5 minute read
A writer goes wild.......Donna Fairchild
A writer ^oee W|Lp
Huxlay qrad f\Y\de a career
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In the snow above Baker Lake in the Smoky Mountains west of Ketchum. Photo courtesy Bruce Whiting
By Donna Fairchild
During his tenure as editor of the Planet, Niels Nokkenvedt shapedthemagazineintoacritical environmental publication. While adding photographs, he changed the direction of the magazine from a preachy approach to one with high standards ofjournalistic quality.
His time atWesternWashington University, from 1985 to 1987(whenhegraduatedmagna cum laude), prepared Niels for his current career as full-time reporteronthe TwinFalls (Idaho) Times-News. He credits his background here for sharpening skills that have already earned him several awards: a first place award for investigative reporting from the Idaho Press Club and the Associated Press Regional Award, both for detailedcritiquesofthenuclearpowered Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. He recently received a second place award from the Idaho Press Club for critical reporting on an Air Force proposal to expand a bombing rangeusinglive ammunitionnear beautiful river canyons teeming with wildlife.
A personal interview with Niels iswhat I preferred, butI settledfor a series oftelephone interviews. I wanted to learnhowhe hadtaken thebigstepfromstudenteditorto practicingenvironmentalJournalist. Friends looked at me curiously when I had expressed my desire to return to college as a Huxley student. “Whydo you feel you need special trainingtobe an environmentalwriter?” theyasked. The question forced me to take a hard look at my goals and to review my decision. Certainly my degreewon’tguaranteeacareerin the field, but will it provide me with opportunities I would not have otherwise.
Niels answered my question when he said that his degree in environmental studies made all the difference, but that was only the first step. The depth of our discussion told me the rest.
He credits Lyle Harris, professor of journalism, for steering him to Huxley for a discipline to addtojournalism. Nielswasready to move into the environment. His interest in the wonders of nature began when he was 9, sitting on a mountainside with his family in Calgary, Alberta.
“We were watching a deer at the edge of a pond through our binocularswhenastreakoftawny brown flashed across thelens. A cougar had attacked the deer and dragged it into the brush. Dad said this violent-looking act was really nature’s way of balancing itself. His explanation made sense to me. From that moment my attraction to nature increasedmydesiretoprotect all wildlife.”
Niels lives in a strikinglybeautiful but rugged area ofAmerica, one of few left for the public to enjoy.WhenI askedhimifhisjob titlewas environmentalreporter, he answered that he more accurately could be called a natural resources reporter. He writes, amongotherthings,aboutcattlegrazing issues, hydropower and nuclear energy issues.
“Huxleystudies opened up the integrated web of natural systems,” Niels said. “Through my
systems ecology course I was able to see how cattle, in overgrazing the abundance of sweet grasses in the West, stimulated the takeover of sagebrush.”
A recent article covered the challenge of managing 9 million acres of roadless areas in the hisway. Iwasgladtoseearecent major feature by Niels in High Country News.”
Niels said that Michael Frome continues to be an inspiration, becauseheemphasizesthatwriters should notbe afraid to take a stand on issues they believe are
He was serious about his writing, modest with a wry sense of humor; his potential was obvious. — Lyle Harris
national forests of Idaho.
TheIdahostatelegislaturehad approved $150,000 for amediator to conduct negotiations with interest groups from areas such aslivestock, mining, timber, recreation and wilderness.
A committee of negotiators made ground rules to keep the doors closed to the press. Niels went to the meeting, reminding them of the right of the press to be there. He said the land belonged to the people and the studywas funded by the public.
Niels discovered thatthenegotiators were totally unprepared formakingdecisions. Thetimber representative had no idea how manyboard feetwere under discussion; the livestock negotiator didn’t know the grazing area; and the mining negotiator didn’t knowwhatwasatstake. “Ifthat’s thewaythey’regoingtoact,” said Niels, “thepublicneeds toknow.”
Niels stayedatHuxleyanextra quarter to study environmental journalism under the direction ofMichaelFrome. I askedMichael how he was able to build a teacher-studentrelationshipduring only one term.
“Niels organized my files in a work-studyprogram, andwehad long talks,” Michael said. “He showedadesire tolearnandwas committed towritingwell. I nominated him for an award as the outstanding scholar for 198788, and he won it. He is now on important. “If I dig up information and supply it to the public,” Niels said, “itmaybethe popular sentiment.”
In addition, a rhetoric course he completed through the English Department helped him to write a persuasive argument by choosinganissue,takingastand and writing his point of view.
When I asked Niels for suggestions to students searching for direction in their lives, he said, “Spend time alone -- find yourself. Discoverwhatyoucareabout -- do it. If it’s writing you care about, write for the reader — put people in your stories.”
Lyle Harris brightened when I talked with him about Niels. “He was serious about his writing, modest with a wry sense of humor; his potential was obvious,” Harris said.
That sense of humor was displayedwhenNiels admitted, with aself-consciouslaugh, thatblack bear, coyote, deer, field mouse, Herefordbull, cougar,badgerand other animal skulls are on displaythroughouthishome. “Ilearn about wildlife through studying the skulls, the structure of the jaws and the size and shape of teeth, so I don’t need experts to tell me about the relationship between animals and their environment.” NowNiels istheexpert and amodel for student environmentsd journalists.
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