Staff

David Anderson

Senior Advertising Sales Representative

An import from Minnesota, David joined High Country News in March 2009. With 20 years of experience in marketing and sales and an upbeat personality, he helps keep our advertising pages filled. He enjoys a good game of golf, live music, and spending time with his family, including his wife Stevi and young son Skylar.

email: davida at hcn.org

Michelle Anderson

Circulation Staff

Michelle has the shortest commute of any of our employees – she just walks across the alley. A Vietnam veteran, she has deep family roots in Colorado and Arizona which have given her a love of the West. At work, she cheerfully helps our subscribers, and at home she works in her garden and spends time with her five kitties. Two of them, Yoda and Sweet Pea, regularly sun themselves on our back patio.

email: m.anderson at hcn.org

Gretchen Aston-Puckett

Development Director

A New Englander by birth, Gretchen earned a degree in art from the University of Rhode Island. She began her love affair with the West by trading coasts and moving to Seattle, Washington in the early 90s. Here at High Country News, since 2002, she helps bring in the money by writing grant applications and cultivating donors. She and her family enjoy gardening and photography, as well as hiking and camping around the North Fork Valley and beyond.

email: gap at hcn.org

Marty Durlin

Assistant Editor

Marty recently returned to her Delta County roots to bring culturally diverse stories to High Country News. During her long career in independent media, she spent 20 years managing KGNU in Boulder, co-founded the Grassroots Radio Conference and served on the Board of Pacifica. Other talents include writing music, singing, and playing the accordion.

email: marty at hcn.org

Ryan Foster

Director of Digital Media

A Paonia native, Ryan began working as a website design consultant with High Country News in the winter of 2007 and was brought on full-time later that year. He manages the website — look, feel, function, form and future — and makes sure that no one’s computer, or anything else with a plug, blows up. Soccer, Ultimate Frisbee, his three computers and his partner Hilary consume his free time (reverse order).

email: ryan at hcn.org

Shaun Gibson

Designer/Production Assistant

Shaun works with layout of the magazine and graces the pages with clever illustrations that bring our stories to life. After dabbling briefly in the world of plumbing, he earned his B.A. in Graphic Design from Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. In his spare time, Shaun is an active photographer and artist.

email: shaun at hcn.org

Sarah Gilman

Assistant Editor

Sarah, a former intern, now edits and writes short news for the magazine. For years before that, she bounced around the Rockies, studying white-crown sparrows, reporting at a daily newspaper and working on a trail crew. Sarah enjoys weaving, hiking, running and painting. Her favorite tool—from her days carving out trails on the slopes of Mount Massive—is the double jack.

email: sarah at hcn.org

Matt Jenkins

Contributing Editor

Matt, a former High Country News intern, has written extensively about water, drought and climate change in the West. In 2006, he won the James V. Risser Prize for Western Environmental Journalism. Matt has worked as a firefighter on a Forest Service helicopter-rappel crew, and spent three years in China working with Médecins Sans Frontières, a humanitarian aid organization. He now writes from Berkeley and enjoys backpacking and skiing.

email: matt at hcn.org

JoAnn Kalenak

Marketing & Syndication Manager

JoAnn is in charge of spreading the word about High Country News and drumming up new subscribers. When she was young, her brothers would call her “Annie Oakley,” and she still considers herself a die-hard Westerner. In her free time, she runs a magazine for a local animal rescue organization and hangs out with her three cats, four dogs and five goats.

email: joann at hcn.org

Paul Larmer

Executive Director/Publisher

After completing his internship in 1984, Paul went on to hold almost every possible position at High Country News. He is now responsible for working with the board of directors, drumming up funding and generally making sure the magazine is sailing in the right direction. He holds a Master’s Degree in Natural Resource Policy and worked for years at the Sierra Club. Every summer he plants a few crops on his small ranch in Western Colorado and pretends to be a farmer.

email: plarmer at hcn.org

Betsy Marston

Writers on the Range Editor

She may have edited High Country News for 19 years – longer than anyone else in the history of the publication – but Betsy insists the experience did not make her crazy. She currently edits Writers on the Range and writes the column “Heard Around the West.” She also delights in collecting quirky photos from readers and sharing them on the back page of the magazine. She describes herself as a “volunteeraholic,” and in no particular order, loves Paonia, biking back roads, reading the Sunday New York Times, and her grandchildren Maude and Bruno.

email: betsym at hcn.org

Kathy Martinez

Circulation Manager

Kathy has ensured the safe delivery of the magazine to mailboxes everywhere since 1995. She now manages our in-house circulation staff who provide friendly support to our subscribers, and works to keep them coming back. Now that her kids are grown, she eats, sleeps and breathes High Country News, and relaxes at home with the flowers and vegetables in her garden. Originally from southern California, she’s made Paonia her home since 1992.

email: kathy at hcn.org

Denise Massart-Isaacson

Business Manager

Denise has been with High Country News since 2002. She is responsible for payroll, human resources, accounts payable and receivable, and general office management.

email: denise at hcn.org

Michelle Nijhuis

Contributing Editor

Michelle began her journalism career in 1998, as a High Country News intern, and has written for High Country News ever since. Michelle has also written for Smithsonian, National Geographic and Audubon, and won several national honors including an AAAS Science Journalism Award and inclusion in the anthology Best American Science Writing. A lapsed biologist, Michelle was once paid to chase tortoises through the Sonoran Desert; the tortoises usually won. www.michellenijhuis.com

email: michelle at hcn.org

Jodi Peterson

Associate Editor

In 2004, after 16 years as a technical writer, Jodi leapt out of the corporate world to intern with High Country News. She’s now the Associate Editor, which means her duties range from editing stories and supervising the internship program to writing articles and reviewing the letters to the editor. When she's not in the office, she refuses to get within 50 feet of a computer. Instead, Jodi spends her free time backpacking, biking, gardening, reading, or rambling with her dog. Her favorite sport is extreme knitting.

email: jodi at hcn.org

Alyssa Pinkerton

Development Associate

For the first time in years, Alyssa is sitting behind a desk. Before coming to the magazine, she bounced around the country working at dude ranches and summer camps, where she did everything from leading creek walks to orchestrating tie-dye extravaganzas. Her duties now include working with the High Country News Board and administering the “Sustainers’ Club” monthly giving program. In her scant free time, she enjoys hanging out with her two kids, painting on oil and silk, and spending time outside.

email: alyssap at hcn.org

Christine Porter

Fulfillment Associate

Chris recently made the transition from Panama City, Florida to Paonia, to live near her parents. A mother of three, Chris enjoys reading, biking and playing with her two dogs when she’s not at work. Her duties at High Country News include customer service and data entry. And so far, small town life has treated her well. “I haven’t met an unfriendly person yet,” she says.

email: christinep at hcn.org

Angie Riley

Advertising Sales Representative

A Michigan native, Angie has been at the magazine since the fall of 2006. She is raising her children in Paonia and holds degrees in Commercial Recreation and Outdoor Recreation from Central Michigan University. After work, she enjoys trail running, spending time outdoors and eating french fries.

email: angie at hcn.org

Ray Ring

Senior Editor

Ray has been writing about the West since 1979. He started freelancing for High Country News in 1985, did a stint as an editor in Paonia from 1994-1995, and has been back on staff since 2001, covering the Northern Rockies from his home base in Bozeman. He has won numerous awards, including the Sidney Hillman Foundation Journalism Award for his 2007 High Country News cover story “Death in the Energy Fields.” His favorite Western places include the Grand Canyon, Butte, Montana, Wyoming and any Mexican café.

email: rayring at hcn.org

Diane Sylvain

Copy Editor

Diane splits her time between painting – she’s an accomplished artist who sells her art all over Western Colorado – and making our prose sparkle. She sometimes draws illustrations for the magazine, too. She’s worked at High Country News since 1990. Her dad and brother have followed her to Paonia, where she lives in a century-old house with her exceptionally large cat, Gumbo.

email: diane at hcn.org

Jonathan Thompson

Editor

In the decade before he came to High Country News in 2006, Jonathan worked as a reporter for the Silverton, Colorado, paper, opened two bakeries, started a literary magazine, then bought and ran the Silverton paper. Perhaps it would be easier to say that he’s had a very busy life up to now. It only got busier in 2007, when he became editor in chief of our fine publication. He's married with two daughters.

email: editor at hcn.org

Cindy Wehling

Art Director

Cindy has been responsible for making the magazine look its best since 1990. She works with photographers and artists, and designs and produces most of the magazine. Cindy and her husband also work on the family farm, and are continuing to improve their Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired house.

email: cindy at hcn.org

Tammy York

Fulfillment Assistant

Tammy grew up in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, but set off for the West shortly after graduating from college. She's never looked back. She spent ten years in nearby Ridgeway, CO – where she says the wildlife is just incredible – before moving to Paonia in 2007. In her free time, she enjoys biking, playing the piano, baking sweets, and hanging out with her husband and kids.

email: tammyyork at hcn.org