There’s nothing like gathering with family and friends and enjoying the fruits of the harvest. HCNers love get-togethers, so here’s a few recent ones.
Way back in May — ancient history now — the editorial and design teams assembled at the B Bar Ranch in Montana’s Tom Miner Basin, on Yellowstone National Park’s northern border. The ranch is owned by longtime HCN reader and supporter Maryanne Mott, whose late husband, Herman Warsh, a board member in the 1980s, seeded our internship endowment and other education programs. The B Bar runs an organic beef operation that practices regenerative ranching.
During our retreat, we saw moose, sandhill cranes — even grizzly bears (from a comfortable distance). We hung out on the ranch house porch, sharing stories, setting goals and talking about ways to do everything better. (Your thoughts and suggestions are always welcome! Email us at editor@hcn.org.)
That same month, the fundraising team headed to Paonia, HCN’s western Colorado hometown, for a few days of brainstorming and fun. Occasionally, customer service and editorial colleagues joined us, offering some of us the first chance to meet in person. All that, plus local cherries and cider — what could be better?
The retreat gave us a chance to slow down, review where we are and where we’re going, and celebrate our shared passion for HCN. We balanced energizing discussions about work with creative exercises that captured who we are as a team and everything we want to do for HCN and the West.
That same week, a small group celebrated our recently retired art director, Cindy Wehling, who is clearly enjoying spending time in her glorious garden. We calculated that among the five people at the dinner table, we’d spent a combined 150 years working at HCN — no time off for good behavior.
In-person gatherings require logistical acrobatics when your staff is scattered across the West. But evenings around a campfire and conversations over dinner nourish the soul, especially at a time when the West, and the news business, face enormous challenges, both from within and without.
Praise for HCN’s Indigenous Affairs reporting
The Indigenous Journalists Association held its annual gathering in Albuquerque in August, and HCN staff and contributors were frequently onstage, as panelists and emcees and — congratulations! — honorees.
We received 10 Indigenous Media Awards, including special recognition for an investigation into state trust lands on reservations by HCN Associate Editor Anna V. Smith and contributor Maria Parazo Rose, a spatial data analyst. Published in collaboration with Grist, it’s part of a larger project that won this year’s Richard La Course Award — a high honor!
Staff writer B. “Toastie” Oaster won third place in “Best environmental coverage” for their reporting on the climate and environmental obstacles faced by Northwestern Indigenous communities, plus second place for best editorial for a thoughtful piece about covering sacred sites in a respectful way.
Top honors for longform magazine writing went to HCN contributors, one for a piece about a new DNA technique that could help families of missing and murdered Indigenous people and another about tribes’ role in decommissioning Klamath River dams.
And photography wasn’t forgotten: prizes for images of tree sitters in Oregon, an Indigenous celebration of Hanford, fish camps on the Yukon, an Indigenous-led native plants movement, and a group creating a place for Alaska Natives to harvest, preserve and share salmon and other traditional foods.
To top it off, Indigenous Affairs Editor Sunnie Clahchischiligi was elected incoming board president of the Indigenous Journalists Association. (Sunnie was recently a guest on a podcast produced by the Institute for Independent Journalists. Listen to it here).
Needless to say, we’re all very proud!
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 October 2025 print edition of the magazine with the headline “A season of grizzlies and get-togethers.”
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