EBS STAFF
This past September, members of the Mountain Outlaw magazine team bundled tight against the brisk September chills on Lake Aleknagik, roughly 20 miles inland from the town of Dillingham and not far from Bristol Bay, a massive saltwater expanse hugged by the remote Aleutian Islands and mainland Alaska.
There, thousands of miles from their homes in southwest Montana, they observed a magnificent area; a place that’s home to more than half the world’s sockeye salmon.
Similar to many animals, ecosystems and ways of life in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, those salmon are delicate and battling a complex fight for existence—a mining project dubbed the Pebble Mine threatens to cripple the salmon fishery by excavating some 1.5 billion tons of gold, copper and molybdenum from beneath the crust.
But the fight is on, both here and in Alaska, and in this 10th anniversary edition of Mountain Outlaw magazine you’ll find evidence of a thread that connects us with the great wilds of North America.
Writer Todd Wilkinson details the 25 years since the controversial reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park, arguably restoring balance to a food chain on the precipice of running amok.
Readers get insight into Chef Eduardo Garcia’s quest to tie the natural, and sometimes painful, beauty of the northern Rockies together with food and family.
Turn the page, and we find a story by former EBS staffer Bay Stephens on a ski-maker’s mission to build skis sustainably.
And Alex Sakariassen’s feature on how two Montana groups are working to tackle the opioid crisis gripping the nation reminds us that we are but one people with shared principles, philosophies and a craving for the unexplored. We must rely on each other, despite distances and differences.
Between the covers you’ll find a universe of written word and imagery that seeks to explore, as the cover header reads, “life, land and culture from the heart of the Yellowstone region.”
“For 10 years, Mountain Outlaw has served as a celebration of this area,” said Editor-in-Chief Joseph T. O’Connor. “But it’s also an attempt to unpack our place in the country and world at large. This magazine is a way for us to help create dialog in the Greater Yellowstone and beyond.”
This holiday season, Outlaw Partners is proud to bring the latest Mountain Outlaw magazine to our dedicated readership. We wish you good reading for good tidings and a winter full of outdoor adventures.
