naming Nature: A Cabinet of Natural Curiosities for Word Lovers
• Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/ta-barron

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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust, MIRASOL: Looking at the Sun, Patagonia Books, the Rye Resurgence Project for their generous sponsorship.

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TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• 0:00 - Introducing T.A. Barron and highlighting the Rye Resurgence Project
• 6:49 - Growing up
• 12:47 - Tom's early writing career
• 16:46 - Oxford days to first novel
• 21:53 - The work that goes into rejection
• 24:56 - Plan B, 10 years later
• 29:18 - Keeping mortality in mind
• 35:10 - Good and bad tools
• 37:51 - His first book on the shelf
• 41:21 - Getting into conservation
• 48:02 - The new book
• 53:52 - Where the word "sarcastic" came from
• 56:31 - And a few more fun word examples
• 1:02:52 - The capacity to name
• 1:04:19 - The Yeti
• 1:07:38 - Cultivating stewardship
• 1:11:11 - Book recs
• 1:15:33 - Wrapping up (and a reading of Elephant)

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ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:

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Kim Wiggins is a world-renowned painter from New Mexico, and one of the most recognizable artists working in the American West today. His bold, swirling canvases have made him one of the leading artistic voices of what's come to be called the New West. His work hangs in the Autry, the Booth, and the American Museum of Western Art in Denver, and this past year he won Best in Show at the Prix de West, the most prestigious award in Western art, becoming the first modernist ever to take it home.

Kim comes by all of this honestly. Both sides of his family came west in covered wagons in the late 1800s and settled into ranching along the Pecos River. His mother was running two ranches and a nightclub in Arizona by her mid-twenties; his father was a photojournalist for Life and Sports Illustrated, and a bush pilot who once had to sprint back to his plane in the Amazon and count the arrows in the side of the fuselage. Kim grew up surrounded by creativity– Thomas Hart Benton paged through his sketchbook and he ate lunch with Georgia O'Keeffe at Ghost Ranch. He began focusing seriously on painting while stationed in Europe with the military and soon became the youngest member of the Society of American Impressionists — a career most artists would give an arm for, and one he walked away from completely.

We talk about why he walked away, which starts with a moment at a show in St. Louis when he spotted one of his paintings across the room, hurried over, and discovered it wasn't his. We cover the lean years that followed, including knocking on doors in Lubbock in the summer heat with a car full of paintings. And we get into the ideas behind the work: why a loss of innovation is the death knell of a civilization, why he watches children in galleries instead of collectors, the paintings he made for the NAACP after his son asked him a question he couldn't answer, and his conviction that a gift, by definition, belongs to someone else. I first met Kim back in 2022 at Maxwell Alexander Gallery's ten-year show, where he was on a panel I moderated, and I've wanted a longer conversation ever since. Hope you enjoy.

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• Kim Wiggins
• Prix de West
• Maxwell Alexander panel discussion (2022)
• Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/kim-wiggins

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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust, MIRASOL: Looking at the Sun, Patagonia Books, the Rye Resurgence Project for their generous sponsorship.

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TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• 0:00 - Introducing Kim Wiggins
• 3:44 - Wiggins' family history
• 9:49 - Kim's dad's photojournalism travels
• 12:44 - Parental pressure?
• 17:07 - Military education
• 20:36 - Money v. creativity
• 28:36 - Making the decision to change course
• 34:52 - When things started to work
• 38:42 - It's never about Kim
• 43:47 - Continuous evolution
• 49:44 - How Kim's paintings come together
• 53:10 - Inspiration from his son
• 58:45 - Collaborative projects
• 1:04:26 - Blood and Thunder
• 1:06:21 - All the circles aligning
• 1:11:03 - How art has changed in the West
• 1:14:00 - Book recs
• 1:17:47 - Wrapping up

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ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:

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Introducing Mountain & Prairie Reads—a book club for people who don't want to sit through another Zoom call.

Every other month or so, I'll recommend a book I think is worth your time. Read it, send me your questions, and then I'll sit down with the author and ask as many of your best questions as I can.

Our first selection is Water Lines: A Life on Marshes, Rivers, Seas and in the Rain by Riverhorse Nakadate. I'll be interviewing Riverhorse on September 30, so grab a copy, start reading, and submit your questions by September 29.

Read a great book. Ask the author a question. Listen to the answer.

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• MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE READS
• Water Lines: A Life on Marshes, Rivers, Seas and in the Rain by Riverhorse Nakadate
• Submit your questions!

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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust, MIRASOL: Looking at the Sun, Patagonia Books, the Rye Resurgence Project for their generous sponsorship.

Romey Swanson is the Executive Director of the Devils River Conservancy, and he wears a lot of other hats too—wildlife biologist, naturalist, writer, photographer, and a leader in just about every corner of the Texas conservation world. The Devils River is generally considered the most pristine stream in Texas, and maybe in the entire Southwest—remote, spring-fed, and held together entirely by private landowners. The county it runs through leads all 254 counties in Texas in privately conserved acres, and none of it was required by regulation. If you've ever wondered how conservation gets done in a place with almost no public land, Romey and his community have built a model worth paying attention to.

Romey grew up in rural West Virginia as part of what he calls the last generation of feral children—turned loose outside with instructions to be home before dark, with the creek behind the house as his best friend. His family moved to Texas when he was in junior high, and like most teenagers, he traded all of that for sports and a social life. He was a first-generation college student headed toward sports medicine when he walked past a flyer at Texas State advertising a Wildlife Society meeting—free pizza and live animals. He went for the pizza, met a faculty advisor, and changed his major that week.

I've known Romey for six or seven years, and we cover a lot of ground here—his early days filling deer feeders and checking bird nest boxes, why he says waiting tables taught him as much about this work as his degrees, and whether leadership can actually be taught. We get into the threats facing the Devils River—data centers, transmission lines, and energy projects that can undo decades of voluntary conservation—and his work with the mountain lion stakeholder group in Texas, which has some obvious parallels to the wolf situation here in Colorado. There's also a good stretch on his passion projects, including his owl research in the mountains of far West Texas, and why he decided to use social media to push out something positive instead of more conflict. We wrap up with a few book recommendations and his encouragement to all of us to just pay attention. I loved this conversation... Enjoy!

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• Romey Swanson
• Devils River Conservancy
• Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/romey-swanson

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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust, MIRASOL: Looking at the Sun, Patagonia Books, the Rye Resurgence Project for their generous sponsorship.

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TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• 0:00 - Introducing Romey Swanson and highlighting Cattlemen's
• 6:30 - Romey describes his work
• 10:16 - How he got into his work
• 14:42 - Texas pride
• 17:37 - Early Romey
• 21:30 - First leadership opportunity
• 29:34 - Devils River Conservancy
• 35:07 - Keeping the land magical
• 39:14 - Devils River moving forward
• 42:25 - Mountain lions in Texas and wolves in CO
• 56:26 - Ways to keep track
• 1:01:15 - Sending folks to Romey's podcast
• 1:08:40 - Romey's Instagram
• 1:12:27 - Book recs
• 1:17:23 - Wrapping up

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ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:

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Dr. Mike Bartolo is a third-generation farmer from Pueblo County, Colorado, and a retired research scientist and vegetable crops specialist at Colorado State University. Mike's grandparents immigrated from Italy in the early 1900s to work in the mines around Pueblo, and after years of backbreaking labor, they saved enough to buy a small farm on the St. Charles Mesa—the beginning of a family legacy on the land that continues to this day. Mike went on to spend more than three decades at CSU serving the farmers of the Arkansas Valley, and while he'd never claim the title himself, many consider him the developer of the legendary Pueblo Chile.

I first met Mike back in 2018 through our mutual work with Palmer Land Conservancy, and ever since, I've seen him as a mentor when it comes to matters of water, farmland conservation, long-term thinking, and kindness. His combination of scientific expertise, tireless work ethic, deep humility, and fierce devotion to his family and community is something I've rarely encountered. Mike is also one of the main characters profiled in the poignant and powerful Ben Knight documentary MIRASOL: Looking at the Sun, which chronicles Pueblo County's farming community and its fight to protect its land and water—so it was an honor to finally sit down with him for this long-overdue conversation.

We started with the remarkable story of his grandparents—including his grandfather Rocco, who survived being a prisoner of war in World War I before returning to Colorado to break rocks for the steel industry—and how that generation's sacrifice continues to guide Mike today. We talked about his childhood on the family farm, where he and his five siblings turned every chore into an Olympic competition, and his path to becoming a plant scientist at CSU. We discussed what makes Pueblo County's farmland world-class, the cautionary tale of Crowley County's devastating water sales, and why Mike believes educating and mobilizing the public is the key to protecting the Arkansas Valley's water. We also dug into the history of the Pueblo Chile, as well as the making of "MIRASOL," his approach to passionate-but-respectful advocacy, the spiritual connection he feels to the soil, his advice for the next generation of farmers, and much more.

This was such a meaningful conversation for me, and I know you'll enjoy getting to know Mike as much as I have. Enjoy!

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• Dr. Michael Bartolo
• MIRASOL: Looking at the Sun
• Palmer Land Conservancy
• Mike's Innovation in Conservation Award film
• Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/mike-bartolo

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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust, MIRASOL: Looking at the Sun, Patagonia Books, the Rye Resurgence Project for their generous sponsorship.

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TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• 0:00 - Introducing Mike Bartolo and highlighting MIRASOL
• 7:03 - Reconnecting with Mike
• 8:16 - Mike's grandparents
• 12:14 - A particular kind of work ethic
• 17:28 - Growing up competitive
• 20:01 - Developing expertise
• 23:30 - Farmland development
• 28:33 - Pueblo County
• 30:56 - Colorado water
• 36:27 - Solutions?
• 40:57 - MIRASOL
• 45:20 - The Pueblo Chile
• 51:06 - Being an advocate
• 55:58 - Mike's advice to younger folks
• 59:03 - Time spent now
• 1:00:51 - Book (or video) recs and anthropology inspo
• 1:06:07 - Wrapping up

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ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:

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• Upcoming Events
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This is Heather Hansman's third appearance on the podcast, and if you've been listening for a while, you know how much her work has shaped my own understanding of the West. Heather is an award-winning journalist and the author of "Downriver" and "Powder Days"—two books I reference constantly—and she's back today to talk about her brand-new book, Fierce Country: The Untold Story of Three Women Who Ignited America's Love for the Wild, which hits shelves the same day this episode is released.

"Fierce Country" tells the stories of three women who were pivotal in shaping how we think about recreation and conservation today, yet whose stories have largely gone untold: Georgie White, one of the first Grand Canyon river guides; Anne LaBastille, an off-the-grid Adirondack guide and pioneering climate scientist; and Dolores LaChapelle, a legendary powder skier and environmental philosopher whose ideas helped launch the deep ecology movement. These are three complicated, larger-than-life characters, and Heather weaves their wild adventures together with her own personal story in a way that makes the book resonate no matter who you are. As always with Heather's work, it introduced me to ideas I didn't even know I needed to be thinking about.

Heather and I talked about how she chose these three women and why their stories were left out of the history most of us learned, and we dug into some of the big ideas woven throughout the book—the heroine's journey versus the hero's journey, the superwoman myth, and the surprising research on men and women in outdoor sports. We discussed the double standards that outdoorswomen face, especially as parents, and the culture of harassment that unfortunately still exists in the outdoor world. We also chatted about Heather's recent investigative reporting on bots gaming the recreation.gov permit system, the importance of journalism and speaking truth to power, and how five years of living with these women's stories has changed the way Heather moves through the world.

I loved this conversation, and I can't recommend "Fierce Country" highly enough—the book is out today, so be sure to click through to the episode notes and grab a copy.

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• Heather Hansman
• Fierce Country: The Untold Story of Three Women Who Ignited America's Love for the Wild
• Heather's First and Second M&P episodes
• Full episode notes and links: mountainandprairie.com/heather-hansman-3

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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Colorado Cattlemen's Agricultural Land Trust, MIRASOL: Looking at the Sun, Patagonia Books, the Rye Resurgence Project for their generous sponsorship.

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TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• 0:00 - Introducing Heather Hansman (again) and highlighting Patagonia books
• 7:00 - Book number three
• 8:08 - Overview of Fierce Country
• 12:05 - Why these women
• 16:22 - Georgie and Anne on the wild
• 19:31 - Anne vs. Thoreau
• 23:08 - Constraint drives creativity
• 26:12 - Driven by hardships
• 28:58 - The heroine's journey
• 30:45 - Female and male differences
• 35:40- To scold or not to scold
• 41:41 - Pitching the book
• 44:08 - Outward Bound
• 46:56 - Recreation.gov
• 50:07 - Slowing down
• 56:48 - Bad feminism
• 1:04:50 - What's next for Heather

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ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE:

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Elif Koyutürk is a filmmaker, photographer, and all-around artist originally from Istanbul, now based in Bend, Oregon. Elif works across many mediums—photography, poetry, film, and more—but the throughline in everything she does is a drive to make people feel a story, not just read the facts of it. She brings a rare kind of power and passion to her work, and it's clear that her connection to land and place isn't just a subject for her, it's personal.

Like so many fascinating people I talk to on this podcast, her path wasn't a straight line. She grew up between the massive city of Istanbul and her family's farm, raised by journalist parents and a house full of grandmothers steeped in Anatolian tradition. She taught herself photography using a camera with a moldy, secondhand 23-euro lens and won international awards with it before she ever touched professional, high-dollar gear. From there she talked her way onto a Red Bull film crew in a hotel lobby, worked in Austria, and eventually landed in Los Angeles with one suitcase and no contacts, on an "Extraordinary Ability" visa.

In this conversation, we get into all of it—her childhood in Istanbul, her creative process and her synesthesia, and how she built a career from nothing through sheer resourcefulness and energy. We also spend a lot of time on her new film, Guardians of Anatolia, which premiered at Telluride Mountainfilm and follows a female-led nomadic tribe in Turkey's Taurus Mountains as they fight to hold onto a 9,000-year-old matriarchal way of life against modern water and land pressures.

I hope you enjoy this one, as it hits on so many of the topics I enjoy– art, conservation, agriculture, creativity, and hard work– but with an international perspective that is now rooted here in the West.

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• Elif Koyutürk
• Guardians of Anatolia
• Elif on Instagram
• Episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/elif-koyuturk

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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS:

Mountain & Prairie is listener supported via Patreon, and brought to you with support from the Freeflow Institute, The Nature Conservancy in Colorado, and the Well Done Foundation for their generous sponsorship.

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TOPICS DISCUSSED:

• 0:00 - Introducing Elif Koyutürk
• 2:49 - Early Elif
• 7:36 - Artistic inclinations
• 11:33 - To the U.S.
• 18:34 - Off the plane in L.A.
• 22:20 - Making money
• 24:57 - Connections to friendships
• 28:50 - Being raw and clumsy
• 30:49 - Guardians of Anatolia origin story
• 37:49 - A vanishing way of life
• 40:23 - Emerging filmmaker
• 43:40 - Path forward for the film
• 45:54 - What's next
• 51:39 - Old Salt takeaways
• 57:15 - Plot twist: jiu jitsu!
• 1:02:52 - Rivers in Bend, OR
• 1:05:35 - Book recs
• 1:08:16 - Wrapping up

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