90 Miles From Needles

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90 Miles From Needles

The desert protection podcast The North American desert is split by county, state, and national borders. The environment doesn’t exist in a vacuum, however.

It holds a diverse range of ecosystems, landscapes, cultures, languages and people. But the California desert, for instance, has more in common with the desert elsewhere than it does with many parts of California. You can say much the same about deserts in Nevada, Texas, Sonora and Baja California. Arid lands face many of the same issues in ecological, cultural and political senses. The American desert is a discrete entity that is too seldom respected, or even recognized as something that deserves to exist on its own terms.

90 Miles from Needles, the Desert Protection Podcast, interprets and explains the desert, its living things, its people and our cultures in a clear and compelling fashion. Our main focus is on the desert environment: what it is, what threats it faces, and what people are doing to counter those threats. In fact, the desert is a place where people can’t pretend they aren’t affected by the non-human world. So we will cover environment through the lenses of not just science and recreation, but culture, history, the arts, and politics as well.

90 Miles from Needles is a project of the non-profit Desert Advocacy Media Network. It features the work of journalist, writer, and activist Chris Clarke, who has been interpreting the desert for more than 30 years. He is joined in this project by the community of activists and others working to keep the desert whole. We hope you will find this podcast valuable, interesting, and fun. We invite you to visit our donation page to lend support. We can't do this without our listeners! Thanks! https://www.90milesfromneedles.com/donate

09/17/2026

New Episode! "S5E30: Why Deserts Need Defending"

Why do deserts need protection? For the 150th episode of 90 Miles from Needles, Chris Clarke returns to the reasons this work matters: deserts remain widely misunderstood, receive less scientific attention than they deserve, and cannot be protected without confronting questions of justice. Listeners Kimberly, Nancy, and Diane share what the desert means to them, while Chris considers wildfire, Joshua tree science, environmental inequality, the border wall, urban heat, and the love that ultimately lies behind conservation. An after-credits report examines where the podcast has traveled during its first 150 episodes—and where its coverage still needs to go.

Why do deserts need protection? For the 150th episode of 90 Miles from Needles, Chris Clarke returns to the reasons this work matters: deserts remain widely misunderstood, receive less scientific att

09/11/2026

New Episode! "S5E29: Why Was the North Kaibab Trail Still Open?"

After the Dragon Bravo Fire, Grand Canyon trail staff warned that the North Kaibab Trail faced years of heightened danger from debris flows, flash floods and rockfall. Yet the entire trail reopened in May 2026. Journalist Joe Dana of Phoenix's 12 News joins 90 Miles from Needles to discuss his reporting on internal National Park Service recommendations, pressure to restore public access, and the decisions made before the deadly August 29 Grand Canyon flood.

After the Dragon Bravo Fire, Grand Canyon trail staff warned that the North Kaibab Trail faced years of heightened danger from debris flows, flash floods and rockfa…

09/05/2026

90 Miles from Needles passed 75,000 downloads this week.
That's the official number, anyway. We're missing our earliest download data, from before February 2022, so we probably crossed the line sometime in August.
For a podcast devoted entirely to protecting North America's deserts—a subject we were repeatedly assured was much too specialized to attract an audience—we're pretty pleased about that.
If you've been one of those listeners, thank you. And if you've gotten something worthwhile from the podcast over the years and you're in a position to help support independent desert journalism, we'd be grateful for a contribution to the nonprofit that produces it, the Desert Advocacy Media Network.
No obligation. The podcast stays free either way. But even small recurring donations make it easier for us to keep doing this work.

https
://90milesfromneedles.com/donate

90 Miles from Needles. the desert protection podcast, is supported entirely by people who think the desert is worth defending. Are you one of them?

09/04/2026

New Episode! "S5E28: 4 Things You Need to Know about Desert Flooding"

This week: four things to understand about desert flash floods, why blaming victims makes us less safe, and what both travelers and institutions can do to reduce the danger.

This week: four things to understand about desert flash floods, why blaming victims makes us less safe, and what both travelers and institutions can do to reduce th…

08/28/2026

New Episode! "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.

Journalist Kimon de Greef follows the dirty business behind psychedelic “toad medicine”: wildlife exploitation, manufactured Indigenous tradition and a global marke…

08/21/2026

No episode this week, but we DID craft a little socials video on the proposed Roadless Rule recission.

08/15/2026

New Episode! "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.

https://www.90milesfromneedles.com/e/14142090057734/

08/14/2026

The boundary between two ground-squirrel species preserves the memory of a wetter Mojave,and a barrier that disappeared thousands of years ago.

08/11/2026

The Desert Advocacy Media Network is getting ready to bring on our first tranche of Desert Reporting Fellows. We're looking for journalists and aspiring journalists who want to work reporting on environmental issues in the North American deserts. Fellowship compensation for one unpolished, 15-20 minute audio piece for our 90 Miles from Needles podcast in the $1,250.00 range. We'll do all the boring work of audio editing and such unless the Fellow wants to learn the process herself.

We're also happy to talk to applicants who prefer working in written form, or videography, or storymaps, or what have you. This is about broadening our voice and mentoring new reporters. We want those new voices and new ideas.

Members of underrepresented communities are strongly encouraged to apply. In addition to stories originating in the US Southwest, we also welcome proposed reporting from the Sonoran, Chihuahuan, or Baja California deserts, as well as other arid and semiarid regions of Mexico, including the Tehuacán–Cuicatlán Valley and desert-transition communities.

Apply here:

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.Your contact informationName *FirstLastEmail *Phone *Until we get to know each other, we will only use this to text you.Address *Address Line 1Address Line 2CityState / Province / RegionPostal CodeCountryEducation LevelThis isn’t a mak...

08/07/2026

New Episode! "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.

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 c…

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