Naturalist Audrey Benedict has been a High Country News supporter for over 35 years and a major donor for more than a decade. We want to thank her for her unwavering commitment to HCN’s independent journalism — and to protecting the environments and communities we cover.
As a child in upstate New York, Audrey camped, hiked, canoed and fished with her parents. She collected snakeskins, animal scat and feathers, displaying them in her own “museum” in the basement. At 13, she hiked a hundred miles of Vermont’s Long Trail alone.
“I was a strong person because my parents built me that way,” she said. “They gave me the bravery to chart my own course in life.” That course steered her to the Western U.S. — and eventually to becoming a key supporter of HCN.
“HCN plays a crucial role in helping us understand the critical environmental issues of our time,” Audrey said, “with stories that highlight the problems we are facing and how we can get back on track.”
Audrey first came West to study geology and biology at the University of Colorado Boulder. While working at the Niwot Ridge Mountain Research Station, she met longtime research scientist Jim Benedict; they married a year later, settling on a beautiful mountain ranch northwest of Boulder. Jim, an internationally renowned glaciologist, passed away in 2011. “We were married for 40 years,” Audrey recalled. “He was my mentor and we were kindred spirits.”
The couple shared a reverence for the natural world and a passion for science education and environmental conservation. To that end, Audrey founded a nonprofit, Cloud Ridge Naturalists, in 1979. For 40 years, she led natural history trips throughout western North America, and from the Arctic to the Antarctic.
“It was one of the most meaningful careers I could have embarked on,” she said, “taking people to experience the natural world and illuminating the wondrous ways in which plants and animals are adapted to the ecosystems they live in.”
“I was a strong person because my parents built me that way. They gave me the bravery to chart my own course in life.”
She is the author or co-author of five award-winning books, including a field guide to the Southern Rockies and books about Great Sand Dunes National Park, the Salish Sea and the Pacific Flyway waterbird migration. In 2021, in the wake of the COVID pandemic and overcrowding of the outdoors, she refocused Cloud Ridge Naturalists on publishing, while continuing to highlight natural history. (Find out more about Cloud Ridge Naturalists and Cloud Ridge Publishing.)
Her latest nonprofit undertaking, Project Murrelet, addresses the loss of critical funding for marine and climate change research. From her cottage in Washington’s San Juan Islands, she’s overseeing the complete green retrofit of a 38-foot steel-hulled motor yacht. The vessel will serve as a seagoing research platform, available to scientists at no charge for long-term studies in the Pacific Northwest. (Find out more about Project Murrelet).
Another way to encourage good science is through good reporting, Audrey said: “I’ve always admired HCN’s in-depth stories and the opportunities it provides for the next generation of journalists.” Now, she said, HCN needs to continue telling the hard stories about biodiversity loss, changes in public-lands management, and other major environmental and cultural issues.
One of the most significant ways HCN can expand its reach, she added, is through its Western Environmental Reporting Collaborative (WERC). “I’m really excited about this effort, and it’s motivated me to give more to help HCN ramp this up,” she said, referencing the generous three-year donation she is providing through her family’s foundation. The WERC partnership builds a network network of environmental reporters to deepen local coverage of public and private lands, water and drought, wildlife and wildfire, focusing on rural and Indigenous communities. The project, which launched last month, embeds reporters at newsrooms in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Arizona, expanding to all 12 Western states.
Now in her mid-70s, Audrey has been reflecting on the legacy of environmental stewardship that she and Jim had hoped to create. “I have so loved sharing joyous experiences in wild places like I had as a kid,” she said, adding that she worries about the world her grandchildren will inherit and wonders whether future generations will be able to know those same landscapes.
Audrey’s generosity and the friendship she’s shown members of the HCN staff over the years are an inspiring example of the community spirit that has kept this institution alive and kicking for 56 years. Thank you, Audrey!
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This article appeared in the August 2026 print edition of the magazine with the headline “A longtime donor gives back.”
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