In CONFLUENCE: NAVIGATING THE PERSONAL & POLITICAL ON RIVERS OF THE NEW WEST, paddler and journalist Zak Podmore takes readers down Western rivers and deep into some of the most pressing environmental and social justice issues of our time.
This includes uranium tailings on the Ute Mountain Ute lands near the San Juan River, the treatment of asylum-seekers crossing the Rio Grande, and one of the largest dam removal projects in history on Washington’s Elwha River. CONFLUENCE follows in the tradition of Thoreau or Edward Abbey — it takes us into the wild but always has one eye turned back toward the blessings and ills of civilization.
Zak Podmore describes himself this way: “I’m a Utah-based journalist and film producer who covers conservation issues and Utah politics. I’ve previously written for Outside, Sierra, High Country News, Four Corners Free Press, High Desert Journal, Canoe & Kayak and HuffPost. The films I’ve produced have been selected for the Wild & Scenic Film Festival, the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival, and the Colorado Environmental Film Festival. My magazine writing won a 2018 Folio Eddie Award and a 2019 Top of the Rockies Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. I’m currently serving as a Report For America corps member covering conflict and change in San Juan County, Utah, for The Salt Lake Tribune. Tips: zpodmore@sltrib.com Confluence: Navigating the Personal & Political On Rivers of the New West, my first book, is out now from Torrey House Press.”
