On the Dark Side of the Moon

In spring of 2000, Mike Medberry, a longtime advocate of conservation with American Lands, The Wilderness Society, and Idaho Conservation League, had a stroke in the remote wilderness of the Craters of the Moon area in Idaho. He was rescued after nearly a full day lying alone and contemplating death in one of the most harsh, and yet beautiful landscapes in the lower 48 states. Medberry was flown to a nearby hospital about the same time that Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt came to Craters of the Moon on behalf of President Clinton to support protecting three quarters of a million acres as a unique national monument: a conservation effort that Medberry was personally involved with. This story interweaves Medberrys struggle to speak, walk, and think with the struggle to protect this brutal, lava-bound landscape that he came to know as gentle. Medberrys recovery from the stroke and the struggle to protect land at Craters of the Moon is a story of renewal and restoration, of accommodation, and ultimately, of finding workable compromises to some of lifes most difficult problems.