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Explore the places where we come together and fall apart. The Wide Open brings nuanced reporting on under-covered environmental issues. Our deep storytelling provides context to the forces shaping our lives — with plenty of adventure, wildlife and rich sound along the way.

Join us for a 'Wide Open' podcast release party!

The Wide Open podcast release party, Oct. 10 from 5-8 p.m. at Imagine Nation Brewing in Missoula.
The Wide Open podcast release party, Oct. 10 from 5-8 p.m. at Imagine Nation Brewing in Missoula.

Join us to celebrate the release of The Wide Open podcast. Hear from the creators of the podcast, visit with other listeners and enjoy a drink provided by the UM School of Journalism.

We'll be at Imagine Nation Brewing in Missoula on October 10, from 5-8 p.m. We hope to see you there!

  • This week we're sharing an episode of a podcast we think you'll love: "The Wild" with Chris Morgan, from our friends at KUOW in Seattle. On this episode, "The Wild" heads to the hottest place on earth: Death Valley National Park to learn about the Devil's Hole pupfish. This tiny creature, just an inch long, sparked one of the biggest water rights cases in U.S. History.
  • A caterpillar crosses the road. It starts a conversation about the long view of conservation, across species and across generations.
  • A scientist realizes if sea ice keeps melting, polar bears will go extinct. To help them, the Endangered Species Act takes on climate change — and in this battle, the law may have met its match.
  • A fish killing mystery that starts with the Endangered Species Act shows how state and federal wildlife law went from a weapon used against tribes, to a tool for tribes to reclaim what was stripped away.
  • From grizzlies to wolves, hunting plays a controversial role in many Endangered Species Act stories. This time, an African animal on Texas ranchland shows how hunting does — and doesn’t — serve conservation.
  • Wolves get trapped in the wild, loaded onto an airplane, and delivered to Montana and Idaho. When they scamper off into the wilderness, they test a question central to endangered species debates: What does it mean to recover a species?
  • A gang of monkey-wrenching activists try a new approach in the fight to save threatened species and ecosystems: They put on suits and enter the courtroom. In doing so, they change conservation forever.
  • The first great battle over the Endangered Species Act begins. Thanks to an eclectic group of activists, a tiny fish in Tennessee halts construction on a massive dam and ends up in front of the Supreme Court.

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