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Ashley Braun on Muck Rack

Ashley Braun

Verified
(She/Her)
Seattle
As seen in: DeSmog, Natural History, Medium, MSN, OneZero, The Atlantic, Medical News Today, Scientific American, Slate, Atlas Obscura, Smithsonian Magazine, Constant Contact and
Covers:  Conservation, ecology and evolution, biodiversity, Indigenous affairs, environmental policy
Doesn't Cover: Medicine, consumer products
Journalist who's into science, conservation, ethical food, wittiness. Editor @DeSmog. Words @ Smithsonian, Atlantic, Slate, Audubon, bioGraphic. FCer (she/hers)

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Ashley Braun’s Biography

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Ashley Braun is an award-winning freelance science and environmental journalist based in Seattle, Washington. Her reporting has taken her from the United Nations climate summit in Morocco and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to California’s redwood forests and Washington’s salmon rivers. In her work, she enjoys exploring the dynamic relationships between humans and other species, as well as the intersections of science, policy, ethics, and society.

Ashley Braun’s Journalist Portfolio

A New App Brings Birdsong Back to People With High-Frequency Hearing Loss

A New App Brings Birdsong Back to People With High-Frequency Hearing Loss

Hear Birds Again, an iPhone app, is only the latest in Lang Elliott's long line of inventions to solve a chal…

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It's the Moment of Truth for Saving the Northern Spotted Owl

It's the Moment of Truth for Saving the Northern Spotted Owl

Preventing the Pacific Northwest icon's extinction calls for aggressive intervention, including killing anoth…

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How Wifi Binoculars Could Help Make Birding and Nature More Accessible

How Wifi Binoculars Could Help Make Birding and Nature More Accessible

On a recent outing with Seattle's Seward Park Audubon Center, a small group put the technology to the test, w…

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Articles

How Shrimp Shells Are Being Turned Into ‘Carbon Negative’ Fuel, Food and Construction Materials

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By Ashley Braun Verified
| Smithsonian Magazine Verified
Engineers in Singapore have developed a new, multistep chemical process that transforms organic waste into useful, sustainable products In low-lying Singapore, electrochemical engineer Li Hong has found a creative way to displace some of the city-state’s dependence on planet-warming natural gas.
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How Indigenous leaders are ‘carrying fire’ from Northwest history to the present

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By Ashley Braun Verified
| Jefferson Public Radio Verified
A soft rain fell around Joe Scott as he unwrapped the leather cord fastening halves of a mussel shell. Scott, an elder from the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, packed each half of the shell with stringy willow wood — his insulation. He added chunks of smoldering fungus — his fuel. The small fire stayed lit, even when he closed the shell. This is how Scott carried fire to a cultural burn ceremony near Selma in Southern Oregon this month.
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How Indigenous leaders are ‘carrying fire’ from Northwest history to the present

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By Ashley Braun Verified
| Oregon Public Broadcasting Verified
Ron Reed, Karuk elder, tends a pile of burning conifer boughs beneath black oak trees at the Siskiyou Field Institute in Selma, Ore., April 11, 2026. “We practice fixing the world with the use of fire,” he says of his family’s involvement in the Karuk world renewal ceremony in northwest California, “So this cultural exchange is perfect for the future of management.” Ashley Braun for OPB / OPB A soft rain fell around Joe Scott as he unwrapped the leather cord fastening halves of a mussel shell.
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Awards

Society of Environmental Journalists Award

2020 - Outstanding Feature Story (Small Newsroom or Circulation)

Second Place: "Research and Rescue: Saving Species From Ourselves" by Ashley Braun for Longreads Judges' comments: From cane toads in Australia to sea lions in California, the human compulsion to save species often misfires. This engaging and well-written story tackles genomic and biotech tools to address not only de-extinction but also conservation challenges. It presents the science and the ethics of gene altering, frozen cell lines and other reproductive science techniques with a mixture of hope and caution. By recognizing that doing nothing is morally difficult for humans, "Research and Rescue" challenges us to think deeply about solutions to extinction, "especially when we are responsible for the troubles in the first place."

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