James Bruggers

Raised in Michigan. Educated in Montana. Worked as a journalist in Montana, Alaska, Washington, California and Kentucky. I cover environmental topics for The (Louisville) Courier-Journal and courier-journal.com, Kentucky’s largest news organization. I’m something of a rare bird, in that I know off no other newspaper reporter who covers the environment full time in Kentucky. My parents taught to me to love the woods. We made maple syrup, hunted for morel mushrooms and game birds, fished in streams and lakes, hiked, and tended vegetable gardens. I thought I’d be a forest ranger, but printer’s ink got in my veins early. I was elected five times to the Society of Environmental Journalists board of directors, serving 13 years, including two as vice president and two as president. My report on railroad workers and brain damage was a top-ten finalist, Associated Press Managing Editors, in the public service category, in 2001. In 2004, I won the Thomas Stokes Award, the Renewable Natural Resources Foundation’s Excellence in Journalism Award, and two Best of Gannett awards for the series, “Toxic Air: Lingering Health Menace.” My favorite award was a year on the University of Michigan campus as a mid-career Knight Wallace fellow in 1998-99. I am a graduate of the forestry and journalism programs at the University of Montana, where I also earned an M.S. in environmental studies. In 2010, I co-chaired the SEJ annual conference hosted by the University of Montana.