1. Stuebner further detail

Steve Stuebner draws on more than four decades of outdoor experience as he tells the stories of ranchers, farmers, field researchers, whitewater guides and others.

After working in the then-newish field of environmental journalism from the early 1980s to the early 1990s, he went on to write more than 10 books, work in environment-related communication and become well-known in Boise-area media — all while pursuing his own outdoor adventures that help inform his work.

The past dozen-plus years find Stuebner working as a communications contractor for natural resource organizations. He delivers public information, and produces text and video stories about their people, issues and opportunities. He makes many of the stories available for free to news outlets.

“I love working with ranchers, farmers and rural Idaho people,” he said. “They are so down-to-earth and fun to be around. It’s a real privilege to help tell their story.”

Stuebner’s approach

Stuebner’s innovative approach, an alternative to a single, full-time job, offers him flexibility and a unique vantage point from which to spot trends.

Idaho’s urban-rural divide is increasing as the state’s population grows, though the divide is less pronounced — helped by several Idaho leaders’ agricultural or rural backgrounds — than in more populous Western states, he said.

Stuebner, who grew up in the Minneapolis area, has been impressed by how well many rural residents get along with and respect each other despite challenges that can include making a living and dealing with thinly stretched tax bases. They come from small communities and “have community,” he said.

While many Americans have lost connection with their own rural experiences and are “less in touch with where food comes from,” he said, “farmers markets have become a place for farmers and ranchers to bring goods to the city. And urban folks absolutely love that. That is a place where we have some pretty cool nexus between urban and rural.”

An increased desire to work together is apparent among groups that traditionally spar in the media, Stuebner said. For example, ranchers are increasingly aware of other uses as land policy is made, and more agencies are working together rather than in silo-like isolation.

“We are seeing the walls coming down,” he said. “That has been a really positive development. And you can just get more done by pooling resources.”

Stuebner specializes in telling the conservation-success stories of his clients, “and there is so much we can learn from every single one of them,” he said.

Water infrastructure

He has been chronicling Idaho’s extensive work on water infrastructure. Helped by unprecedented federal and state spending, it comes with challenges such as design needs, tight deadlines for grants and loans, and needed environmental approval in some instances.

“Resource agencies are really embracing that and putting those dollars to use on the ground,” Stuebner said. “I am absolutely impressed with all of the different people in the field, especially in rural parts of Idaho, who stepped up to the plate.”

Coming out of high school, he was talked out of being a ski bum and into attending the University of Montana, where he played on the tennis team and got involved in the outdoors. He went on to report at the La Grande Observer newspaper in Oregon, where he expanded environmental coverage, and then at the Idaho Statesman in Boise.

Stuebner is constantly busy outdoors on his own or with family, friends or clients.

“Always look for someplace new to see,” he said.

Name: Steve Stuebner

Age: 65

Hometown: Minnetonka, Minn. Lives in Boise and McCall, Idaho.

Title: As president of Steve Stuebner PR & Marketing, provides contract communications services to organizations including the Idaho Department of Water Resources, state Water Resource Board, state Rangeland Resources Commission, state Soil and Water Conservation Commission, state Outfitters and Guides Association, state Foundation for Parks and Lands, Boise River Flood Control District No. 10, U.S. Bureau of Land Management. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Recreate Responsibly Idaho.

Other roles: Author of more than 10 outdoor books. President and publisher, Boise Front Adventures Inc.

Past employers: Tamarack Resort LLC (director of recreation development); Boise advertising, marketing and public relations firms; newspapers in La Grande, Ore., and Boise. Served as marketing and communications committee chairman of a successful campaign to pass a levy to help preserve open space in the Boise Foothills.

Education: Bachelor’s degrees in journalism and history, University of Montana, 1981.

Family: partner Wendy Wilson, four grown children.

Hobbies: skiing, bicycling, rafting, cooking, reading.