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.

(Zak Podmore | The Salt Lake Tribune) Heap leach pads and ponds at the Lisbon Valley Copper Mine in San Juan County on Nov. 12, 2020. The Lisbon Valley Mining Company wants to expand mining operations using a method called in-situ recovery.

Permitting process moving ahead for controversial copper mine expansion in San Juan County

By Zak Podmore | January 21, 2022, 4:06 p.m.

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Park City Mountain Resort on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022.

‘We meant business’: Park City ski patrollers say strike authorization vote led to better contract with Vail Resorts

By Zak Podmore | January 20, 2022, 1:00 p.m.

Vail Resorts and Park City ski patrollers’ union remain deadlocked after 50th bargaining session

By Zak Podmore | January 12, 2022, 1:57 a.m.

(Willie Maahs via Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association) In this courtesy photo, a member of the Park Ski ski patrollers' union advocates for a more favorable contract with Vail Resorts.

Park City ski patrol union overwhelmingly votes to authorize a strike if negotiations fail with Vail Resorts

By Zak Podmore | January 11, 2022, 10:38 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) People take to the slopes of Park City Mountain Resort as clear skies and some recent fresh snow draws the crowds on Saturday, Dec. 18, 2021.

Vail Resorts prepares for possible Park City ski patrol strike, says email seeking replacements was ‘not authorized’

By Zak Podmore | January 8, 2022, 4:46 p.m.

(Willie Maahs) The Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association has been pushing for a new contract with Vail Resorts since August 2020. In this courtesy photo, union members Tyler Grundstrom, Kate Foley, Lee Moriarty, Emmet Murray and Katie Woodward hold signs in Park City.

Park City ski patrol union, Vail Resorts fail to reach wage agreement in 47th bargaining session since 2020

By Zak Podmore | January 6, 2022, 4:09 p.m.

(Zak Podmore | The Salt Lake Tribune) Davina Smith holds a campaign sign in Monument Valley at an event announcing she'll be running for the Utah House of Representatives. Thursday, Dec. 16, 2021.

Rep. Phil Lyman has a Democratic challenger for 2022: Diné woman and land protection advocate Davina Smith

By Zak Podmore | December 18, 2021, 3:40 p.m.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Snow is made near the base of Solitude Mountain Resort opening day on Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021, as Utah resorts see limited snow accumulation for the start of the season.

Raft guides, ski lift operators and thousands of other workers on federal land are set to have a $15 minimum wage starting next year

By Zak Podmore | December 10, 2021, 5:19 p.m.

(Zak Podmore | The Salt Lake Tribune) A San Juan County sign identifying an early voting location in Bluff, Utah, on Oct. 23, 2019.

Voting rights debate reignites in San Juan County with new commission, school board district proposals

By Zak Podmore | December 2, 2021, 4:08 p.m.

(Jerry McBride | The Durango Herald via AP) In this Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015 file photo, people kayak in the Animas River near Durango, Colo., in water colored yellow from a mine waste spill. A crew supervised by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been blamed for causing the spill while attempting to clean up the area near the abandoned Gold King Mine. Tribal officials with the Navajo Nation declared an emergency on Monday, Aug. 10, as the massive plume of contaminated wastewater flowed down the San Juan River toward Lake Powell in Utah, which supplies much of the water to the Southwest.

Scientists working to understand record of mine-related contamination in sediment below Lake Powell

By Zak Podmore | November 29, 2021, 9:55 p.m.