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A human and natural history of the Bear River Marsh on Access Utah

The cover of "A Reed Shaken with the Wind" with a bird singing.
Barnes and Noble

This episode first aired April 28th, 2026.

Today we’ll revisit our conversation from April 2026 with Andrew Hedges.

The new book, A Reed Shaken with the Wind, traces the Bear River Marsh from its creation during the last ice age to its current status as an imperiled national wildlife refuge. The author, Andrew Hedges, draws on geology, ecology, archaeology, wildlife biology, and water resource management to explore the natural and human forces that shaped the marsh and contributed to its decline. Covering Indigenous relationships with land, market economies’ impacts, and the intersection of ecology, science, and politics in establishing the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, this volume deepens discussions of humanity’s place in the environment and efforts to restore balance with our planet.

Andrew H. Hedges is professor of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University. He is editor of two volumes of the Joseph Smith Papers Journals series and The Brigham Young Journals, Volume 1.

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Tom Williams worked as a part-time UPR announcer for a few years and joined Utah Public Radio full-time in 1996. He is a proud graduate of Uintah High School in Vernal and Utah State University (B. A. in Liberal Arts and Master of Business Administration.) He grew up in a family that regularly discussed everything from opera to religion to politics. He is interested in just about everything and loves to engage people in conversation, so you could say he has found the perfect job as host “Access Utah.” He and his wife Becky, live in Logan.