Former Fellows Updates

David Baron (1998-1999), author of The Beast in the Garden, on mountain lion-human interaction in Colorado's Front Range, reports that Boston's PBS station, WGBH, has optioned the movie rights to the book. WGBH, which produces a third of all national public television programming including NOVA, Frontline, and American Experience, wants to produce a feature film for broadcast and theatrical release. David currently splits his time between Boulder and Boston where he oversees coverage of global health and development at the radio program The World. Last fall he traveled to Equatorial Guinea to report on malaria control and endangered monkeys. In January, David was in New York to accept a duPont-Columbia Award, broadcasting's equivalent of the Pulitzer, on behalf of The World. The prize was awarded for the show's series on the science and ethics of stem cell research globally. The series is also being recognized with a National Journalism Award for Excellence in Electronic Media/Radio, presented by the Scripps Howard Foundation at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on April 21. The foundation's press release says, "This comprehensive radio report offered a primer on stem cell research, as the interests of science, medicine, politics and religion converge and conflict in the ethical debate over their use. The four-part series examined scientific progress on the research and dramatically different attitudes and practices in China, Israel, Britain and America."

Jennifer Bowles (1998-1999) continues to cover the environment in Southern California's Inland Empire for the Riverside Press-Enterprise. Her beat has held some intriguing stories of late, including how a developer of a massive housing project dug up an old World War II fighter that crashed during a training run in 1942 and is now using the federal Superfund law to sue the Army for not completely cleaning up the munitions; and the steps Hollywood takes to avoid harming endangered wildlife while filming TV shows, commercials and movies in the California desert. A Ralph Lauren ad, for instance, appeared to be shot in the middle of a field of Joshua trees but in fact the model was standing at the edge of a parking lot at Joshua Tree National Park. And speaking of Joshua trees, Jennifer has also reported on how invasive plants are taking over the desert and threatening to change the entire ecosystem by pushing out Joshua trees and other native plants because the invaders sprout faster after fires, in turn encouraging more and larger fires.

Paula Dobbyn (1998-1999), who's still reporting for the Anchorage Daily News, has traveled far afield of Alaska lately. In November she went to Ireland to scout out graduate school programs, then to Panama in February for a winter sun break. There she visited Isla Barro Colorado, a tropical forestry research island owned by the Smithsonian Institution where "we saw tons of tropical birds as well as howler and white-faced monkeys. We also did touristy things like taking a tour boat through a couple of locks in the Panama Canal." On the way to Panama, Paula stopped off in Boulder where she stayed with CEJ co-director Len Ackland and his wife Carol for a few days, enjoying time with former Scripps fellows in the area as well as friends she met during her fellowship. Paula was engaged in November; she met her fiance during her fellowship in Boulder. They plan to spend a year in Ireland starting in August, when she will begin grad school. Paula says she is "excited about taking a year off from daily journalism and going back to school again, after a very long time away."

Sam Eaton (2004-2005), who was hired by American Public Media's Marketplace last October to head up the radio show's newly launched Sustainability Desk, was immediately sent to China to report several features ahead of the show's two weeks of live broadcasting from China. He writes that he "covered thousands of miles in a week and a half, visiting everything from gleaming innovation centers near Hong Kong and Shanghai to one of the world's most polluted cities, Taiyuan, where coal dust covers pretty much everything... the flip side of breakneck economic growth. It sure makes it nice to come home to a place like Boulder."

Dan Glick (2000-2001) will be heading to Algeria in September as a Knight International Press Fellow. He will spend 4 months working with Algerian print journalists while living in Algiers with his two kids. In the meantime, Dan continues to cover environmental issues in the West and beyond. Recent stories have appeared in National Geographic on lynx reintroduction in Colorado (January 2006), and the effects of drought on Glen Canyon in Utah (April 2006). Dan also has a piece in the current issue of Audubon on the Mexican gray wolf reintroduction on the White Mountain Apache Tribe reservation in Arizona. In April he is off to Indonesia on assignment from National Geographic to report on gold mining, part of a larger story on the subject that will appear next year.

Todd Hartman (1998-1999) is back on the environment beat full time at the Rocky Mountain News after a year-long hiatus dominated by reporting on a variety of controversies at the University of Colorado, and Homeland Security. Todd managed to get some environmental issues covered nonetheless, producing lengthy stories on conflicts over oil and gas drilling; growing interest in alternative fuels, including ethanol; growth in recycling in the Denver region; the legacy left by a massively polluted corporate hog farm; and struggles with the state's auto-emissions testing program. Todd says, "I love to hear what my fellow Scripps fellows have been up to," so keep the updates coming.

Rebecca Huntington (2001-2002) will be leaving her job as public lands reporter at the Jackson Hole News & Guide in April to begin a freelance career with an emphasis on environmental and science writing. During the past year at the News & Guide, she won first place for in-depth reporting from the Wyoming Press Association for an explanatory piece on the complex management and demands for water on the upper Snake River drainage. She also won second place in the National Newspaper Association's Better Newspaper Contest in 2005 for best breaking news story for an article about a Jackson accountant who calculated the risks of skiing in avalanche terrain in pursuit of fresh snow but ultimately died in an avalanche.

Dave Mayfield (2000-2001) is regional issues editor for the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk where he supervises six writers, including the paper's environmental reporter. Dave and his family enjoyed a two-week vacation to Italy last summer and are looking forward to time on the coast of Maine during the summer ahead.

Kim McGuire (2003-2004), who became the environment reporter at the Denver Post not long after her fellowship ended, is engaged to the paper's regional editor, Todd Stone. Kim and Todd worked together in Arkansas before both became transplants to the Rocky Mountain West. They are planning a summer 2007 wedding in Estes Park, Colo.

Michael Milstein (1997-1998) and his wife welcomed son Daniel in November 2004. He's just begun to toddle around, Michael writes, and "he is keeping us very busy." As a Portland-based environment writer for the Oregonian, Michael continues to cover plenty of endangered species and forest issues. A big story he recently wrote on declining numbers of hunters and anglers, bringing about reduced funding for conservation, gained a lot of local interest.

Susan Moran (2001-2002) is teaching magazine writing at CU this semester, as well as keeping a freelance career going with stories in The Economist, The New York Times, 5280 magazine, Newsweek, and other publications. Susan writes mostly about the environment and business/technology, and where they often overlap. Check out her recent articles in The Economist on "The Greening of the U.S. Armed Forces" (December 2005), and a story on Rocky Flats, the former nuclear weapons production plant near Denver (Spring 2004).

Paul Tolme (2000-2001) is currently spending several weeks in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he says it's hot, and they've got a lot of coffee. The editors of National Wildlife recently awarded Paul the Trudy Farrand and John Strohm Magazine Writing Award, an honor bestowed annually by NWF for the best writing in the magazine. Paul got the award for his article "It's the Emissions, Stupid" (April/May 2005), which highlighed strategies for combating global warming pollution. You can find a link to the article on Paul's web site, under 'environment.' Paul also published a story recently on wolverines for Defenders magazine.

Nadia White (2004-2005) is living in Missoula, Montana, where she is freelancing, working on a book about brucellosis (the subject of her fellowship project), and writing for an education think tank. She recently participated in a 10-day "Salmon Country" expedition along the coast of Oregon, sponsored by Institutes for Journalism and Natural Resources. The impact of population growth and dams on salmon was a central focus of the program, during which Nadia and other journalists met commercial fishermen, biologists, canneries folks, law professors and other parties with a stake in salmon issues. In addition to learning many details about a subject in which she had no previous expertise, Nadia writes that "the shape of the problem and how the dialog had shifted, how unlikly alliances came to be forged over time -- those broader lessons learned were also quite interesting."

Ted Wood (2001-2002) writes, "I am now an officially censored photojournalist in Wyoming!!" The project he started during his Ted Scripps Fellowship on the coal bed methane boom in Wyoming recently bore fruit, as well as notoriety, for Ted. An exhibit of his photos opened earlier this year at the gallery of the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming's Powder River basin. The show, "The New Gold Rush: Images of Coalbed Methane," which features Ted's work and that of three other photographers, was scheduled to travel to the Nicolaysen Art Museum in Casper, Wyoming's largest museum. But after pressure from the energy industry, the museum cancelled the show. This created a huge press interest, says Ted, and the effort backfired. The show is now booked two years out, and will travel throughout the Rockies and to the coasts. For more on the controversy, see the Casper Star-Tribune's article and the story from Planet Jackson Hole. Ted is headed back to Mongolia in July, where he will be putting the final touches on a second set of map/guides and postcards to promote responsible tourism in Mongolia's national parks, a project sponsored by the non-profit organization he co-founded, Conservation Ink.