Puget Sound Institute a Success

IJNR staff members and a group of 16 Fellows had a great time traveling around the Puget Sound Basin in early July. It was a jam-packed eight days, and the group covered a lot of ground! They met with tribal members, scientists and activists who are trying to clean up the heavily polluted Duwamish River. They learned about the problems linked to ocean acidification and decreased dissolved oxygen, and met with representatives of the shellfish industry. (And ate a lot of shellfish!) They heard from members of the Port Gamble S'Klallam tribe, and employees of the property group that owns the oldest company town in Washington. The Fellows spent three days in the Skagit Valley, talking with experts about salmon habitat, agricultural interests, development, and energy production. They explored the inner workings of the Diablo Dam, met farmers involved in a bilingual agricultural training program, ate gourmet strawberries right out of the field, visited an organic dairy operation, and toured wetlands restoration sites. The group visited NOAA's response and restoration team, and got up-close and personal with the critters at the Seattle Aquarium.

It was a great group of enthusiastic, dedicated journalists, who kept a good sense of humor and took everything in stride - even when the bus broke down on a steep and winding road! (Thanks to some kind locals, a good tow-truck company, and one fantastic bus driver, everything turned out OK.)

The Puget Sound Institute 2011 in photos:

Fellows meet with berry farmer Steve Sakuma, to discuss agriculture in the Skagit Valley, including the debate about organics, the loss of agricultural land, and an immigrant workforce. (Photo by Stephan Michaels)

The group meets with members of NOAA’s Response & Restoration team to discuss how to strengthen communication between scientists and journalists. (Photo by Stephan Michaels)

Inside Diablo Dam on the upper Skagit River, Fellows learn about hydropower production. (Photo by Melissa Mylchreest)

Fellows meet with members of the Duwamish tribe, as well as representatives of People for Puget Sounds and Puget Soundkeeper Alliance to learn about the environmental and health issues of the Duwamish River. (Photo by Melissa Mylchreest)

Fellows meet with research scientists and contemplate eelgrass at Pacific Northwest National Laboratories. (Photo by Melissa Mylchreest)

Other Recent and Upcoming Institutes

Asian Carp

In late September, 14 Fellows met in Chicago for a short-form Institute focused on Asian carp.  For three days, they examined newsworthy issues related to the voracious invasive species known as silver, black and bighead Asian carp. Brought to North America more than 30 years ago, Asian carp have rapidly spread throughout the Mississippi River Basin. Now they threaten to invade Lake Michigan by penetrating a network of human-built waterways in Chicago and perhaps through other routes — a situation that would have significant economic and ecological repercussions throughout the region. During the Institute, this group of journalists from throughout the Midwest met with scientists and experts, fishermen and naysayers, government agents and even a couple of chefs. (Yes, these brave Fellows dined on Asian carp. Yum yum!)

Energy Country

Energy for America: Markets, Fuels, Technologies and Politics; Fossil-Fuels Production in Ecologically Sensitive Places; Renewable and "Green" Sources of Energy: The Opportunities and the Obstacles; Connecting Climate and Energy: Science, Economics and Adaptations, and; Energy Perspectives from Indian Country

Postcards from IJNR Fellows...

Updates

Divya Abhat (Great Waters 2009) recently got married, and sent us these details: "My husband's name is Ashish, and we got married in Maryland. It was fairly small by Indian standards -- about a 100 people -- and rather than a white horse, Ashish drove up in a white convertible. That's our version of a 21st century horse, I suppose. " Congrats, Divya and Ashish!

Janine Benyus (High Country 1997, Pueblo Country 1998) has been awarded the prestigious Heinz Award for her work in biomimcry, and for founding Biomimicry 3.8. (Biomimicry is the cutting-edge field of science that mimics natural processes in order to find sustainable solutions in a wide array of fields, such as design, health care, environmental stewardship, and manufacturing.) She will use the $100k award to work on her next book, exploring further the core principles and ubiquitous designs found in nature.

Tasha Eichenseher (Great Waters 2011) and Kari Lydersen (Great Waters 2005, Energy Country 2008, Willamette Valley 2008, Beaver Islands 2010, Great Waters 2011) have both been awarded Ted Scripps Fellowships in Environmental Journalism from the University of Colorado School of Journalism & Mass Communication.  During the nine-month program, they'll hone their already-outstanding journalism skills via coursework, seminars, field trips, and independent projects.

Sharon Oosthoek (Great Waters 2009, Lake Country 2009, Great Waters 2011) was awarded a Logan Science Journalism Fellowship through the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. This prestigious fellowship allows journalists to "step into the shoes of the scientists they cover" by allowing them the opportunity to learn about biomedical and environmental research.
  
Carol Ann Basset (Pueblo Country 1998, Pacific Northwest 1999) was a finalist for this year's Sarah Winnemucca Award for Creative Nonfiction from the Oregon Book Awards. Her book Galapagos at the Crossroads: Pirates, Biologists, Tourists and Creationists Battle for Darwin's Cradle of Evolution explores the collisions between humans and the natural world in an island paradise.

Tom Henry (Great Waters 2003, Great Waters 2008, Lake Country 2009, Beaver Islands 2010) has been promoted to editorial writer at The Blade in Toledo, Ohio. On hearing this news, Frank Allen mused "I always had a hunch Tom was opinionated."

Craig Saunders (Great Waters 2008)  has left behind the world of journalism and is now working in a communications position at the Canadian Union of Public Employees. Of his new job he says "I will be fighting for the rights of healthcare workers, school custodial staff, ambulance drivers, university TAs and sessional staff, social workers, and the like."

Kathie Florsheim (Puget Sound 2009) had a photography show called "R 'n R: Selections from A Day at the Beach" at Shore Galleries in Provincetown, MA.

Kirk Siegler (Energy Country 2006) of KUNC Public Radio in Colorado was honored with not one but two Edward R. Murrow reporting awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association. He was recognized in the News Series category for his in-depth reporting project called "Roadblocks to Clean Energy," which explored energy issues in the west, and in the Breaking News category for his coverage of the destructive Four Mile Canyon wildfire.

Marilee Enge (Southern Cascadia 2002) has taken a new job as after spending four years at California Audubon. Of her new position she says: "I've taken a job editing and directing projects at Heyday Books, the non-profit publishing house that produces beautiful books on California culture, landscapes, literature, Native people and other subjects close to my heart." She was sure to add, in case we hadn't already guessed: "This is a move that makes me happy."

Raquel Maria Dillon (Southern Cascadia 2002) sent us news from LA: "In non-baby news, [see baby announcement below] I finally escaped the desk shift at the AP's LA bureau.  Now I'm a 'one-woman band' videojournalist, shooting and editing my own video.  (Well, I was until I realized that a pregnant lady lugging around a tripod was a bit of a spectacle... I went back to writing for the wire just before Simon came.)  The video gig suits me better than writing for the wire because I get to be out and about. We also bought a house in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of LA recently, started keeping bees and jumped on the backyard chicken bandwagon.  So it's been a productive year!"

Michelle Ma (Pacific Northwest 2007, Puget Sound 2009) has made a bold leap and left the world of newspaper reporting - at least for the time being!  She sends this update from a yurt in Washington's hinterlands: "I left my job as a digital producer at The Seattle Times at the end of July, and I'm now a student at the Wilderness Awareness School's Anake Outdoor School near Duvall, Wash. I'll be learning survival skills, native traditions, plant and animal identification, Pacific Northwest natural history, and ways to teach children and adults about the natural world. The school takes a very hands-on approach, so as we complete the naturalist and survivalist training course, we'll be taking week- and two-week-long field trips around the region, practicing our skills in animal tracking, shelter building, plant identification, and more. I'm hoping to use the year to fully immerse myself in the subjects and material -- kind of like the IJNR trips, which really got me appreciating what it's like to have concentrated time in the field. " You can follow Michelle's survivalist progress at mosstrotter.wordpress.com

Lisa Meerts (High Country 2007) sends news from New Hampshire: "I just began my MFA in non-fiction at the University of New Hampshire. I spent the last two years as a backpacking guide at a wilderness therapy program, which was a crazy experience that let me learn all kinds of things about myself. It also let me spend time in the Colorado woods and the Utah desert, and during those hours of staring at the sky, I asked myself, what comes next? Turns out, this. I'm excited because while many programs focus on memoir, this one has a much stronger narrative journalism focus. I think all but one of the non-fiction faculty are journalists. I also received a teaching assistantship, and am four weeks into teaching my first class of freshman. I believe it may not a somewhat non-traditional route, but I hope my experience here will launch me back into the journalism world. By the time I finish here, I'm supposed to have written a book (ha, ha!), which should be good experience."

Fellows Win Awards from SEJ

IJNR Fellows made quite a showing in this year's Society for Environmental Journalism's awards. In fact, they swept the Rachel Carson Book Award! Nice work, folks.

New Additions to the IJNR Extended Family

Raquel Maria Dillon (Southern Cascadia 2002) and her husband, Peter Stemwedel, celebrated the arrival of their son, Simon Oscar Stemwedel on July 13. Everybody is happy and healthy and enjoying life in LA! (See other news from Raquel above.

Pam Ferdinand (Acadian 2000), her husband Mark Thomas, and their three-year-old daughter  welcomed another little girl to their family. Anya Arwen Thomas arrived on May 22, with the sweetest little face and a full head of hair!

Adam Hinterthuer, IJNR's Associate Director of Expeditions Planning, is a proud papa all over again! He, his wife Carrie, and their daughter Brynn were thrilled by the arrival of Maggie Ryder Hinterthuer on June 2.

Support IJNR

A note to all Fellows: please keep an eye out for our summer/fall appeal letter. It has come to your email inbox once already, and it will be back again. These are tough financial times for everyone — including non-profits like IJNR — and we know that budgets are tight. But every little bit helps, and we are counting on our alumni — those of you who have hiked the trails, donned the waders, and mucked about in the dirt, and know what this organization is all about. We need your help.

For those of you who are friends, speakers, and supporters of IJNR: We strongly encourage your contributions as well. Now more than ever, IJNR — and the values it upholds — need your support.

The face of journalism is changing and growing, and newsrooms are still operating on a shoestring. Freelancers are scrambling. And yet at the same time, innovative news delivery - such as online multi-media platforms - are opening up a whole new world of in-depth environment reporting. As coverage increases and journalists utilize new methods of delivery, audiences expand and public knowledge increases. And, for better or worse, the number of environment stories that demand coverage seems to grow daily. Throughout all of it, IJNR's mission and methods remain vital: in-depth exploration, hands-on learning, issues-based immersion, face-to-face encounters with real people, real problems, and real solutions. Please help insure the future of IJNR, and the future of quality environment reporting.