Essays and Articles

My writings and publications are diverse, ranging from creative non-fiction essays to peer-reviewed academic journal articles, with a bit of fiction and even some poetry along the way.

In 2019, I received the John Burroughs Nature Writing Essay for “The Carcass Chronicle“.

Creative Nonfiction

Desert Notes. Canyon Echo Journal. 2022.

“The Carcass Chronicle,” The Georgia Review. Fall, 2018. (John Burroughs Nature Essay Award Winner.)

Country Diary columns, Guardian Newspaper, 2018-19 

“Place Where You Live: The Gallatin Canyon, Montana.” Orion. 2015.

“Language and the Land: A Visit to the Indigenous Sami People’s Norway.” The Mindful Word. 2014.

“Cause and Effect.” Camas: The Nature of the West, V. 8: 26-29. 2005.

“In the Neighborhood of Wolves.” Camas: The Nature of the West, V.8:34-37. 2004.

Academic Articles:

Patten, R.S. and J.E. Ellis. 1995. “Patterns of species and community distributions related to environmental gradients in an arid tropical ecosystem.” Vegetatio, 117:69-79.

Patten, R.S. and D.H. Knight. 1994. “Snow Avalanches and Vegetation Pattern in Cascade Canyon, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, U.S.A.” Arctic and Alpine Research, 26:35-41