Dear Friends

It’s a small, small world. While honeymooning in New Zealand last month, HCN editorial fellow Marian Lyman Kirst and her husband, Michael Kirst, ran into longtime subscribers Barb and Lee Croissant. The Kirsts met the Croissants, retired Parker, Colo., residents, and their daughter and son-in-law, Cindy and Dan Payne, during a guided wildlife walk on […]

We’re excited to announce that author Craig Childs has just joined our list of contributing editors. Many of you are already fans of Craig’s work, which appears regularly in these pages and in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Men’s Journal, Outside and Orion. His writing focuses on natural sciences, archaeology and his remarkable […]

Two new editorial interns just joined us for six months of “journalism boot camp” at our Paonia, Colo., office. Danielle Venton was born in Petaluma, Calif. Early backpacking trips sparked her curiosity about the natural world, which eventually led her to study biology at Humboldt State University. Unlike her classmates, Danielle couldn’t settle on just […]

Eric Strebel, our soft-spoken new Web developer, joined the HCN team Dec. 1. He’s been working with computers since 1978, when he got his first personal computer. Eric eventually developed his programming hobby into a livelihood. Prior to joining us, he freelanced and operated Mountain West Communication’s website for about a decade. Eric enjoys fishing, […]

While you snuggle up with your last issue of High Country News for 2011, our editorial staff will be taking a two-week publishing break to catch up on editing, writing, reporting and other projects, and, of course, spend time with family and friends. Expect your first issue of 2012 around Jan. 25. We wish you […]

Mark Winkler stopped by our western Colorado office while visiting his mother in nearby Montrose and touring the North Fork Valley. He’s a homemaker and freelance writer in Redwood Valley, Calif. When he got to Paonia, he first dropped by KVNF, our local community radio station, which sent him to tour our local movie theater, […]

In this issue, along with our regular ad pages, you will find the holiday Green Gift Guide. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to all of our generous advertising sponsors for their support. It takes readers like you and sponsors like them to make HCN‘s work possible. Please help us thank them by supporting […]

Along with harvesting pears and apples here in HCN‘s hometown of Paonia, Colo., we’ve reaped a bountiful bunch of fall visitors. Subscriber Lynn Lipscomb stopped by our offices to say hello in mid-September. Recently retired, she’s enjoying autumn in the desert at her home in Hurricane, Utah, near Zion National Park. But come winter, she’ll […]

Wanted: A few good board membersThe High Country News Board of Directors and several staff members met in late September in Reno, Nev. They approved a new budget and discussed everything from HCN‘s editorial coverage and the new technologies shaping the media industry to the composition of the board itself; currently, it has 10 members […]

Art Director Cindy Wehling is taking a much-deserved sabbatical through the end of the year, after more than 20 years of HCN deadlines. (That’s more than 500 issues!) While Cindy’s traveling the West and working on an addition to the Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired house she and husband Don Olsen built, Denver freelance designer and editor […]

Our May 17, 2010, feature “Accidental Wilderness” by David Wolman just received recognition in the Society of Environmental Journalists 2010-2011 Awards for Reporting on the Environment. The story took third place in the category “Kevin Carmody Award for Outstanding In-depth Reporting, Small Market.” And in the 2011 Excellence in Journalism Awards from the Native American […]

Sam Fox crossed visiting HCN off his personal “bucket list” when he came by our Paonia, Colo., office with Erin Drake. Sam pitched some cool story ideas and noted his successful track record — over the past decade he’s suggested other ideas that we’ve used for stories. The Fort Collins, Colo., duo chatted with Executive […]

Two new interns have just joined our editorial department for six months of “journalism boot camp” here in Paonia, Colo. “I was the shy nerd in school,” says Kimberly Hirai of Boise, Idaho. When she and her brother ordered pizza as kids, they fought over who had to talk on the phone. She’s more outgoing […]

On a beautiful blue-skied June weekend, the High Country News Board of Directors gathered at our headquarters in Paonia, Colo., to discuss everything from how the editorial staff develops story ideas to the ongoing evolution of digital technology. A presentation by staff on plans to roll out HCN content for mobile phones, tablet computers and […]

This will be the last issue you receive for a month; we skip an issue four times a year. Look for the next HCN to hit your mailbox around July 25, and in the meantime, visit our website, hcn.org, for fresh blog posts, new Writers on the Range columns and other exciting content. Summer visitorsBen […]

In early May, subscribers John and Susan Lobonc stopped by our Paonia, Colo., office while on a driving tour of national parks. They came all the way from Naperville, Ill., and arrived just as rainstorms were dousing the region. Their spirits were undampened, though, and they were excited to see the West they read about […]

We’d like to invite our Colorado Western Slope readers and friends to a potluck chili feast following our late-spring board meeting. Come meet other HCN fans and our staff and board members. The fun starts at 6 p.m. on Friday, June 10, at the Town Park here in Paonia. We’ll provide the chili — hot, […]

High Country News was just nominated for two of the 22nd Annual Utne Independent Press awards. Utne, which curates the best of the alternative and independent press in its bimonthly magazine and website, has put us in the running in the General Excellence and Environmental Coverage categories. The awards, notes Utne‘s press release, are “designed […]