Wilderness | Mary Catherine O'Connor

Lerner’s Permit: How Young Is Too Young to Begin Avalanche Ed?

November 1, 2017 by mcoc

Teens are breaking trail in the backcountry well before they can drink, vote, or even drive. Avalanche educators are hustling to get to them early. Outside Magazine In 2013, 15-year-old Dawson Toth was perched on a ridge watching his best friend, Evan, ski down the north slope of Hero’s Knob, a popular backcountry area in […]

Categories: Action Sports, Recreation, Technology, Wilderness • Tags: American Avalanche Institute, Avalanche Canada, avalanche safety, Dawson Toth, Jordy Hendrikx, Sarah Carpenter, Selkirks

As Trump moves to privatize America’s national parks, visitor costs may rise

June 25, 2017 by mcoc

Some are concerned that the proposed privatization of some public park services would drive up costs for visitors and fail to raise enough for repairs The Guardian June 25, 2017 America’s national parks need a staggering $11.5bn worth of overdue road and infrastructure repairs. But with the proposed National Park Service budget slashed by almost […]

Categories: Policy, Recreation, Wilderness • Tags: campground, concessionaires, Delaware, Department of Interior, national park service, NPS, Secretary Zinke, Xanterra

Your Fleece Jacket Pollutes the Ocean. Here’s the Possible Fix.

May 25, 2017 by mcoc

A large Canadian gear retailer is working on a project to trace the microplastics that come off its apparel in the wash and prevent them from entering local waterways. Outside Online May 25, 2017 By now you’ve probably heard the news: your favorite fleece sheds hundreds of thousands of tiny synthetic fibers every time it’s washed. Those […]

Categories: Action Sports, Gear, Lifecycle, Oceans, Recreation, Technology, Wilderness • Tags: MEC, microbeads, microfibers, Mountain Equipment Coop, synthetic apparel, synthetic microfibers

Guardian: Peter Metcalf, Patagonia take on Utah officials over public land rights

January 14, 2017 by mcoc

Utah, a state rich in epic landscapes and national parks, is becoming ground zero for a fight between the $646bn outdoor industry and state lawmakers over public land management. At a trade show for outdoor clothing and gear makers in Salt Lake City this week, two prominent figures from the industry called on their peers […]

Categories: Action Sports, Energy, Gear, Policy, Recreation, Wilderness • Tags: Black Diamond, outdoor industry association, Outdoor Retailer, Patagonia, Peter Metcalf, Utah, Utah Governor Herbert

Home at Last: The Kashia Band of Pomo Indians Returns to the California Coast

December 15, 2016 by mcoc

Partnering with local agencies, The Trust for Public Land devised a plan that would return the land to the Kashia while allowing for an addition to the California Coast Trail. Land+People (The Trust for Public Land’s magazine: Go to Page 30) “Close your eyes,” instructs Reno Franklin. Chairman of the Kashia band of Pomo Indians, Franklin […]

Categories: Climate Change, Food and Agriculture, Oceans, Policy, Recreation, Wilderness • Tags: Kashia band of Pomo Indians, Kashia Coastal Reserve, Reno Franklin, Trust for Public Land

SIERRA: Outdoor Afro Provides Opportunities to Hike and to Heal

December 12, 2016 by mcoc

Rue Mapp sees nature as a vehicle to help African Americans address the violence in their past and present. SIERRA Magazine Growing up in Oakland, California, Rue Mapp learned to love the outdoors. She was an avid Girl Scout, and she spent her summers roaming the family ranch in nearby Lake County. As an adult, […]

Categories: Action Sports, Climate Change, Recreation, Wilderness • Tags: black lives matter, Eric Garner, Harriet Tubman, Outdoor Afro, Rue Mapp, Sierra Magazine, Underground Railroad

Guardian: How to Visit America’s National Parks Without the Congestion

August 27, 2016 by mcoc

Traffic congestion has become part of the experience of visiting popular national parks in the US. Now, more parks are beefing up their public transport options. The Guardian If you’ve ever visited an iconic national park like Yellowstone, Yosemite or Glacier, your first glimpses of arresting, postcard-perfect vistas were probably framed by a car window. […]

Categories: Climate Change, Policy, Recreation, Transportation, Wilderness, Wildlife • Tags: arcadia national park, bus, climate change, island explorer, National Parks, National Parks Centennial, public transit, transportation, Yellowstone, Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System

Pacific Standard: The Pleasures — and Ecological Benefits — of River Snorkeling

June 14, 2016 by mcoc

In praise of river snorkeling, a pastime for fish obsessives that also reminds riparian activists what they’re protecting. Pacific Standard I’m like the reverse of a fish out of water — a floundering human in water, I think to myself and let out a nervous chuckle. This breaks the seal my mouth has formed around the snorkel’s […]

Categories: Action Sports, Climate Change, Food and Agriculture, Oceans, Policy, Recreation, Wilderness • Tags: Columbia River, Matt Collins, Native Fish Society, pacific northwest, Pacific Standard, riparian, river snorkeling, Russ Ricketts, salmon native, Tellico River, Wenatchee River

Outside: Terry Tempest Williams’s Dark Love Letter to the National Parks

June 2, 2016 by mcoc

The acclaimed nature writer’s portraits of 12 parks go beyond perfect postcard tributes, and the resulting book couldn’t have come at a better time. Outside I had expected Terry Tempest Williams’ latest book, The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks (MacMillan), would be a string of tributes to the sacred spaces within […]

Categories: Action Sports, Climate Change, Energy, Oceans, Policy, Recreation, Wilderness • Tags: Bakken, Centennial, Grand Teton National Park, National Park System, Terry Tempest Williams, Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Inside the complicated world of online wildlife trafficking

August 8, 2015 by mcoc

You’ve heard of Cecil’s dentist killer, but for many other lions, elephants, rhinos and tens of thousands of other exotic animals, internet marketplaces like eBay and Craigslist are the biggest threat. The Guardian August 3, 2015 If you live in the continental US, have $4,850 and an internet connection, this large, full-body, mounted African lion, […]

Categories: Policy, Technology, Wilderness • Tags: cecil the lion, elephants, Fish and widlife service, ivory, lions, online wildlife trafficking, poaching

Mary Catherine O'Connor

Independent Journalist

Category Archives: Wilderness