Writers on the Range
The opinion service to publications all over the West began with foundation help in Montana in 1994, but the two founders, Karl Hess and John Baden, threw up their hands after four years and offered it to High Country News, in 1998 for free. The paper, then led by Ed and Betsy Marston, thought twice about adding something new that would require money and person-power to restart.
Dave Marston
But HCN contributor John McBride contributed $34,000 to give the opinion service liftoff, and staffer Paul Larmer, who would go on to become executive director at HCN, was picked in 1998 to cultivate grassroots Westerners to write about Western issues.
A CHANGING OF THE GUARD
In 2002, after nearly two decades at the helm, Publisher and Editor Ed and Betsy Marston decided to step down. Longtime staffer Paul Larmer became publisher, and Greg Hanscom took over as editor. Together with Art Director Cindy Wehling, they turned the black-and-white tabloid into a full-color magazine that celebrated the beauty and exposed the ugliness of the West.
This included deep reporting on the region’s extractive industries. The 2000s brought an unprecedented oil and gas boom, spurred by $100/barrel oil prices and new hydro-fracking technology that enabled producers to tap new reservoirs of hydrocarbons. George W. Bush’s industry-friendly appointees opened the doors to new development on public lands.