Kylie Mohr
Kylie Mohr links wildfire science, policy and human stories across the American West, with a focus on how environmental change reshapes daily life. She is an interim news editor, correspondent and contributing editor at High Country News, and an award-winning freelance journalist whose work appears in major national outlets. Her reporting centers on wildfire, conservation, lands, water, wildlife, recreation and climate change.
Wildfire, risk and human consequences
Mohr treats wildfire first as a human risk story and then as an environmental one. She reports on people betting on wildfires through prediction markets, showing how financial speculation and online platforms turn natural disasters into a game and create new incentives around catastrophe. She writes about emergency services and the gaps that appear when language, infrastructure or planning break down, capturing what happens when help does not arrive in time.
Her coverage follows fire into communities and city edges, including how deadly urban-adjacent fires affect wildlife and reshape relationships between residents and animals. She documents the experience of people trapped by fast-moving blazes and the decisions they face on short, dangerous timelines.
Across these pieces, she connects individual stories to broader systems of preparedness, communication and policy, giving wildfire coverage a clear social and institutional frame.
Science-rich reporting on fire and climate
Mohr anchors much of her work in scientific research and field studies. She writes about fire as an evolutionary force, showing how repeated burns push animals to adapt in behavior, physiology or movement patterns.
She covers wildfires thawing tundra and burning away snowpack, explaining how these changes alter water supplies, soil and future fire behavior.
Her stories follow phenomena like pink snow and smoke-darkened snowfields, translating niche climate and hydrology work into clear consequences for communities, ecosystems and seasonal rhythms. She reports on how fire interacts with permafrost, alpine environments and high-elevation forests, often using detailed interviews with scientists and on-the-ground observation.
The tone stays precise and accessible, with technical details used to support, not overwhelm, the narrative.
Western lands, wildlife and conservation
Beyond fire, Mohr writes widely about Western wildlife and conservation. She covers Colorado wolves on the move and the complex management questions that accompany their return, including conflict, coexistence and shifting public attitudes. She explores how human interactions change wolf pack dynamics and what that means for broader ecosystem health.
Her work includes pieces on elk “dialects,” snowy owls on tundra landscapes, and other species whose behavior reflects specific places and histories. She traces how recreation, hunting, tourism and development intersect with habitat protection, showing how policy decisions and everyday use of public lands shape wildlife outcomes.
In her national parks coverage, she moves between iconic parks and lesser-known areas, tying visitor experience to conservation priorities and management decisions.
Format, voice and reach across outlets
Mohr’s work spans reported features, Q&As, explanatory pieces and essays. At High Country News, she writes magazine stories and online coverage that blend narrative reporting with clear explanation, often drawing out voices from firefighters, scientists, local officials and residents living with fire and climate change.
She also conducts in-depth interviews, such as conversations with wildfire “hotshots” whose memoirs and careers sit at the edge of risk and endurance.
Her reporting is regularly republished or adapted for other outlets, including science and general-interest publications that highlight her environment coverage. She serves as a contributing national parks editor for a regional outlet, extending her focus on Western landscapes into travel and park-specific coverage. Her bylines include National Geographic, The Atlantic, The New York Times, Outside Magazine, The Guardian, Grist, E&E News/POLITICO, Vox, CNN, NPR, CBS News, Hakai Magazine, Deseret Magazine, Business Insider, Popular Science and others.
Mohr is an award-winning journalist whose work has been recognized by multiple journalism organizations focused on environmental and general reporting. She is active in professional networks for environmental and outdoor writers and frequently speaks in classrooms, workshops and radio programs about wildfire, conservation and science communication. Across beats and formats, her distinguishing trait is a consistent focus on the intersection of fire, science, policy and people in the contemporary West.
4 more environment journalists.
Alan Halaly
Alan Halaly is a water reporter at the Las Vegas Review-Journal who treats the Colorado River as a working system, not a backdrop, making its governance, infrastructure and risks central to his beat. He covers how policy decisions and infrastructure projects shape the region’s water future, linking high-level choices on the Colorado River, dams, mining and data centers to everyday consequences under mounting heat and growth pressures. He reports deeply on new laws, lawsuits and regulatory shifts, focusing on on-the-ground impacts. His coverage spans Colorado River cuts, Hoover Dam operations, extreme weather, heat and parks, septic system rules, workplace and public health risks, lithium and gold mines, protected landscapes, data centers, AI infrastructure and public funding. Previously he reported for metropolitan dailies, digital outlets and public media, including the Miami Herald, WUFT, The Daily Beast and Miami New Times, with work recognized by Hearst, ONA and the Society of Environmental Journalists.
Alejandra Borunda
Alejandra Borunda reports on how climate change affects human health for NPR. Her work treats global warming as a direct cause of physical and mental health risks. She covers extreme heat, including undercounted deaths, lost sleep and local efforts to track heat-related fatalities. She also reports on wildfire smoke, hurricanes, disease spread such as dengue fever, trauma, stress and unequal health impacts. Her stories examine how communities protect themselves and recover, as well as practical solutions involving climate-resilient crops, agriculture and diet. Before NPR, she wrote about climate science and environmental issues for National Geographic, including glacier retreat, shade and heat inequity, and shrinking ice-fishing seasons. A former climate scientist, she combines field reporting with scientific data to connect atmospheric research to everyday risks, choices and people’s lived experiences.
Alex Lubben
Alex Lubben is an environment reporter at The Times-Picayune/The Advocate who connects climate risk to policy, industry and community change. He covers Gulf warming, flood protection, coastal restoration, wetlands litigation, industrial projects such as SpaceX’s possible expansion, invasive species and local ecosystems. His reporting tracks how law, politics and corporate decisions shape levees, drainage, marshes and long-term resilience. He also examines climate relocation, housing and labor, showing how hurricanes, floods and wildfires displace vulnerable communities and expose gaps in government systems. He works on a small environment team and brings an investigative background to document work, data analysis, legal and policy research, and field reporting. His work has appeared in VICE News, The Center for Public Integrity, The Nation, Jewish Currents and NBC News.
Alex Wigglesworth
Alex Wigglesworth reports on how climate, land use and public policy shape California communities. She covers the Inland Empire and Mojave Desert for the Los Angeles Times and is part of its environment team. Her beat includes wildfires, megadrought, extreme weather, desert development, conservation, wildlife, industrial hazards, aging infrastructure and regulatory enforcement. She has covered Western Joshua trees, desert tortoises, beaver-led restoration, toxic lead pipes, air-quality concerns after industrial fires and the effects of nuclear war on food systems. Earlier, she was a general assignment reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com. She combines breaking news with detailed reporting grounded in scientific studies, modeling and expert interviews. Her work connects fires, drought and other hazards to climate change, while examining how agencies, companies and land-use decisions affect people and ecosystems.