Jessica Baltzersen

Freelance climate, science, and outdoor journalist

Portfolio

Sierra Magazine •

Who Gets to Graze in the West?

In north-central Montana, Phillips County stretches from the Little Rocky Mountains to the Canadian border in a sweep of high plains. With roughly 4,200 residents dispersed across 3.2 million acres, the area averages less than one person per square mile across its capacious landscape. But a recent federal decision has ordered 950 of its other shaggy residents—the native American bison—off the county's federal allotments, which the animals have long called home. The bison’s eviction notice comes...
AARP •

Chasing the Aurora in the Southern Hemisphere

In mid-March, on a boat crossing Lake Wānaka on New Zealand’s South Island, there’s a slight bite in the wind. As Ngahuru, or autumn, settles in across the Southern Hemisphere, and conditions below the equator become more favorable for glimpsing the aurora australis, or southern lights. The boat captain unlocks his camera roll to show me images of fluorescent green ribbons washed with red and purple light that he captured the night before. On this night, however, I’m not as lucky. Still, the po...
National Geographic •

This Tennessee city is America’s first ‘National Park City’

With the Tennessee River, Appalachian Highlands, and forested Cumberland Plateau as the backdrop to Chattanooga, Tennessee, its nickname, “Scenic City,” is well deserved. But 50 years ago, Chattanooga was considered to have the worst air quality in the United States. Through ambitious planning, community investment, and progressive environmental action, Chattanooga transformed from an industrial cautionary tale into North America’s first National Park City, equipped with a revitalized riverfront...
National Geographic •

This 100-year-old lodge is in the Smokies—and getting there is half the experience

A vertical mile up from Gatlinburg, Tennessee, in the heart of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, LeConte Lodge rests at 6,360 feet, just shy of Mount Le Conte’s summit—the third tallest peak in the half-million-acre park. Cradled by mountain mist and the Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest, LeConte Lodge—a collection of seven cabins and three multi-room lodges—remains the park’s only overnight accommodation and the highest guest lodge in the eastern U.S.
Rails to Trails Magazine •

Big Connections: Exploring the Regional Influence of the Little Miami Scenic Trail

I’m sitting at a long wooden table inside Yellow Springs Brewery, just steps from the Little Miami Scenic Trail in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Across from me is Gary Zaremsky, a retired engineer and devoted cyclist. It’s mid-October, and he’s already logged an impressive 4,000 miles this year. Even though the air has turned cool and leaves carpet the trail, he assures me there are still many more miles to come.
Sierra •

Caving Pennsylvania’s Laurel Caverns

In late July, an intense heat wilted over the hills of western Pennsylvania. David Cale wore a gray suit—a stifling choice had we been anywhere else. But inside Laurel Caverns, the temperature remained at a cool 52°F. We plodded down dark, narrow passages slick with moisture. I had a flashlight. He did not. He knew this underground system by memory, navigating each step and turn as if moving through the familiar rooms of a house.This cave is his home.Cale has explored, managed, and protected Lau...
Sierra •

Can Bison Ever Reclaim Their Historic Range East of the Mississippi?

On a hot July afternoon in western Pennsylvania, the dark, shaggy outline of a bison appeared briefly before slipping into pale grass. At first glance, his home, the thousand-acre International Conservation Center—an extension of the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium—looks like many pastoral landscapes in the Laurel Highlands. But here, four young bison (culturally referred to as buffalo) represent some of the “purest bison stock” in North America, say the zoo’s conservation team. Earlier this year, biol...
The Guardian •

US waterways are full of dumped tires. The ‘River Cowboy’ won’t stand for it

In the 1980s, Russ Miller and his wife moved to a far edge of eastern Kentucky’s Red River Gorge, where they built a homestead on a ridge hugged by three sides of the river. It’s the kind of place you can only get to with a hand-drawn map. A place so remote that the farther and farther you drive to get to it, the more unsure you are that you are in the right place.They would spend leisurely afternoons drifting the river in inner tubes, until they started noticing what floated alongside them: hea...
National Geographic •

14 bison came to Catalina for a movie. 100 years later, what’s next?

In the winter of 1924, 14 American bison weighing 1,500 pounds arrived in crates at the harbor of Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of Los Angeles, California, where they were set free to roam the hillsides. Local lore has it that they were brought here to film a movie, though there’s little evidence they made a Hollywood debut. But over the last century, the bison have become the unlikely stars of Catalina’s ecosystem. It’s unclear how much longer that will last. The herd that once numbere
National Geographic •

How can we protect grizzly bears from their biggest threat—trains?

In an area with high grizzly mortality rates, the birth of three cubs in January 2021 was a triumph in Elk Valley, British Columbia. But nine months later the unimaginable occurred when the family of cubs and their mother were killed by one of the grizzly’s biggest threats in the region: trains. “She was one of the only grizzly bears we had ever monitored that actually produced three cubs,” says Clayton Lamb, wildlife scientist at Biodiversity Pathways, a research institute at the University of
CityBeat Cincinnati •

Cincinnati’s Beekeeping Culture is Helping Save the Species While Promoting the Age-Old Practice of Apiculture

It’s 5:30 a.m. on a recent Wednesday morning. Krystle and Cory Gaiser of the Gaiser Bee Company have just arrived back in Cincinnati with 2.6 million bees in tow. The husband-wife team drove through the night from their supplier in Patterson, Georgia and now they’re back on their suburban West Side farm, where they’ll distribute their haul for their annual bee pickup day.
Ruffwear •

How to Minimize Your Carbon Pawprint | Ruffwear

And I love exploring it — especially with my dog, Luna. From hiking in desert mountains and playing in foamy waves, to camping in damp, dense forests, the outdoors has so much beauty and wonder to offer. But in an ever-changing climate, I want to make sure we’re responsible stewards by being mindful of our impact during adventures. While dogs are great companions to take along with us, they can negatively affect the environment if we don’t share responsibility in minimizing their impact. Here
Ruffwear •

We’ll Be Home For Christmas | Ruffwear

Every year in December, my black Volkswagen Atlas is packed with suitcases and metallic-wrapped gifts for the 2,200-mile trip from my home in California, to my family in Ohio. Reserved in the back seat is a designated spot for Luna, my three-year-old Portuguese Water Dog who has become my yearly companion for the 32-hour-long journey. I never fathomed I’d be driving cross-country (and back!) so often, but visiting home for 2-3 weeks at a time during the holiday season has transformed into a mea
CityBeat Cincinnati •

Garden Karma

For garden visionary Chris Smyth, sustainability coordinator of neighborhood nonprofit Price Hill Will (PHW), an empty yard is more than a patch of dirt. It’s a blank canvas. It’s a start for a sustainable lifestyle and a place for education and transformation to blossom within a neighborhood. It may seem audacious to say a patch of dirt is the start of a movement, but a PHW initiative called Grow It Forward Gardens is proving to be a small ripple in a big pond of change, taking it one garden at a time.
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