Independent, nonprofit journalism devoted to public lands & the people who protect them
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 10, 2025—Santa Fe, NM—RE:PUBLIC, a new nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering America’s 660 million acres of public land, officially launches this fall. Founded by former Outside Magazine editor-in-chief Christopher Keyes, RE:PUBLIC will educate, inform, and entertain readers by spotlighting important trends and threats to public lands access and ownership.
RE:PUBLIC emerges as a robust journalistic resource during a time of unprecedented threats to public lands, including budget and personnel cuts, the gutting of environmental regulations, and proposals for land transfers and selloffs. RE:PUBLIC’s mission is to increase awareness of these threats to ensure transparency and accountability, give citizens the tools they need to understand policy changes, and hold decision-makers accountable.
“RE:PUBLIC is a project born of my 25 years working at the intersection of journalism and public lands recreation,” says Keyes. “I’ve watched with increasing concern as these lands face mounting threats while news outlets continue to decline. These two trends create a dangerous information vacuum around our common trust. RE:PUBLIC will help fill that void.”
Following a proven model rooted in the expanding nonprofit journalism movement, RE:PUBLIC will distribute its stories through publishing partners in its first year, while developing its own publishing platform at www.republic.land. “By co-publishing with existing media brands, we can ensure our stories reach large audiences right out of the gate,” says Keyes. The organization will sustain itself through grants, memberships, and donations from individuals who care deeply about the future of public lands.
Initial programs will include long-form investigations, special reports like the “RE:PUBLIC Endangered List,” a weekly newsletter, and a weekly podcast feature co-produced with The Rock Fight media. As RE:PUBLIC continues to reach fundraising benchmarks, the team will grow to include regional reporters and a data team focused on using research, statistics, and figures to bring public lands stories to life.
RE:PUBLIC’s website and newsletter launch today. The organization’s first stories will begin publishing later this fall. For more information, contact Suzanne Hermann at suzanne@darbycommunications.com.
ABOUT RE:PUBLIC
RE:PUBLIC is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom devoted entirely to covering America’s 660 million acres of public land. Through investigative reporting, narrative journalism, and hard-won facts, we tell the stories that matter—stories about who controls the land, how it’s changing, and what’s at stake for the generations who follow. We stand for accountability, transparency, and truth. We believe the public has a right to know what’s happening to public land. Learn more at www.republic.land.
Contact: Suzanne Hermann
suzanne@darbycommunications.com
828.280.2701
