iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 10/09/2026

A good investment, or rather, an investment in something good. Please considering becoming a Founding Member for Drafting the Past.

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Jason Heppler @jasonheppler.org · 26/08/2026

My little project, Westward, now pulls in images from the Library of Congress, the Portal to Texas History at the University of North Texas, and the DeGolyer Library at Southern Methodist University, partners across the Digital Public Library of America, and the Smithsonian.

westward.jasonheppler.org

Westward — photographs of the American West

An endless scroll of public-domain photographs of the American West — homesteading, ranching, and frontier life from open cultural-heritage collections.

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Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 04/08/2026

That, along with countless photos of people recreating in the places where "you can't even walk."

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Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 04/08/2026

I'm not sure we needed "documents" to show the administration was lying about public lands, but I guess it's nice to have proof. 🤷

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 15/07/2026

in a lot of ways the current republican government is just the worst, extractive red state governance taken national. total hostility to public goods, total indifference to long-term investment, and a monomaniacal interest in using the state to enrich private benefactors

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Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 15/07/2026

Rather than "opening" these places up, the changes close things down. Less freedom, not more. The Trump Team Lies To The Public About Utah National Monuments open.substack.com/pub/chrisdan...

open.substack.com

The Trump Team Lies To The Public About Utah National Monuments

"You can virtually not even walk on it," Trump falsely claimed before slashing nearly 3 million acres from Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.

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Rebecca Nagle @rebeccanagle.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Trump just shrunk Bears Ears by 91% and Grand Staircase-Escalante by 90%. Bears Ears was the first national monument co-managed by tribes. Five tribes spent years building that partnership. It's been walked back. 100,000+ archeological sites now exposed to mining and drilling.

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Jason Dove Mark @jasondovemark.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

OMG, it's happening! Today is the official publication date of my new book, The Earth Said Remember Me: How to Revive Our Memories and Restore the Planet

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 14/07/2026

stuff like this is why one important avenue for court reform is just nixing the shadow docket altogether and forcing these people to explain themselves to the public when they issue orders. also, making their records property of the united states and subject to publication when they leave the bench.

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Pat Bagley @bagleycartoons.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Republicans will be giving away YOUR public lands to their donor buddies after Trump destroys Bears Ears Monument

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The Coalition to Protect America's National Parks @protectnps.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

In response to President Trump signing an executive order to shrink Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments, Cheryl Schreier, Chair of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, issued the following statement. protectnps.org/2026/07/13/c...

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Jennifer Molidor @jennifermolidor.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Utah is famous for its ecosystems found nowhere else in the world, dinosaur bones, Indigenous artifacts, vast redrock canyons AND as the most anti-public-lands state in the West. Trump just gave 3 million acres of these sacred public lands to those who will destroy them. thehill.com/policy/energ...

thehill.com

Trump shrinks Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah

President Trump on Monday signed executive orders shrinking the size of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah. “We’re actually giving more than we did the first ti…

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Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 14/07/2026

Voters have the power to vote anti-conservation candidates into office under the Utah and US constitution. The constitutions do not say anything about voting them out.

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Randy Watkins @bluetortoise3.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

The original Bears Ears proclamation didn't just list cliff dwellings or petroglyphs; it stated that the entire area comprised a vital interconnected cultural landscape, what the Five Tribes of the Bears Ears Coalition viewed as a living, sacred whole. Trump cut it by 90%🌎 www.bearsearscoalition.org

bearsearscoalition.org

Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition

A historic consortium of sovereign Tribal nations united in the effort to conserve the 1.36 million acre Bears Ears National Monument

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Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 14/07/2026

No conservation victory is ever permanent. Example 65,387.

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Taylor McKinnon @publiccarbon.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

The Trump administration today illegally slashed the size of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments by about 90%. What a travesty. Next, legal action. Press release and my quote linked here: biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press...

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Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 14/07/2026

The rule, apparently, is: It can always get worse.

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Daniel Benneworth-Gray @danielgray.com · 13/07/2026

Sam Neill on tackling depression and imposter syndrome when you’re between jobs.

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Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 13/07/2026

Good tips here ⬇️ for writers establishing momentum after a conference.

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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 10/07/2026

New analysis shows that, since Trump's OBBBA bill, 216 major clean-energy projects have been canceled, costing the US economy billions of dollars & thousands of jobs. (This contrasts with the bizarrely rosy spin other recent reports have put on the situation.)

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Kevin M. Levin @civilwarmemory.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

The court order is a reminder that this assault on our historic sites is not inevitable, that it can be challenged, and that the institutions designed to constrain executive power have not entirely collapsed. #NationalParks #CivilWarMemory #publichistory 🗃️ open.substack.com/pub/kevinmle...

open.substack.com

Our National Parks Belong to the People, Not the President

A federal judge just reminded the Trump administration that history isn't his to rewrite.

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Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 12/06/2026

In writing this week's essay, I was reminded why it is such a joy to read primary sources. Not because they are perfect, but because they open a door on a different world. I enjoyed seeing Yellowstone through Nathaniel Langford's 1870 eyes. www.adamsowards.net/the-mythic-n...

adamsowards.net

The Mythic Nature of Yellowstone

Nathaniel Pitt Langford and the making of wonders

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Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 11/06/2026

I also had a significant visit there just after I had turned 7. #parkchat

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Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 11/06/2026

It does feel like an office park! #parkchat

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Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 11/06/2026

Q10. #ParkChat Sometimes a park visit creates a transition in your own life--you are not the same person afterward. Can you relate a park visit that changed you?

prominent grand teton peaks in shadow nearing dusk

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Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 11/06/2026

Q9. #ParkChat Some park entrances feel like a sharp change. What is a park entrance that really feels like a transition from one place to another?

state flags along a promenade before mountain with four presidents' faces carved into it

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Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 11/06/2026

I almost used a photo like this for this question. @parkchat

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Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 11/06/2026

Q8. #ParkChat Trails in parks can take you from one place to another, transitioning into what seems like another world. What's a favorite trail that takes you to another world?

bridge over chesapeake and ohio canal in georgetown

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Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 11/06/2026

Aerial photos are often best to see these sorts of things. #parkchat

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Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 11/06/2026

Q7. #ParkChat Parks can represent two historical moments, marking key transitions of time. What's a favorite park that represents a significant historical transition?

covered wagon along oregon trail in whitman mission national historic site, ruts besides fence

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Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 11/06/2026

It's often about time scale, isn't it? #parkchat

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Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 11/06/2026

Q6. #ParkChat Consider a park that is itself in dramatic transition--such as after a fire or flood. What have you noticed or learned from seeing a transition in action?

exit glacier in kenai fjords national park showing signs of retreat, gravel and stream left behind

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Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 11/06/2026

Q5. #ParkChat Some parks also are adjacent to another type of land designation--private property, Forest Service, Tribal, etc. Where is a place where that change is especially apparent and what does it reveal?

property boundary in frank church-river of no return wilderness among brush

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Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 11/06/2026

Sounds amazing...not a place I've been yet. #parkchat

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Adam M. Sowards @adamsowards.net · 11/06/2026

These trips sound very meaningful. #parkchat

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