(Zak Podmore | Tribune file photo) Looking west from a parcel of Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) land that was leased to an oil and gas company in October before the leasing fees were refunded. The parcel overlaps with the original boundaries of Bears Ears National Monument, which President Joe Biden has promised to restore.
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.