Since the 1970s, more than 230 young people have come through HCN’s intern and fellowship programs, going on to use the skills and knowledge they gained here to make important contributions to the West and the wider world. Dozens have built successful careers in journalism, working as reporters, editors and photographers for The Washington Post, National Geographic, The Salt Lake Tribune, The Oregonian and a multitude of smaller local outlets.
As time passed, however, we found that an internship was no longer enough to land a first job in journalism. We shifted to yearlong fellowships, but as local news organizations downsized or ceased publication altogether, we started to wonder if we were preparing these brilliant young people for jobs that no longer existed.
That was one of the inspirations behind the Western Environmental Reporting Collaborative (WERC), a partnership with the national nonprofit Report for America and local news organizations across the region. It launches this month with two- to three-year positions for journalists in Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, thanks to the support of our great collaborators and the HCN supporters who helped us get this thing started.
We’re excited to announce the first four WERC reporters. With this combination of national, regional and local partners, we hope to make these jobs permanent, providing Westerners with consistent, insightful reporting about our land, water and wildlife.
Stephanie Casanova will cover the Colorado River for Arizona Luminaria. An independent bilingual journalist from Tucson, Stephanie has covered community stories for more than 10 years for publications including CALÓ News, Somos Tucson and Prism. She is a 2026 investigative fellow with the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting and has completed fellowships with the SPJ Future Leaders Academy, the Maynard 200 investigative reporting program and the IRE Data Journalism Bootcamp.
Chart Riggall will be stationed at the Ouray County Plaindealer on Colorado’s Western Slope. Prior to joining the Plaindealer, Chart covered courts and legal affairs for Law360 in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. He began his reporting career at the nearby Marietta Daily Journal, covering local and state politics and economic development. Before he got into journalism, he led a variety of other lives, including as a government oversight investigator, brewery hand and public-lands worker in southwest Colorado.
Teal Davis will report for Wyoming Public Media, covering wildlife, land use and the preservation of major national parks, including Yellowstone and Grand Teton. Before joining WPM, Davis worked as an environment and data reporter in central Wyoming for the Riverton Ranger and Lander Journal. Born and raised in San Diego, she interned at inewsource, an investigative newsroom, and freelanced for several publications in the city. She has also published work with KPBS, the Casper Star-Tribune and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.
Nick Mott will cover the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and associated public lands, wildlife, water and rural community impacts for Mountain Journal, a project of Montana Free Press. A longtime freelance journalist in the Livingston area, Nick is the host and creator of the podcast The Wide Open and author of the 2023 book This Is Wildfire: How To Protect Yourself, Your Home, and Your Community in the Age of Heat. He’s also written for High Country News and Mountain Journal, among others.
WERC reporters will report stories for their home publications, which can be shared with statewide and regional networks. You’ll see more of their reporting in these pages, and HCN will offer their stories to newsrooms across the West for republication at no charge.
And this is just the beginning! We plan to add four more reporters to the network next year and another four the year after that, planting WERC in 12 Western states. In the process, we’ll help provide insightful reporting for local communities and share those stories with other communities, as well as with policymakers in statehouses and Washington, D.C.
A little good news, for a change — in every sense of the word!
We welcome reader letters. Email High Country News at editor@hcn.org or submit a letter to the editor. See our letters to the editor policy.
This article appeared in the July 2026 print edition of the magazine with the headline “Meet the West’s new environmental reporters.”
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
