Joseph T. O'Connor
Managing Editor
Mountain Journal
Joseph T. O’Connor is Mountain Journal’s Managing Editor. He has an extensive background in multimedia storytelling including writing, editing, video broadcast and investigative journalism. Joe most recently served as Editor-in-Chief for Mountain Outlaw magazine and the Explore Big Sky newspaper in Big Sky, Montana. He has published work in several publications from the East Coast to California, including Newsweek, CNN, and Skiing magazine, among others. Joe moved to Montana in 2012 after taking graduate journalism courses at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. More by Joseph T. O’Connor
Contributors
Robert Chaney
Robert Chaney grew up in western Montana and has spent most of his journalism career writing about the Rocky Mountain West, its people, and their environment. His book The Grizzly in the Driveway earned a 2021 Society of Environmental Journalists Rachel Carson Award. In Montana, Chaney has written, photographed, edited and managed for the Hungry Horse News, Bozeman Daily Chronicle, Missoulian and Montana Free Press. He studied political science at Macalester College and has won numerous awards for his writing and photography, including fellowships at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University and the National Evolutionary Science Center at Duke University. More by Robert Chaney
Sophie Tsairis
Sophie Tsairis is a freelance writer based in Bozeman, Montana. She earned a master’s degree in environmental journalism from the University of Montana in 2017. More by Sophie Tsairis
Ben Goldfarb
Ben Goldfarb is an environmental journalist whose work has appeared in National Geographic, The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, and many other publications. He is the author of Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet, named one of the best books of 2023 by The New York Times, and Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, winner of the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. He lives in Colorado with his wife, Elise, and his dog, Kit—which is, of course, what you call a baby beaver. More by Ben Goldfarb
David Tucker
David Tucker is a freelance journalist covering conservation, recreation and the environment in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. More by David Tucker
Susan Marsh
Susan Marsh spent three decades with the U.S. Forest Service and is today an award-winning writer living in Jackson Hole. More by Susan Marsh
Brigid Mander
Brigid Mander is a freelance writer based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where she covers adventure sports and travel as well as conservation and wildlife preservation issues. She is a contributing editor at Backcountry Magazine, and frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, among other publications. More by Brigid Mander
Keely Larson
Keely Larson writes about water, health policy and the environment in Montana. Her work has been published in The New Republic, U.S. News & World Report and Montana Free Press among other outlets. She graduated from the University of Montana in 2023 with a master’s degree in environmental journalism. More by Keely Larson
Madison Dapcevich
Madison Dapcevich’s reporting focuses on marine and environmental issues, climate change, and the intersection of policy and natural resource conflicts. Her writing has been featured in Time, Snopes, Business Insider, Outside, EcoWatch, Alaska Magazine, and NBC, among others. Raised on an island in southeast Alaska, Madison is now based in Missoula, Montana. More by Madison Dapcevich
Mark DeGraff
Mark DeGraff is a freelance environmental journalist. He graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2025 with a master’s degree in science communication. More by Mark DeGraff