In February 2025, Christopher Keyes found himself on the outside of Outside. He spent a cumulative 17 years with the outdoor lifestyle magazine, ultimately rising to editor-in-chief. But his long tenure and executive role did not ultimately protect him from layoffs.
“It’s important to be transparent about that, because I think it says a lot about the industry [we’re] in,” said Keyes. “Less about the company I was at than just the realities of the publishing industry. … When I left, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I wanted to take a little time to decompress, because I had been in the industry for quite a bit. But as a month went by, I started to get my energy back and thinking about other opportunities in the publishing space and started to think about starting something of my own.”
He drew inspiration from Evan Smith, his former boss at Texas Monthly, who later established The Texas Tribune — to Keyes, the “gold standard” for nonprofit news. The Santa Fe, New Mexico-based Keyes felt that commercial media’s interest in public-interest journalism declined due to waning financial incentives. He believes nonprofit news, which relies on donations and grants rather than shareholders or advertisers to maintain editorial independence, can fill those gaps.
With some help from the Institute of Nonprofit News’ resources, Keyes researched various funding models and felt particularly enamored with the idea of “being national in scope, but single topic focused.” And that single topic would be public land issues. Keyes launched Re:Public Lands Media this past September, the first nonprofit news organization dedicated to the subject.
A literal breath of fresh air
While many established solo-subject nonprofit newsrooms tackle singular hot-button issues, like The Trace with gun violence or The Marshall Project with mass incarceration, Re:Public centers around an admittedly more niche topic — but one equally as endemic.
Roughly 660 million acres of American public land exist, best known through the national parks, national forests and wildlife refuges under the federal government’s charge. That’s about a third of the United States. Public land comprises the vast majority of several states, including Nevada. And it all belongs to the American people.
Public lands issues often pit conservation against privatization for drilling and other forms of resource extraction. But they themselves serve as an economic force — outdoor recreation generates north of $1 trillion a year.
According to Re:Public’s business plan, obtained by Editor & Publisher, the existing competitive landscape largely falls into two categories: general-focus publications with large audiences and publications with smaller audiences and a more specific public lands focus. They range from national news corporations and nonprofits to regional newspapers and smaller entities.
There are currently around half a dozen organizations, including newsletters and podcasts, with a specific focus on public lands, according to the business plan. Despite their loyal bases and deep sourcing with relevant agencies, most serve smaller audiences under 5,000 readers or listeners. Meanwhile, major national newspapers like The New York Times boast excellent access and a deep grasp of policy, but their broad coverage opens the door for Re:Public to establish itself as the “voice of record” on public lands issues, thanks to the staff’s specialized knowledge.
Keyes’ personal expertise stems from his time at Outside. He recalled growing interest in public land stories under the first Trump administration following threats to national monuments, including attacks against Utah’s Bears Ears, a cherished site for various Native American sovereign nations, in 2017. More recently, the Elon Musk de facto-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cut funding to the Department of the Interior, leading to layoffs and opening the door to further privatization efforts for resource extraction, such as mining and drilling.
“Despite their immense value to every citizen, major news organizations are increasingly unable to dedicate resources to the complex, ongoing developments in how these lands are managed,” reads the publication’s elevator pitch. “From weakening environmental rules to proposals for land sales, vital information is being lost in the noise, leaving a dangerous void where public oversight should be.”
To be clear, Keyes believes Re:Public’s accountability reporting remains critical no matter what party leads the country. And he said there’s bipartisan interest in these stories — 61% of Trump voters and 85% of Kamala Harris voters polled oppose selling public land. “A super majority of Americans believe that public land should stay in public hands,” he said. “And [they] should be managed for the long run, not for short-term gain, so that we have these lands and maintain their value in perpetuity.”
Public gathering
Keyes now helms Re:Public as executive director and founding board president. Last month, Re:Public announced its first two hires. Editorial Director Elizabeth Hightower Allen joins Keyes from their time working together at Outside, where she served as a features editor for more than two decades. In the previous role, she penned a “Code Green” column on environmental issues.
Allen officially left Outside in 2019, remaining as a contract editor and continuing to edit books and manuscripts. She and Keyes began bouncing ideas after he also left the magazine, and that snowballed into her joining Re:Public part-time. Allen said her role will grow as the publication does — and she’s thrilled. After all, public land issues hit home quite literally.
“I live across from two or three trail heads into the Santa Fe National Forest and then some city public land,” said Allen. “So, I’m out on those trails all the time. And then my husband is a former river guide and a big skier, so we've been able to raise our daughter on rivers and in mountains. It’s just a really healthy way for her to grow up.
“Every time we’re out on public lands on a river trip or skiing, hiking or running, it just puts everything into perspective for me. All of us feel that way when we’re out in nature. I’ve been lucky. It’s part of my daily life.”
Recent Columbia Journalism School grad Julianna Abuzzahab rounds out the first team hires as Re:Public’s social media manager. The publication will also seek a reporter to cover the Department of the Interior, the only specific federal agency beat dedicated to managing the nation’s natural resources. Down the line, Keyes plans to bring on regional reporters and a data team.
On the right path
Half a year in, Re:Public’s launch is going swimmingly. Fundraising efforts started in mid-August and raised roughly $370,000 of the $500,000 as of this past December. Initial newsletter signups are strong, and reader reception “has been really gratifying.”
“Every day is a bit of a roller coaster,” said Keyes. “I haven’t started a news organization myself previously, and I hadn’t been in the nonprofit world before, so there was a huge learning curve. I am very pleased with our progress to date.”
Thanks to the nonprofit model, there’s less rush to build a large, direct audience from scratch. Instead, Re:Public reporting often shows up in other, more established outlets, like Outside, through co-publishing.
The first Re:Public stories commissioned featured a long-form trio covering how personnel and budget cuts affected the Yosemite, Rocky Mountain and Great Smoky Mountain national parks in a co-published series with Keyes’ and Allen’s previous newsroom, Outside. The featured pieces range from nine- to 25-minute reads.
“Each co-publishing situation is going to be different,” said Allen. “Our model is that we’re going to fund the writer to go tell a really great story — a narrative with a certain density of facts and new information and reporting, but also one with the narrative drive, characters and scenes that make you feel like you’re out on public land with the people and critters.
“So, we’ll pay the writer [and] assign the story. The co-publisher would typically have a broad audience, because, obviously, we’re just starting out, and it's a way for them to fund some in-depth storytelling about public lands and for us to reach more people with that message. But it’s going to look different every time.”
In fact, the nonprofit’s competitive landscape isn’t entirely competitive. The business plan also delineates how Re:Public can work with other organizations covering public lands issues to reach their readers, flooding the zone with quality journalism on the under-reported subject.
Lay of the land
Given the uncertain future of American public lands, Re:Public kicked off the year by publishing predictions made by 29 experts. Allen points to one forecast from Gear Junkie’s editor, Rachelle Schrute, on the danger of outrage fatigue.
“You feel like everywhere you turn, there’s something crucial and in danger across the sphere of issues,” said Allen. “That’s a really dangerous time, because that’s when the [erosion of] different mechanisms, especially in Congress and the executive branch that protect our public lands [happen], and we’re just too sort of wiped to really engage.”
But what of the publication’s own future? Keyes would like the publication to develop a daily or weekly news engine to accompany the co-published long-form stories by the end of 2026. Then, there’s a desire to break into podcasting.
“We want this to grow organically,” said Keyes. “So, while we have a vision for what this can be, we’re also going to let how the audience reacts to the various experiments that we’re trying [and] flooding the zone with public lands coverage to see what’s really working and invest more in those spaces.”
Re:Public will measure its impact by pairing “quantitative data with qualitative assessments.” They track audience engagement through website, social media and newsletter impressions. Case studies, expert interviews and internal reviews will provide qualitative assessments. And policy changes, government accountability and legal actions stemming from Re:Public’s reporting serve as veritable benchmarks for the publication’s influence and efficacy.
Beyond the metrics, Keyes’ remarkable one-year turnaround from laid off to nonprofit news founder points to a new frontier for newsroom leaders seeking a second life. Of course, those before him helped blaze the trail.
“There is a lot of similarity between [Keyes’] experience and mine,” said Evan Smith. “When we started The [Texas] Tribune in 2009, there were still very few of these organizations in business. He will benefit from the work of others over the last 16 years. And he’ll see what worked; he’ll see what didn't work. He’ll be able to avoid mistakes that many of us made in the early days, not knowing they would be mistakes.
“Nonprofit is a tax status. I wouldn’t make too much of the fact that it’s nonprofit. But what I absolutely believe is that he’s got a mission. He sees a public service [and] mission of public good in the work he’s doing. … I’m really excited to see what he does.”
Tandy Lau is an award-winning journalist currently based in Jersey City. He currently works as a staff reporter covering public safety for the New York Amsterdam News in Harlem. He can be contacted at tandylau1995@gmail.com.
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