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) 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.

(Sorø Films) Noah Begay (left) and his father have a discussion outside of Navajo Mountain in the new documentary film "Scenes from the Glittering World."

New film documents the joys, hardships students face at one of the most remote high schools in the country

By Zak Podmore | June 28, 2021, 12:00 p.m.

(Under Canvas Lake Powell-Grand Staircase) Under Canvas, a luxury camping company, currently operates three resorts throughout Utah. Two more have been proposed.

‘Glamping’ development proposal near Moab is generating an uproar

By Zak Podmore | June 27, 2021, 12:00 p.m.

(Liz Thomas) The right fork of Mill Creek near Moab after its flow was reduced to less than one cubic foot of water per second on June 12. Water from the creek was used to fight the Pack Creek Fire, but officials say more water was diverted than intended.

Moab’s Mill Creek ran dry after water was diverted to fight the Pack Creek Fire, killing hundreds of fish

By Zak Podmore | June 26, 2021, 1:20 a.m.

(Zak Podmore | The Salt Lake Tribune) The remains of Ken Sleight's office and archives after they were destroyed by the Pack Creek Fire. June 14, 2021.

Ken Sleight, an inspiration for ‘The Monkey Wrench Gang,’ loses personal archive in Utah wildfire

By Zak Podmore | June 16, 2021, 8:31 p.m.

(Leah Hogsten | Tribune file photo) Crude oil pumpjacks, defunct, at right, and fully operational, at left, in San Juan County.

Industry groups pushed lawmakers to oppose Biden’s oil lease pause despite state report showing limited impact

By Zak Podmore | May 30, 2021, 12:00 p.m.

(Zak Podmore | The Salt Lake Tribune) The former Bluff waste transfer station (right) was sold to the Hole in the Rock Foundation in 2018 to mitigate odors at the foundation's nearby private campground (left).

San Juan County’s 2018 sale of a landfill facility near Bluff to an LDS-linked nonprofit is under scrutiny again

By Zak Podmore | May 24, 2021, 1:24 p.m.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) UTV side-by-sides explore the "Behind the Rocks Trail" in San Juan County, along US-191, as part of the Rally on the Rocks trail ride on Friday, May 14, 2021.

Controversial off-road rally divides Moab

By Zak Podmore | May 23, 2021, 12:00 p.m.