Creating the covers for our print magazine is both a joy and a challenge at High Country News. Every month, we ask ourselves: What is universal enough to represent the themes found throughout this issue? What, exactly, are we trying to say? What combination of image and text will encourage people to keep HCN on their coffee tables, ready to pick up and peruse throughout the month? How can we stand out amid the flurry of media shouting for our attention?
Most of the time, our visuals editor, Roberto (Bear) Guerra, begins by combing through all the photos and illustrations we already have for the stories scheduled for the issue, keeping in mind what’s been assigned but not yet come in. Next, Art Director Cindy Wehling gets to work on mockups, and then we go through the candidates, with Associate Visuals Editor Luna Anna Archey weighing in. We aim for something that’s iconic and yet surprising, something that’s evocative and sparks an emotional response. Occasionally we broaden the net, assigning or licensing work that speaks to the entire issue in a way that art from a single story doesn’t.
Once the art team narrows down the options, Cindy and Bear meet with Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Sahn to consider their choices. With a special issue, that editor joins the discussion. Often, one option outshines the rest, and everyone agrees with the selection. Other times, we’ll decide to dig a little deeper, just in case we’ve missed something.
Jennifer then works on the text that appears on the cover, sometimes brainstorming with story editors. More mockups are made, and we experiment with type treatments and fine-tune the layout until we’re all happy with the cover.
And then we’re off to press with it — and ready to do it all again.
Now that another year is over, we hope our covers have succeeded in shining a light on the West in all its complexity and done their part to inform and inspire you, our readers, to act on behalf of our diverse natural and human communities. We look forward to another year of great HCN stories — and covers — in 2024. Meanwhile, let’s take a quick look back at 2023:
January: Kiliii Yuyan’s close-up image of a chinook salmon passing through the fish ladder at the Snake River’s Lower Granite Dam in Lewiston, Idaho, feels as if it’s launching HCN’s readers into the January issue as well as into a brand-new year.
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February: We’ve all seen countless images of Lake Powell’s famous “bathtub rings,” as the reservoir’s water level has dropped in recent years. But few are quite as striking — and startlingly beautiful — as this image by Elliot Ross, taken from his long-term project documenting Glen Canyon’s re-emergence.
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March: The first of only two cover illustrations commissioned in 2023, Cristiana Couceiro’s artwork teases what’s to come in Leah Sottile’s thought-provoking feature about women’s rights and history in Butte, Montana. Cristiana’s unique ability to convey the nuanced aspects of the story made for a wonderful graphic and a witty, slightly absurd cover image.
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April: When we look at images from the various stories in an issue, occasionally the ideal cover jumps out at us. Such was the case in April, with Katie Basile’s photo of a musher, Richie Diehl, emerging from snow and fog during a training run near his home in Aniak. The image is stunning: It speaks not only to Alaska’s mushing culture, but also to our collective search for a way forward given the many challenges we face today.
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May: Coincidentally, May’s cover was another one where we knew we had it as soon as we saw Mason Trinca’s photos for Josephine Woolington’s lovely profile of Makah artist Micah McCarty. When Mason asked Micah how he’d like his masks and other art to be photographed, Micah suggested they go to a place in the forest that holds special significance for his family. The resulting images — and especially this one — convey the indelible connection between Micah, the land and his art. This mask appears to have emerged from deep within the forest, ready to share its wisdom.
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June: This cover is one that we knew would resonate with HCN’s more local readership, and all those who love Colorado’s North Fork Valley (aka HCN’s old headquarters). Drawn from Trent Davis Bailey’s beautiful monograph showing images taken over years of family visits to the area — some of which were featured as a photo essay in the issue — the cover image offers something a bit more playful than usual, while hinting at the complexities of the issue’s stories.
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July: The July issue featured “Waiting for Water,” a large-scale investigation produced in partnership with ProPublica, which details the many ways in which the state of Arizona has intentionally and systematically denied Colorado River tribes their water rights. The steadfast gaze of Stephanie Jackson (Diné), seen in Chip Thomas’s mural on the Navajo Nation and photographed for the issue by Russel Albert Daniels, implicates us all, challenging us to be part of the change suggested by the painted words on her forehead.
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August: Wildfire is a defining, almost year-round reality in the West today, and sometimes we wrestle over how to best to visualize it in ways that will continue to engage and educate readers. Dramatic images of fire and its aftermath are eye-catching but can also be disturbing, and sometimes they repel rather than draw readers into a story. With this in mind, we decided to take a more subtle approach. Peter Bohler’s quiet, beautiful image of burned forest near the ignition point of Washington’s Bolt Creek Fire reminds us that all Westerners live close to the edge during fire season.
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September: Seattle-based photographer Meron Menghistab’s inviting image of Small Axe Farm’s manager, Masra Clamoungou, working on the land he loves, welcomes readers into our story about the Black Farmers Collective, whose work to build a Black food system in Seattle is already bearing fruit.
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October: Our second illustrated cover is the result of a thoughtful collaboration with Xicano cartoonist Zeke Peña, who worked on the art for an in-depth investigation into labor abuses in the sheepherding industry, reported in partnership with the Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN). This cover image is just one example of the incredible work Zeke did to re-create scenes from the testimony of abused immigrant sheepherders, all while protecting their identities and ensuring that they were portrayed in all their humanity, and not merely as victims.
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November: The tranquil beauty in Katie Basile’s second cover image this year (!) belies the frightening reality, which is that many Alaska Native coastal communities are having to relocate due to sea-level rise. This issue featured the latest chapter of Katie’s long-term project documenting those communities, particularly Kasigluk, a village where melting permafrost is forcing residents to try to move to higher ground.
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December: We took a different approach for the last cover of 2023, using a still life of English holly, a colorful plant that is ubiquitous during the holidays. As it turns out, however, holly has become invasive in the Pacific Northwest, where it has been spreading rapidly since it was first introduced several decades ago. Writer Steven Hsieh’s feature story on the problem is great, and Peter Bohler took some wonderful photographs for it. But for the cover, we asked Peter for a still life — some imagery that acknowledged holly’s place in our tradition, while at the same time turning things a bit on their head. If you look closely, you’ll see that these sprigs are dying. They’re portrayed as specimens set against a background that, like many of the issues High Country News covers, is not quite what it seems at first glance.
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