Sarah Gilman

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Contributing Editor

Sarah has covered the West's natural resources, politics and people since 2006. Before moving to Portland, Oregon, to write features, shorts and blogs and continue editing cover stories and news, she spent six and a half years flogging writers and managing the intern program as High Country News' in-house associate editor. She grew up in Boulder, Colorado and has spent most of her adult life in small towns in the Rockies, studying white-crowned sparrows, reporting for newspapers and magazines and working on a trail crew. Her favorite tool — from her days building steps and retaining walls on the slopes of Mount Massive outside Leadville — is the double jack. These days, she's also especially partial to her 8-lb. maul.

email: sarah at hcn.org

Meet the woman behind Colorado’s highest trails
Meet the woman behind Colorado’s highest trails
How trail designer Loretta McEllhiney protects mountains from people.
Sarah Gilman June 26, 2017 From the print edition
At home with the ‘unsettlers’
At home with the ‘unsettlers’
A new book features characters who have gone far beyond what most of us consider ‘good enough.’
Sarah Gilman April 3, 2017 From the print edition
Go North, young woman
Go North, young woman
In a place no one can see you, you can see yourself more clearly.
Sarah Gilman March 6, 2017 From the print edition
BLM moves away from landmark Northwest Forest Plan
BLM moves away from landmark Northwest Forest Plan
Court showdown may force the agency to reconsider its Pacific Northwest logging goals.
Sarah Gilman July 25, 2016 From the print edition
Meet the group that’s turning artists into nature’s advocates
Meet the group that’s turning artists into nature’s advocates
In the backcountry, an experiment in using art to elevate environmental issues.
Sarah Gilman June 27, 2016 From the print edition
Oregon oil train explosion fuels growing opposition movement
Oregon oil train explosion fuels growing opposition movement
Some activists see the Pacific Northwest as a major new front in the climate fight.
Sarah Gilman June 8, 2016
West Coast cities sue Monsanto to pay for chemical cleanup
West Coast cities sue Monsanto to pay for chemical cleanup
Cities take a new tack to fight pollutants: targeting companies who make them.
Sarah Gilman May 16, 2016 From the print edition
Protecting the Oregon Trail from the development it helped create
Protecting the Oregon Trail from the development it helped create
Dedicated volunteers fight to preserve one of the trails that brought settlers west.
Sarah Gilman March 7, 2016 From the print edition
Can drilling and recreation get along in Moab, Utah?
Can drilling and recreation get along in Moab, Utah?
The BLM unveils the unprecedented plan to balance oil and gas with conservation in canyon country.
Sarah Gilman Nov. 9, 2015 From the print edition
Is this climate change-battered conifer migrating northward?
Is this climate change-battered conifer migrating northward?
Scientists in Alaska are mapping what may be the tip of yellow cedar’s expanding range.
Sarah Gilman Oct. 19, 2015
Claustrophilia: Do wide-open lands bring us closer together?
Claustrophilia: Do wide-open lands bring us closer together?
A writer finds that Colorado small-town life and Mongolian mishaps strengthen her human connections.
Sarah Gilman Essay Sept. 14, 2015 From the print edition
New interns and old errors
New interns and old errors
Get to know Paige Blankenbuehler and Gloria Dickie. Also, a correction and a clarification.
Sarah Gilman, Paige Blankenbuehler and Gloria Dickie Aug. 3, 2015 From the print edition
The Latest: Oregon governor passes ethics reforms
The Latest: Oregon governor passes ethics reforms
The new reforms bar governors’ partners from using their position for personal gain.
Sarah Gilman Aug. 3, 2015 From the print edition
Climate showdown on the Willamette in Oregon
Climate showdown on the Willamette in Oregon
Activists target shipping hubs to influence fossil fuel development in Alaska.
Sarah Gilman July 31, 2015
Private-land camping startups offer alternative to public lands
Private-land camping startups offer alternative to public lands
Airbnb-like websites spring up in response to overcrowded public campsites.
Sarah Gilman July 20, 2015 From the print edition
Hot times usher in early Northwest wildfire season
Hot times usher in early Northwest wildfire season
While Oregon and Washington broil, the Southwest and Southern Rockies enjoy a welcome reprieve of moisture
Sarah Gilman July 10, 2015
The sage grouse two-step
The sage grouse two-step
Massive federal sage grouse conservation plans strike a delicate balance.
Sarah Gilman June 22, 2015 From the print edition
The precious common
The precious common
Sarah Gilman June 8, 2015 From the print edition
Utah vastly overstating future water shortages
Utah vastly overstating future water shortages
State projections downplayed what conservation and agriculture can provide.
Sarah Gilman May 7, 2015
For rural Oregonians, protections from herbicides come up short
For rural Oregonians, protections from herbicides come up short
Aerial spray regs remain the West Coast’s weakest after the death of a key law.
Sarah Gilman April 29, 2015