Interwoven: Junipers and the Web of Being

Copublished with the Utah State Historical Society. Affiliated with the Utah Division of State History, Utah Department of Heritage & Arts. Throughout prehistory and history, junipers have influenced ecosystems, cultures, mythologies, economics, politics, and environmental controversies. In terms of their effects on human lives the juniper may be the most significant tree in the interior West. explores these interconnecting aspects of junipers. Ghost beads, biotic communities, gin, tree masticators, Puebloan diapers, charcoal, folklore, historic explorers, spiral grain, tree life cycles, spirituality, packrat middens, climate changes, wildfire, ranching, wilderness, and land management policies are among the many different threads the book follows. These and other topics shed light on a fascinating organism, but the book is more than a compilation of facts. At once a scientific, experiential, historical, and metaphorical walk among junipers and their interrelationships, may change readers’ experiences with these trees and the natural world.  Finalist for the Utah State Historical Society Best Book Award. Finalist for the 2019 ASLE Book Award for excellence in ecocriticism and environmental creative writing. Named a “notable book” by the prize committee of the 2018 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award.