Mountain & Prairie with Ed Roberson

Ed's Appearance on "My Favorite Things"

Today's episode is a bit of a departure from the usual format. I'm re-sharing a recent conversation I had on my friend Brendan Leonard's new podcast, My Favorite Things [https://semi-rad.com/tag/my-favorite-things/]. I'm sure most of y'all are already familiar with Brendan's work, but for those of you who aren't, he's an author, illustrator, filmmaker, and creator of Semi-Rad [https://semi-rad.com/]. Brendan's new podcast is built around a simple but fascinating premise: conversations about the books, films, art, and creative works that have helped shape a person's life and career. In this conversation, we spend less time on what I do, and more time on what's influenced how I think and live — from Theodore Roosevelt and Sebastian Junger to a Winslow Homer painting and a movie that's been oddly entertaining and instructive over the years. (I bet y'all can guess the movie.) There are already several excellent episodes live featuring thoughtful, interesting people, and Brendan has created something both entertaining and instructive with this podcast. If you enjoy this conversation, I'd encourage you to subscribe, explore the rest of the episodes, and share the show with any of your friends who might enjoy it. Thanks so much for listening and here's my appearance on My Favorite Things. --- * My Favorite Things: Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/my-favorite-things/id1847988435], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/10u2BYzhB5TybWLe1qszMT?si=b67f69d4b9364775], YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8Wk-cTgzqM&list=PLu4zG6VMHHxC0394af5Cnzgh_IBS9xiBx] * Episode Website [https://semi-rad.com/2025/11/my-favorite-things-episode-3-ed-roberson/] * Semi-Rad.com [https://semi-rad.com/] --- TOPICS DISCUSSED: * 2:10: Background — Mountain & Prairie, family, and the "strenuous life" * 5:00: Favorite Thing #1 — Jimmy Buffett liner notes * 11:30: Favorite Thing #2 — The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt * 20:00: Favorite Thing #3 — Winslow Homer's The Gulf Stream * 28:15: Favorite Thing #4 — Tribe by Sebastian Junger * 39:30: Favorite Thing #5 — Road House * 52:15: Closing reflections --- ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE: * Mountain & Prairie - All Episodes [https://mountainandprairie.com/podcast/] * Mountain & Prairie Shop [https://shop.mountainandprairie.com/] * Mountain & Prairie on Instagram [https://instagram.com/mtnprairie/] * Upcoming Events [https://mountainandprairie.com/events/] * About Ed Roberson [https://mountainandprairie.com/ed-roberson/] * Support Mountain & Prairie [https://mountainandprairie.com/support/] * Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mountain-prairie-with-ed-roberson/id1106762925]

Mike Schaedel - Restoring Balance to Fire-Adapted Landscapes

Mike Schaedel is the Western Montana Forest Restoration Director for The Nature Conservancy, where he leads some of the most ambitious and collaborative forest restoration work happening anywhere in the West. Based in Missoula, Mike works at the intersection of science, community partnerships, and land stewardship—helping restore fire-adapted forests, reduce wildfire risk, and improve the health and resilience of landscapes across the region. Mike's career path is super interesting and anything but traditional. He grew up in Portland, fell in love with the mountains through rock climbing, and eventually landed in Missoula, where the combination of wild landscapes and a rich literary community drew him in. After earning an undergraduate degree in creative writing, he found his way into forestry and fire ecology through conservation corps work, hands-on restoration experience, and a graduate program focused on forest dynamics and fire. In this conversation, Mike offers a clear overview of how Western Montana's forests came to look the way they do today—shaped by millennia of tribal burning, transformed by railroad-era land grants and industrial logging, and altered further by a century of fire suppression. He explains why effective restoration now depends on combining mechanical thinning with prescribed fire and on working across ownership boundaries with partners ranging from local communities to tribes and federal agencies. We also discuss some of the innovative collaborative efforts underway in the region, as well as a memorable story of a prescribed burn that came together through quick problem-solving and deep trust. This is a rich, informative, and hopeful conversation about what it takes to restore forests at scale—and why the future of these landscapes depends on both ecological understanding and strong community partnerships. Enjoy! --- * Michael Schaedel, Western Montana Forest Restoration Director [https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/montana/stories-in-montana/forests-and-carbon/] * Reserved Treaty Rights Lands Program: The Power of Partnership [https://youtu.be/9grv5qS01R4?si=rp-88TmmS48wSCpC] * Complete episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/mike-schaedel [https://mountainandprairie.com/mike-schaedel] --- This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Colorado chapter of The Nature Conservancy and TNC chapters throughout the Western United States. Guided by science and grounded by decades of collaborative partnerships, The Nature Conservancy has a long-standing legacy of achieving lasting results to create a world where nature and people thrive. During the last week of every month throughout 2025, Mountain & Prairie will be delving into conversations with a wide range of The Nature Conservancy's leaders, partners, collaborators, and stakeholders, highlighting the myriad of conservation challenges, opportunities, and solutions here in the American West and beyond. To learn more about The Nature Conservancy's impactful work in the West and around the world, visit www.nature.org [https://www.nature.org] --- TOPICS DISCUSSED: * 3:02 – Intro, Mike's love for Missoula * 6:04 – Getting a creative writing degree * 8:21 – And fighting back into forestry * 12:26 – Early writing influences * 13:39 – Switching sides of the brain * 15:32 – First job out of grad school * 20:08 – And that work now * 23:38 – Checkerboard landownership * 33:04 – Conservation accomplishment * 34:56 – Fitting in forest health * 39:33 – Fire scars * 45:52 – The Big Burn * 52:59 – Fire playing a beneficial role * 58:51 – And the role mill workers play * 1:02:03 – Projects down the pipeline * 1:12:00 – Book recs * 1:13:49 – Parting words --- ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE: * Mountain & Prairie - All Episodes [https://mountainandprairie.com/podcast/] * Mountain & Prairie Shop [https://shop.mountainandprairie.com/] * Mountain & Prairie on Instagram [https://instagram.com/mtnprairie/] * Upcoming Events [https://mountainandprairie.com/events/] * About Ed Roberson [https://mountainandprairie.com/ed-roberson/] * Support Mountain & Prairie [https://mountainandprairie.com/support/] * Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mountain-prairie-with-ed-roberson/id1106762925]

SHED SESH: September & October 2025 Book Recommendations

This month marks ten full years of my bimonthly book-recommendations project—a decade of weird little paragraphs about the books that grab my scattered attention. Whether you've been here since the beginning or signed up five minutes ago, thank you. I'm still baffled anyone reads these things, but I'm grateful all the same. To mark the occasion, I recorded a late-night solo episode from The Shed, diving deeper into each of my September & October picks: why I chose them, what stayed with me, and the sometimes-unexpected lessons I gleaned from each of them. Or you could just describe it as a guy sitting in his garden shed talking to himself. Your choice. You can read all of the recommendations here, or, if you're clamoring to receive more emails, you can sign up for the list here. [http://eepurl.com/bDpsAX] Thanks for listening, thanks for reading, and here's to 10 more great years of great books. – * September & October 2025 Book Recommendations [https://mountainandprairie.com/?p=10210] * Ed's Bimonthly Book Recommendations [https://mountainandprairie.com/book-recommendations/] * Sign up for the list [http://eepurl.com/bDpsAX] – BOOKS DISCUSSED: * 00:00 — Intro + 10 years of book-rec emails * 05:45 — Burn by Peter Heller * 11:00 — Jaber Crow by Wendell Berry (related rec) * 11:45 — The Way Out by Devon O'Neil * 17:10 — Simple Fly Fishing by Yvon Chouinard * 21:50 — Pheasant Tail Simplicity by Yvon Chouinard * 25:40 — Little Woodchucks by Nick Offerman * 29:20 — Dirtbag Billionaire by David Gelles * 35:00 — Shoe Dog by Phil Knight (related rec) * 35:55 — Apple in China by Patrick McGee * 40:45 — When McKinsey Comes to Town (related rec) * 42:10 — The Devil's Hand by Jack Carr * 46:15 — Closing thoughts --- ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE: * Mountain & Prairie - All Episodes [https://mountainandprairie.com/podcast/] * Mountain & Prairie Shop [https://shop.mountainandprairie.com/] * Mountain & Prairie on Instagram [https://instagram.com/mtnprairie/] * Upcoming Events [https://mountainandprairie.com/events/] * About Ed Roberson [https://mountainandprairie.com/ed-roberson/] * Support Mountain & Prairie [https://mountainandprairie.com/support/] * Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mountain-prairie-with-ed-roberson/id1106762925]

Devon O'Neil — On Nature's Power and the Price of Adventure

Devon O'Neil is a journalist, author, and longtime friend of mine whose new book "The Way Out: A True Story of Survival in the Heart of the Rockies" is one of the best pieces of outdoor nonfiction I've read in years. The book tells the harrowing true story of a backcountry ski trip near Leadville, Colorado, that turned tragic—and the years-long process of understanding what really happened, and how a mountain town wrestled with loss, resilience, and the complicated relationship we all have with risk and wild places. It's gripping, deeply reported, and beautifully written—equal parts survival epic, community portrait, and meditation on how we find meaning in the aftermath of tragedy. Devon has spent more than two decades as a writer and reporter based in Summit County, Colorado, covering everything from adventure sports and avalanches to the cultural and emotional undercurrents of life in mountain towns. Before turning his attention to this book project, he worked in newspapers, wrote for Outside, Men's Journal, and ESPN.com, and somehow managed to balance all of that with being a hardcore athlete and a dedicated dad and husband. He's one of those rare writers whose empathy and endurance match the people that he writes about. In this conversation, Devon and I dig into the story behind "The Way Out"—how he first heard about the tragedy, earned the trust of a close-knit community, and spent years piecing together a complete and compassionate account. We talk about the ethical tightrope of telling other people's hardest stories, how his own brushes with danger shaped his perspective on risk, and what this project taught him about the fine line between adventure and recklessness. We also get into his childhood growing up on a sailboat in the Virgin Islands, his evolution as a journalist and athlete, and the hard-earned wisdom that comes from spending a lifetime chasing stories in the mountains. "The Way Out" is available now wherever you get your books, so follow the links in the episode notes to grab your copy. Big thanks to Devon for the chat, and thank you for listening. Enjoy! --- * Devon O'Neil [https://aqua-lanternfish-6sg9.squarespace.com/bio-1] * "The Way Out" by Devon O'Neil [https://geni.us/yI08] * Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/devon-oneil/ [https://mountainandprairie.com/devon-oneil/] --- TOPICS DISCUSSED: * 2:23 – Intro and finding The Way Out story * 6:59 – Making people comfortable * 11:10 – The story in Devon's words * 16:29 – Mountain town people * 20:48 – Lifestyle overlaps * 24:20 – Devon's own accidents * 30:10 – It's all great until someone gets hurt * 33:03 – The bonds of risk * 35:18 – Adjustments * 39:22 – Growing up on islands * 43:43 – How Devon got to Colorado * 47:34 – Pros and cons of different types of writing * 51:22 – Book writing advice * 55:42 – Not just about getting it right * 1:00:09 – Book and writer recs --- ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE: * Mountain & Prairie - All Episodes [https://mountainandprairie.com/podcast/] * Mountain & Prairie Shop [https://shop.mountainandprairie.com/] * Mountain & Prairie on Instagram [https://instagram.com/mtnprairie/] * Upcoming Events [https://mountainandprairie.com/events/] * About Ed Roberson [https://mountainandprairie.com/ed-roberson/] * Support Mountain & Prairie [https://mountainandprairie.com/support/] * Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mountain-prairie-with-ed-roberson/id1106762925]

Carli Kierstead – Wyoming Forests and the Work of Keeping Water Flowing

Carli Kierstead is the Forest Program Director for The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming, where she leads efforts to understand and restore some of the West's most critical—and often overlooked—ecosystems. From beetle kill and wildfire to drought, Wyoming's forests face a range of challenges that ripple far beyond the state's borders. These high-country forests are the headwaters of several major river basins, providing water to millions of people across the American West. In this conversation, Carli and I dig into the past, present, and future of Western forests—how management philosophies have evolved over the decades, what's threatening their health today, and what can be done to make them more resilient in a changing climate. We talk about her team's groundbreaking work using snowtography—a deceptively simple but powerful way to study how forest structure affects snowpack and water supply—and how those findings could help guide future restoration across the Colorado River Basin. Carli also shares her personal journey from growing up in San Diego to finding her calling in Wyoming's wide-open landscapes, her insights on collaboration and trust-building in conservation, and a few book recommendations that shaped her path. It's a hopeful, science-grounded conversation about water, forests, and how collaboration can shape a more resilient future for the West. Thanks for listening, hope you enjoy! --- * Carli Kierstead [https://www.linkedin.com/in/carli-kierstead-b3a8a749/] * Wyoming forests + TNC [https://www.nature.org/en-us/about-us/where-we-work/united-states/wyoming/stories-in-wyoming/wyoming-forests/] * Snowtography short film [https://youtu.be/RyVetx4vwt4?si=U9T0tMpIQwYteOXg] * Full episode notes and links: https://mountainandprairie.com/carli-kierstead/ [https://mountainandprairie.com/carli-kierstead/] --- This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Colorado chapter of The Nature Conservancy and TNC chapters throughout the Western United States. Guided by science and grounded by decades of collaborative partnerships, The Nature Conservancy has a long-standing legacy of achieving lasting results to create a world where nature and people thrive. During the last week of every month throughout 2025, Mountain & Prairie will be delving into conversations with a wide range of The Nature Conservancy's leaders, partners, collaborators, and stakeholders, highlighting the myriad of conservation challenges, opportunities, and solutions here in the American West and beyond. To learn more about The Nature Conservancy's impactful work in the West and around the world, visit www.nature.org [https://www.nature.org] --- TOPICS DISCUSSED: * 2:34 – Intro and Wyoming forest health * 7:16 – Beetle issues * 8:30 – Why forest health? * 12:35 – Economic benefit of forests * 16:28 – Wyoming's claim to water * 17:10 – Snowtography * 23:18 – Lessons from the snow * 27:33 – On the ground impact * 33:53 – How it scales * 40:42 – Relationship building * 46:08 – The tendrils of the Colorado River Basin * 46:46 – Carli's environment obsession * 52:01 – How to build a relationship * 55:10 – Book recs * 58:38 – Last thoughts --- ABOUT MOUNTAIN & PRAIRIE: * Mountain & Prairie - All Episodes [https://mountainandprairie.com/podcast/] * Mountain & Prairie Shop [https://shop.mountainandprairie.com/] * Mountain & Prairie on Instagram [https://instagram.com/mtnprairie/] * Upcoming Events [https://mountainandprairie.com/events/] * About Ed Roberson [https://mountainandprairie.com/ed-roberson/] * Support Mountain & Prairie [https://mountainandprairie.com/support/] * Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mountain-prairie-with-ed-roberson/id1106762925]