An Essay About Our Trip to the Red Desert with John Mioncyzski by Heather Matthews

Dr. Charlie and RN Kate the first night of our Red Desert trip.

There’s this place that I’d heard of, not that far from Jackson…

I had stepped foot in the edge of it a few years ago, not knowing what I would find.  Then it was petroglyphs that I didn’t understand, a monolith jutting into the vast “nothingness”, and sand dunes (in Wyoming?) that I explored as far as felt safe, as safe as being on the moon, in bare feet.

 But I’d heard there was more to that place, the Red Desert. I had heard of areas worthy of protection from energy development - the constant drive in this state. Even what to an outsider might seem like a wasteland, just a sea of sagebrush - isn’t that something that could be sacrificed?

Definitely not.

A couple years ago a friend mentioned the name John Mioncyzski to me.  “Could you spell that?”  I don’t remember why he came up. Maybe a conversation about the Wind River Mountains or my interest in plants and their uses. I tapped the name into my phone to remember. A year went by and I thought I heard his name again. I checked my phone - indeed it was the same. This was a conversation about Native Americans of the region. This John M-something apparently knew a lot. 

And then that winter I began watching a DVD purchased at the Dubois Museum about the Sheep Eaters - the Shoshone Indians named such for their primary food source- big horn sheep. The person in the video talking about them was him. 

Now I knew I needed to know this person.

I went down the Google rabbit hole. I got out a journal to take notes. I was enthralled. First, it was YouTube videos of him talking about medicinal uses of native plants. Then it was videos of him in conversation with or interviewing members of the Shoshone tribe about plants. And finally, I found the organization John is a huge part of- the Native Memory Project. 

 What happens if knowledge dies with that of the beholder? We are on the cusp of losing so much wisdom in a generation of Native American elders.  (How much knowledge has already been lost?)  And here was a non-profit dedicated to record the information and provide it on a platform easy to access. 

I made a donation.

I received a call.

It might as well have been Brad Pitt or President Obama who was on the other end of the line considering how shocked and excited I was. 

We talked for an hour. 

John Mioncynzski called me to thank me for my donation. Beyond that, it was sharing some of the story of how he came to live on the outskirts of Atlantic City, Wyoming (yes, that really exists), the musical instruments he plays, his study of grizzlies in Yellowstone, big horn sheep in the Wind River Mountains, raising and guiding with pack goats, his motorcycle. 

If I could dedicate a lifetime to learn from him.

John is extremely humble and he holds the amount of information of the Smithsonian Library.  He can live off the land for a month (his goal is to not lose more than 5 pounds of body weight).  He likes to be alone, and he clearly enjoys other people. He remembers the Latin names and chemical compounds of hundreds of plants, and recognizes individual sheep and goats by their eyes, but doesn’t always recall a person’s face.

Back to our conversation, I asked how I could learn from him. He asked if I knew of Ben Clark of American Wilderness Botanicals.  Ben had offered a weekend course in the Red Desert with John for the last few years.  So, of course, I took it. 

And I was not disappointed. Only disappointed that it came to an end. 

We probably heard .005% of what John holds in that brain of his. 

The Red Desert. It’s magical, if you let yourself see it. 

It isn’t just sagebrush. It’s living history, its physical history, it’s spiritual history. And it's there for you to explore. Albeit in a high clearance, 4WD vehicle, and know that if it rains you should plan to stop in your tracks and wait for the road to dry once the storm passes.  (More time to learn from John roadside.) Also beware of deep sand near the dunes. 

Spend time and you see it’s not barren. It’s full of life- plant and animal, and formerly human.  Petroglyphs and other archaeological remnants are proof of the human presence, use, and honor. You CAN live off the plant life if you know how. Wild horses, pronghorn, elk, lizards. 

A family of wild horses in the Red Desert.

Oh, the night sky, the milky way shining brightly from horizon to horizon. The sand dunes are alive, and provide for plants and shore birds, and other water-seeking creatures. 

Honeycomb Buttes

If you’ve heard of anything in the Red Desert, it’s probably Honeycomb Buttes. They are badlands, the colors of Napoleon ice cream, that extend as a maze 20 miles long and 6 miles wide - it would be easy to get lost within that, but John knows it like the back of his hand. If you don’t venture in, it’s ok. To admire their beauty from the edge is filling enough. 

Honeycomb Buttes

Imagine roads for oil and gas drilling running right through them. 

That happened. 

On our adventure, John brought attention to what makes the Red Desert, possibly the largest tract of land in the lower US lacking fencing, so special. Its undeniable magic ultimately resulted in 9 Wilderness Study Areas within those 9,300-plus square miles. Its protected (for now) from energy development. He showed us the few springs that had been poisoned from previous oil and gas wells, but now are clean, thanks to the regeneration of mother nature. He speaks of the comeback of plant life since sheep grazing ceased …. years ago. 

But what does the future hold for the Red Desert? There’s a push for more energy development, and WSA status isn’t permanent. 

What does the future hold for our planet? John has seen how big Ag farming and energy development has harmed the health of the planet and all life, including us humans. 

John brought us into the micro and expanded our brains and vision out to the macro. There was a feeling of great positivity from John and our attentive group so lucky to be with him. But we need to keep expanding - on the healing needed in the now and the care and nurturing and respect of the future. It’s not just about the Red Desert. It’s way grander. We are all cells in the cosmos. We get to make choices and take action that will go beyond us, affecting all other cells. 

Know that you have an impact. 

The Indigenous peoples of this continent knew how to live with the land, with nature, with wildlife. We as modern humans in this country have largely forgotten. And it’s memory, it’s knowledge and wisdom that could save us from extinction, could bring all life back to health and harmony.  

Recognizing the impact we have had on a relatively untouched land gives us the feedback needed to make future choices.  Seeing and knowing what lives and thrives without our interference not only reaches our soul, but it is more intelligence in our brains, our bodies. 

We get to make choices every moment.  We for that we can tap into our heart, our soul, our experience, and our knowing. 

To learn more about the Native Memory Project visit nativememoryproject.org. 

 To learn more about the Red Desert visit reddesert.org. 

Watch for other opportunities to learn from John in the Red Desert with Ben Clark and americanwildernessbotanicals.com.