DEADLINE: The Puget Sound Institute for Journalism & Natural Resources

Application Deadline: June 2

 

What Future for the Puget Sound Estuary?

Effects, Consequences and Adaptations

Where to Live-and How to Get Around

 

The Opportunities and the Obstacles

Lessons from Wild Salmon, Struggling Orcas

How Can Journalists Tell the Stories Better?

 

IJNR, the Institutes for Journalism & Natural Resources, is inviting applications for its Puget Sound Institute, a nine-day journey through parts of northwest Washington that will examine a variety of newsworthy topics. The program will start and end in Seattle. Program content is relevant to journalists who work in the Pacific Northwest and throughout North America. IJNR expects to award Fellowships to as many as 16 competitively selected reporters, editors and producers. Journalists of all ages, geographies, newsroom experiences and personal backgrounds who currently work as employees or freelance contributors for newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations and networks, and online news outlets are welcome to apply.

 

Participants will fly over the Puget Sound estuary in two 10-passenger Otters to gain a broader perspective of the regional patterns of growth and economic development. Traveling by bus, on foot and in chartered vessels and kayaks, they will explore informative sites-from Seattle's Magnolia Bluff and Elliott Bay to Nisqually Estuary, Snoqualmie Pass, Skagit Valley and the San Juan Islands. Near Shelton, they will gather clams at low tide with commercial harvesters and members of Squaxin tribe. Along the fringe of the metropolitan area, they will observe development activities that illustrate current conditions, practices and conflicts. The group will visit federal, state, tribal and private lands devoted to such uses as forestry, farming, fisheries, industrial production, residential communities, transportation corridors and storm-water management. Along the way, they will encounter more than 40 experts as presenters, interpreters and hosts who represent a broad and balanced spectrum of experiences and viewpoints. Presenters will include biologists, estuarine ecologists, climate scientists, urban planners, government regulators, industry and business leaders, farmers, commercial fishing families, resource managers, tribal elders and advocates for conservation and preservation.

 

Designed by journalists for journalists, IJNR's programs emphasize the importance of context and perspective in coverage of the environment, natural resources, development and communities. To date, IJNR has conducted 40 learning expeditions in North America (including 18 in the Northwest), benefiting more than 500 journalists. IJNR encourages better reporting and storytelling in order to increase public awareness and understanding. IJNR Fellowship awards cover all field expenses, including meals, lodging, chartered bus and equipment fees. If necessary, a modest stipend is available for help with travel expenses to and from Seattle-this program's hub city. Newsrooms are expected to cover salaries while participants are "on assignment" during the program. Journalists are not expected to use vacation days or comp time to attend.

 

Co-sponsors of this program include the Brainerd Foundation, Russell Family Foundation, Hewlett Foundation and Foundation for Puget Sound, plus more than 200 journalists who made donations after participating in similar IJNR expeditions. IJNR also receives funding from more than 20 other organizations that represent a broad range of interests. IJNR maintains editorial independence in all of its programming and decision-making.