Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan

Writer & Editor

What's new

I have a couple of features out this fall, both taking a hard look at our own impacts on the wild places we love. 5280 had me look into ways to fix our national parks' crowding problem (which has only gotten worse in the age of Covid-19). It might sound extreme, but in some cases, the answer might be to start turning people away. 

And Backpacker sent me up to Montana's Yaak Valley to look into another vexing question: When should we wilderness lovers just...stay away from the wilderness? That's at the heart of an intensifying conflict between long-distance hikers and grizzly advocates in this remote corner of the state. What's best for the bears? There are no easy answers.