90 Miles from Needles: the Desert Protection Podcast
Join Chris Clarke as he explores the challenges and opportunities of the American Southwest's fragile ecosystems. Engaging interviews with experts, activists, and advocates on conservation, land management, and environmental justice. Science and sentiment, politics and philosophy, hiking and history, culture and creativity all go into defending the desert. Be forewarned: We are out to recruit you to the cause.
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90 Miles from Needles: the Desert Protection Podcast
90 Miles from Needles: The Desert Protection Podcast engages listeners in the fight for the American Southwest's fragile ecosystems through illuminating conversations with experts and advocates. Discover the intersection of science, culture, and conservation today.
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27
Aug. 28, 2026
S5E27: Sonoran Toads and the Dirty Business of Ego Death
Journalist Kimon de Greef follows the dirty business behind psychedelic “toad medicine”: wildlife exploitation, manufactured Indigenous tradition and a global market selling ego death as transcendence.
26
Aug. 14, 2026
S5E26: Maps, Vanished Lakes, and Two Desert Squirrels
The boundary between two ground-squirrel species preserves the memory of a wetter Mojave,and a barrier that disappeared thousands of years ago.
25
Aug. 7, 2026
S5E25: The Vaquita Can Still Recover
Only a handful of vaquitas have recently been observed, but the species doesn't have to be doomed. Lorenzo Rojas-Bracho explains why these desert porpoises remain capable of recovery, and what must change to keep them alive.
24
July 31, 2026
S5E24: Tree Sit at the Border
Kate Scott reports from a tree sit in Lochiel, where activists occupied the last of four landmark cottonwoods after contractors destroyed the others for double-wall construction through the San Rafael Valley.
23
July 24, 2026
S5E23: Beyond Laws: Building a Movement to Save Our Deserts
Chris argues that federal environmental law remains indispensable but insufficient, calling for durable local power, community narratives and relationships capable of defending desert places when national protections are weakened or ignored.
22
July 17, 2026
S5E22: Morgan Sjogren on the War on Utah's National Monuments
Writer Morgan Sjogren describes the emotional and ecological stakes of renewed attacks on Bears Ears and Grand Staircase–Escalante, connecting monument boundaries to rivers, cultural landscapes, resource extraction and everyday life in southern Utah.
21
July 10, 2026
S5E21: Don't Mine 29! Australian Company Threatens Joshua Tree
Chance Wilcox explains how Dateline Resources’ proposed rare-earth mine could industrialize roughly 20,000 acres beside Twentynine Palms and Joshua Tree National Park, threatening residents, wildlife, water, air quality and a tourism-dependent economy.
20
July 3, 2026
S5E20: Our Love for Fireworks Could Harm the Desert
Chris examines fireworks as a recurring source of wildland ignitions, explaining how invasive grasses and depleted firefighting capacity magnify the danger while proposing safer celebrations suited to desert communities.