Forgotten Lands Project | Josh Jackson | Substack

Welcome to the Forgotten Lands Project

Written and Visual Dispatches from BLM lands across the American West

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Dispatch #50 - Books, books, books

My 2026 reading so far, plus a few lists of my all-time favorite books.

Jun 14 • Josh Jackson

Dispatch #49 - Soldier Meadows Road, Nevada

Wandered across the Great Basin last week. On breathing room, darkness, and the spaces between things.

May 31 • Josh Jackson

Dispatch #48 - BLM Campgrounds in the Mojave and Colorado Deserts

7 Campgrounds to bookmark for next season. All first come, first serve. Roughly the same price as a gallon of gas.

May 24 • Josh Jackson

Dispatch #47 - Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument

At the edge of desert season. Plus my first peninsular bighorn sheep sighting.

May 10 • Josh Jackson

BONUS: My Feature Story on Nomads

A quick note here — after three months of reporting, two camping trips into the desert, and dozens of interviews, my feature on nomads living on public…

May 6 • Josh Jackson

Dispatch #46 – A Few Hundred Nights

I never thought I’d write about my tent.

May 3 • Josh Jackson

Dispatch #45 - Anti-Superbloom on the Carrizo Plain

Scattered journal entries from last weekend.

Apr 19 • Josh Jackson

Dispatch #44 - Algodones Dunes

Heat and AC, love and pain, speed and solitude. And THERE IS WATER IN LAKE MANLY.

Apr 12 • Josh Jackson

Dispatch #43 - Chuckwalla National Monument, Part 2

An ode to walking in circles + a (very) short film. And love is in the air.

Apr 5 • Josh Jackson

Dispatch #42 - Chuckwalla National Monument, Part 1

What do Bill Clinton and the Mojave desert tortoise have in common? And ladders in the Mecca Hills Wilderness.

Mar 22 • Josh Jackson

Dispatch #41 - The Amargosa Wild and Scenic River

A Northern mockingbird, ravens, coyotes, and water. And a map. And some poppies, of course.

Mar 1 • Josh Jackson

Dispatch #40 - US Route 95, Arizona

Nomads, wildflowers, rivers, and the midnight train to El Paso.

Feb 22 • Josh Jackson

Forgotten Lands Project

Forgotten Lands Project

Written and visual dispatches from our least understood, least protected, and largely unknown public lands managed by the BLM. Part guidebook, inspiration, and travelogue.

My Places

BOOK: The Enduring Wild

Recommendations

The Jasmine Dialogues

Nicholas Triolo

Meditations in an Emergency

Rosecrans Baldwin

Western Watersheds Project

Western Watersheds Project

All At Once by Dr. Len

Len Necefer

Letters From the Desert

Chris Clarke