High Country News and Report for America are seeking local and statewide newsrooms to build an environmental reporting network for the Western U.S. 

We’re calling this partnership the Western Environmental Reporting Collaborative, or WERC for short. Partner newsrooms will host full-time reporters dedicated to covering topics that are near and dear to Westerners’ hearts, including public and private lands, wildlife and water, and wildfire and drought, with a focus on rural and Indigenous communities.

Report for America and High Country News will cover 50% of corps member salaries in Year 1 (up to $27,500), 33% in Year 2 and 20% in an optional Year 3, and provide business development and fundraising support to help you cover the rest. We will also provide mentorship and support for reporters, access to in-house editors and expertise, and meetups and training sessions to help reporters build their networks and expertise.

The project will launch  in July of 2026 with six reporters embedded at newsrooms in six states: Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Nevada and Colorado. Over the next three years, we plan to expand to cover 12 Western states, with additional reporters covering federal agencies, Congress and the White House for readers in our communities.

The deadline for newsrooms to apply is October 20.

How it will work

Participating newsrooms will employ and supervise the reporters, who will spend roughly 2/3 of their time reporting on issues determined by your organization to be of importance to local and statewide audiences. Their remaining time will be spent working with HCN editors on regional stories and and cross-newsroom collaborations, and deepening their knowledge of topics such as public lands policy, Western water law and Indigenous land and treaty rights. All reporting produced by reporters in the collaborative will be available to every participating news organization for republication at no cost.

You get a full-time staff reporter dedicated to issues that are vitally important to readers of all backgrounds plus a support system that helps reporters succeed and grow, amplifies stories for larger audiences, and helps you generate revenue to sustain this important work. 

• In addition to covering a portion of reporters’ salaries, Report For America will offer fundraising and business development support to help newsrooms cover their portion of reporter salaries during – and after – the three-year corps experience. Last year, 55% of RFA corps members stayed with their local employers after their corps time was over. 

• High Country News will provide a full-time Partnerships Editor to work directly with reporters and coordinate regionwide collaborations. Editors on our Science & Climate and Indigenous Affairs teams will be available to work on stories within their areas of expertise. Our marketing team will help push stories to Westwide and national audiences, including influential readers in statehouses and Washington, D.C. And our fundraising staff will help connect you with local and regional funders.

• Report for American and High Country News will help recruit applicants for the positions, and Report for America will do an initial vetting of applicants. Most will be early in their careers, but there is additional funding available for more experienced reporters, and you’ll have an opportunity to identify preferred applicants who have already built trust with your audiences.

For more information, contact Gretchen King, High Country News Executive Editor, at gretchen.king@hcn.org.

About High Country News

High Country News is an independent, reader-supported nonprofit 501(c)3 media organization that covers the important issues and stories that define the Western United States. Our mission is to inform and inspire people to act on behalf of the West’s diverse natural and human communities.

For more than 50 years, High Country News (HCN) has produced incisive public-interest journalism about a region that spans 12 states and hundreds of tribal nations. From small towns and rural communities to the urban populace, we cover westerners’ complex coexistence with sublime landscapes, scarce water resources, and rich natural ecosystems.

From its early days in Lander, Wyoming, HCN has been powered by its readers, who provide three-quarters of the organization’s annual revenue. In addition to their subscription dues, over 5,000 readers make donations each year, which directly supports our journalists.

With a homebase in Paonia, Colorado, a staff of 30, and a far-flung community of freelance journalists, HCN reaches an audience of millions through our monthly print magazine and our website; partnerships with hundreds of local newspapers and statewide news sites that republish our work at no cost; collaborations with national news organizations such as The New York Times, the Pulitzer Center and ProPublica; and content-sharing consortiums including the Rural News Network and Climate Desk.

Learn more about HCN and our remarkable history here.

About Report for America

Report for America is a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. It is structured to harness the skills and idealism of an emerging group of journalists plus the creative spirit of local news organizations.

We have two application periods. In one, news organizations make the case that they have urgent gaps in coverage and a plan to deploy the Report for America corps member. In the second, talented emerging journalists apply to serve these communities.

Report for America pays about half the salary. The other half is paid by the local news organization but we work with them to raise half of their half from local donors, small and large.

The Report for America corps members get world class training, at the beginning of the term and throughout the service years. The term is a two-year commitment between the corps member and newsroom with an option for a third year.

Learn more about becoming a host newsroom here.