The Sagebrush Ocean: A Natural History of the Great Basin

Experience an inspiring evening with author Stephen Trimble as he shares captivating stories and stunning photographs from his updated classic, The Sagebrush Ocean. Discover the unique landscapes and vibrant life of the Great Basin Desert through Trimble’s expert perspective. 

Admission is free. Doors will open at 6:30 PM.

Stephen Trimble spent the past five years updating his classic book on the natural history of the Great Basin Desert, The Sagebrush Ocean.  His authoritative voice and evocative photographs illuminate this landscape of sun-struck playas, surprising wetlands, remote canyons, and wind-swept tundra. Steve is delighted to share this essential introduction to the ecology and spirit of the sweep of desert country that stretches from Salt Lake City to Reno. He’ll also tell stories from his fieldwork as writer and photographer. This evening launches the book—the first in-person event and the first time the book will be available for signing. Today, the once-vast “sagebrush ocean” is an endangered sea, as environmental changes and human development have diminished it by half. This heartbreaking decline drives Trimble’s updated text, but he blends loss with reverence for what remains—and urgent insight into what’s at stake. 

As writer, editor, and photographer, Stephen Trimble has published twenty-five award-winning books during nearly fifty years of paying attention to the landscapes and peoples of the Desert West. First published in 1989, “The Sagebrush Ocean” won the Ansel Adams Award for Photography and Conservation from the Sierra Club and the Earle A. Chiles Award from the High Desert Museum. Trimble is thrilled to have the chance to revise the text and venture into the Great Basin once again to photograph for this thirty-fifth anniversary edition. Trimble speaks and writes frequently as a conservation advocate and has taught writing at the University of Utah, where he received a Wallace Stegner Fellowship at the Tanner Humanities Center during the centennial of Stegner’s birth. In 2019, Trimble was honored as one of Utah’s fifteen most influential artists. He makes his home in Salt Lake City and in the redrock country of Torrey, Utah. For more about his work, see www.stephentrimble.net

Program Partners:

The Kings English Bookshop

The Nature Conservancy