(Rick Bowmer | AP file photo) This Sept. 15, 2015, file photo, shows Zion National Park near Springdale, Utah. New competency exams are being used to hire for positions within the Department of Interior, which critics say are screening out qualified candidates.
Zak is the southeast Utah reporter 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. His second book, which will cover the decline of Lake Powell, is forthcoming from Torrey House Press in 2024.