Zak Podmore

Report for America corps member

Zak is a Report for America corps member covering conflict and change in San Juan County for The Tribune. He has been writing from Bluff, Utah, since 2015 and is the author of Confluence: Navigating the Personal & Political On Rivers of the New West from Torrey House Press.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Traffic on I-80 in Parley's Canyon on Thursday, July 1, 2021. Vehicle emissions are a significant contributor to ozone pollution in Utah.

‘It could take years’ to solve ozone pollution on the Wasatch Front, state regulator says

By Zak Podmore | September 15, 2021, 10:54 p.m.

(Leah Hogsten | Salt Lake Tribune) Comb Ridge, located within the Bears Ears National Monument, June 26, 2020.

‘Sagebrush Empire’ explores San Juan County’s history and politics with nuance, humor and meticulous research

By Zak Podmore | September 4, 2021, 12:00 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) High ozone levels create smog along the Wasatch Front in 2017, but mining and fossil fuel groups argue there is little state can do to reduce emissions do to complex sources for the pollution.

The EPA said Utah’s ozone pollution was harming public health. Industry groups pushed the state to blame China instead.

By Zak Podmore | August 26, 2021, 12:34 a.m.

(Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) The Surface Atmosphere Integrated Field Laboratory (SAIL) near Crested Butte, Colo., will start collecting a vast range of weather data on September 1, when scientists flip the switch on a slew of machinery that has been amassed in the Upper Colorado River Basin.

Forecasters couldn’t predict how quickly Colorado River reservoirs would dry up this year. Scientists are trying to improve their models.

By Zak Podmore | August 25, 2021, 12:00 p.m.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Due to the low water levels, Kayakers have to haul their kayaks another 30-50 yards to the water past the abandoned Antelope Public Launch Ramp, at Lake Powell, on Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021. Water levels are dropping a few inches a day, which may bring an early end to kayaking on the lake in the next week or so, shortening a season that usually goes through the end of October.

National Park Service struggles to keep boat ramps open as Lake Powell hits historic low

By Zak Podmore | August 7, 2021, 2:22 p.m.

(Zak Podmore | The Salt Lake Tribune) Flooding briefly covered Moab's Main Street on the evening of Wednesday, July 28, 2021.

Moab’s Main Street floods briefly in summer monsoon

By Zak Podmore | July 29, 2021, 3:42 p.m.

(Wikimedia Commons) Many Native American students from the Navajo Nation and elsewhere attended the Intermountain Indian School in Brigham City, Utah, between 1950 to 1984.

Indigenous-led nonprofit asks to help federal investigation into abuses at Native American boarding schools

By Zak Podmore | July 28, 2021, 5:09 p.m.

(Zak Podmore | The Salt Lake Tribune) Hank Stevens, Navajo Nation representative and co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, sits on the trailer carrying the Lummi Nation's totem pole from Washington state to Washington, D.C., on Saturday, July 17, 2021.

Indigenous leaders call on Biden to enlarge Bears Ears as 25-foot totem pole travels from Washington state to Washington, D.C.

By Zak Podmore | July 19, 2021, 10:09 p.m.

(Zak Podmore | The Salt Lake Tribune) An agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation poses with Utah Navajo Health System's victim advocates Jessica Holiday (second from left), Tonya Grass, Lynn Bia and Danialle Whitehat, who received a community leadership award from the FBI in Montezuma Creek on Wednesday, July 14, 2021.

‘We’re going to tell our stories’: Diné victim advocates are overcoming stigma and limited resources to develop a community-based response to sexual violence

By Zak Podmore | July 19, 2021, 12:00 p.m.

(Zak Podmore | The Salt Lake Tribune) Survey stakes along a hillside 14 miles north of Monticello indicate a renewed interest in uranium mining in San Juan County. June 14, 2021.

Utah uranium mines being eyed by Australian company

By Zak Podmore | July 15, 2021, 8:14 p.m.