#89: Morgan Sjogren on advocating for western lands through immersive journalism
Tue Dec 16 2025
Morgan Sjogren writes about Western lands and water through a lens of history, culture, science, and adventure. She is the author of Path of Light: A Walk Through Colliding Legacies of Glen Canyon (Torrey House Press 2023); 2025 Utah Book Award Winner and Library of Congress "Great Reads from Great Places" selection.
Read her stories in Archaeology Southwest, Arizona Highways, bioGraphic, Fast Company, Reasons to be Cheerful, Runner's World, and Sierra Magazine. Her work has been supported by the 2022 Water Desk Grant for reporting on the Colorado River and a 2024 Charles Redd Center for Western Studies Independent Research and Creative Works Award. She was the 2024 Entrada Institute Writer-in-Residence.
Sjogren shares her Wild Words and explorations on Substack and on Instagram @morgan.sjogren. She is based in Utah's canyon country and migrates seasonally throughout the Southwest.
In this episode of the podcast, we talk about: the importance of the context of the colonial history of the lands of the west when advocating for them
some resonance I find in Morgan's work and our shared paths being nomadic, living on public land, being a similar age, and pulling together threads that weave culture, ecology and place in our work
Morgan shares more about her book "Path of Light" and the goal of following Bernheimer's expedition through the desert to better understand his time and place contextualizing it to now.
We reflect on what has changed with public lands in the west since Morgan wrote 'Path of Light.'
We discuss issues of the Colorado river from Morgan's perspective, given her time on the ground in the field exploring this issue in her work (This will resonate with folks who are fans of the episode I did with Jeff Wagner of Groundwork 'We all eat the Colorado River'
The importance of personal connections to landscapes even if our deep heritage is not from those lands, in order to be inspired to protect those places from extraction and privatization for energy industry, even 'green' energy
Links:
Support Francis of Mother Marrow's health journey! Morgan's website Morgan's substack: Wild Words
Vibrant Earth Seeds : Regionally adapted to the Southwest. Use 'GROUNDSHOTS10' at checkout for 10% off seed orders (your buying seeds also supports the podcast!) Ground Shots Ecologies Substack : Subscribe here Bookshop : recommended books for you (buying here helps support the podcast) Venmo : @kelly-moody-6 Paypal : paypal.me/petitfawn website archive and extended shownotes: http://www.ofsedgeandsalt.com Our Instagram pages: @goldenberries / @groundshotspodcast Music: original song for this episode! Lucy Wild: Vocals and lyrics Ted Packard: Uncle Steve's Acoustic Guitar, Bowed and Plucked Banjo, Semi-Sentient Pedalboard, recording and production in Logic, with gratitude to Luke Kantola Annika Fae: lyric and watercolor Hosted and Produced by: Kelly Moody
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Morgan Sjogren writes about Western lands and water through a lens of history, culture, science, and adventure. She is the author of Path of Light: A Walk Through Colliding Legacies of Glen Canyon (Torrey House Press 2023); 2025 Utah Book Award Winner and Library of Congress "Great Reads from Great Places" selection. Read her stories in Archaeology Southwest, Arizona Highways, bioGraphic, Fast Company, Reasons to be Cheerful, Runner's World, and Sierra Magazine. Her work has been supported by the 2022 Water Desk Grant for reporting on the Colorado River and a 2024 Charles Redd Center for Western Studies Independent Research and Creative Works Award. She was the 2024 Entrada Institute Writer-in-Residence. Sjogren shares her Wild Words and explorations on Substack and on Instagram @morgan.sjogren. She is based in Utah's canyon country and migrates seasonally throughout the Southwest. In this episode of the podcast, we talk about: the importance of the context of the colonial history of the lands of the west when advocating for them some resonance I find in Morgan's work and our shared paths being nomadic, living on public land, being a similar age, and pulling together threads that weave culture, ecology and place in our work Morgan shares more about her book "Path of Light" and the goal of following Bernheimer's expedition through the desert to better understand his time and place contextualizing it to now. We reflect on what has changed with public lands in the west since Morgan wrote 'Path of Light.' We discuss issues of the Colorado river from Morgan's perspective, given her time on the ground in the field exploring this issue in her work (This will resonate with folks who are fans of the episode I did with Jeff Wagner of Groundwork 'We all eat the Colorado River' The importance of personal connections to landscapes even if our deep heritage is not from those lands, in order to be inspired to protect those places from extraction and privatization for energy industry, even 'green' energy Links: Support Francis of Mother Marrow's health journey! Morgan's website Morgan's substack: Wild Words Vibrant Earth Seeds : Regionally adapted to the Southwest. Use 'GROUNDSHOTS10' at checkout for 10% off seed orders (your buying seeds also supports the podcast!) Ground Shots Ecologies Substack : Subscribe here Bookshop : recommended books for you (buying here helps support the podcast) Venmo : @kelly-moody-6 Paypal : paypal.me/petitfawn website archive and extended shownotes: http://www.ofsedgeandsalt.com Our Instagram pages: @goldenberries / @groundshotspodcast Music: original song for this episode! Lucy Wild: Vocals and lyrics Ted Packard: Uncle Steve's Acoustic Guitar, Bowed and Plucked Banjo, Semi-Sentient Pedalboard, recording and production in Logic, with gratitude to Luke Kantola Annika Fae: lyric and watercolor Hosted and Produced by: Kelly Moody