What is bioGraphic?

bioGraphic is an online magazine founded in 2016 that publishes in-depth and immersive stories about conservation and biodiversity around the world. Our award-winning reporting introduces you to fascinating species, far-flung places, and the people working hard to protect them.

We believe that journalism plays an essential role in conservation by informing and inspiring readers to care about and protect the natural world. That’s why all of our stories are free to read—we have no subscriptions, paywalls, or ads.

bioGraphic is independent and nonprofit—our editors, not our funders, decide what we report on and write about. And our work is supported by a diverse group of donors, including the BAND Foundation, the Schmidt Family Foundation, the Milkweed Foundation, and readers like you.

You can support our work by making a donation here. Your generosity keeps our stories free for everyone to read—and allows us to pay writers, editors, photographers, and filmmakers fairly.

Each week, we publish a fantastic newsletter. Sign up here and never miss a bioGraphic story:

THE TEAM

Steven Bedard, Co-founder & editor in chief
Dave Garrison, Publisher
Jude Isabella, Executive editor
Mark Garrison, Art director
Colin Schultz, Senior news editor
Shanna Baker, Senior features editor
Krista Langlois, Senior features editor
Vanessa Minke-Martin, Audience engagement editor

Our editorial team lives in Colorado, British Columbia, and Ontario.

OUR STORY

Science journalists and editors Steven Bedard and Stephanie Stone launched bioGraphic in 2016 as an alternative to typical doom-and-gloom reporting about the environment. Both saw an urgent need for environmental journalism that is not only trustworthy and informative but also immersive, inspiring, and focused on solutions.

Bedard and Stone launched bioGraphic under the umbrella of the California Academy of Sciences, a nonprofit research institute and museum in San Francisco, with additional start-up funding from philanthropic foundations and individual donors.

Since the beginning, our work has transported readers to ecosystems around the globe, sparking a fascination with wildlife and habitats they might never otherwise see. bioGraphic has won numerous awards for our stories, and we are frequently recognized for publishing extraordinary photojournalism, short documentaries, and narrative long-form journalism.

In January 2025, bioGraphic merged with independent outlet, British Columbia-based Hakai Magazine, which had covered stories from the world’s oceans and coastlines for a decade. We raised roughly US $725,000 to fund the merger, with support from multiple philanthropic foundations, thousands of individual readers, and several major donors. Our team now publishes multiple stories per week; produces shorter, newsier pieces; and has expanded our marine and coastal coverage to continue Hakai Magazine’s important work.

In July 2026, the bioGraphic team left the California Academy of Sciences to launch an independent, nonprofit journalism organization. In the meantime, we are fiscally sponsored by the Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN), one of our long-time collaborators.

Our tean is dedicated to producing the very best environmental journalism, informing and inspiring readers to care about and protect the natural world.

BIOGRAPHIC SUPPORTERS

bioGraphic is supported by a diverse group of funders, including the BAND Foundation, the Schmidt Family Foundation, the Milkweed Foundation, and readers like you.

We are editorially independent, which means that our funders do not influence the stories that we choose to cover or how we tell those stories. You can learn more in our Donor Transparency Policy.

You can support our work by making a donation here. Your generosity keeps our stories free for everyone—and allows us to pay writers, editors, photographers, and filmmakers fairly.

PAST FUNDERS

We are particularly grateful for early financial support from the California Academy of Sciences, the Pisces Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, Shawn and Brook Byers, Ron and Linda Greenman, and Nicholas Lapham.

OUR ETHICS

Journalistic integrity is critical to our work, and we are committed to upholding the highest standards of excellence, honesty, fairness, and transparency. The bioGraphic Code of Ethics, produced with guidance from the Online News Association, offers some specific examples of the protocols we follow to meet these standards.

Although we receive funding from philanthropic foundations and our readers, bioGraphic retains complete editorial independence. For more information, please see our Editorial Independence Policy

CONTRIBUTORS

bioGraphic stories are created by a diverse team of international journalists, photographers, filmmakers, and visualization experts.

If you’re interested in becoming a bioGraphic contributor, please review our Submission Guidelines for more information.

PUBLISHING PARTNERS

We collaborate with a select group of trustworthy publications to bring high-quality stories to wider and more diverse audiences. These media outlets republish original bioGraphic stories on occasion, and we republish stories of theirs that align with our mission and that we believe will interest our readers.

In particular, bioGraphic is a proud member of Climate Desk, a journalistic collaboration dedicated to exploring the human, environmental, economic, and political impacts of a changing climate.

You can find our stories in Canada’s National Observer, Canadian Geographic, Grist, The Guardian, High Country News, Longreads, Mongabay, Mother Jones, Nautilus, Sierra Magazine, Smithsonian, Yale E360, and more.

If you’re interested in becoming a bioGraphic publishing partner, please get in touch via our contact form here.

OUR AWARDS

bioGraphic has won prestigious awards for individual stories and for the magazine as a whole.

In 2024, bioGraphic was a finalist for the American Society of Magazine Editors’ National Magazine Awards in Photography. Also in 2024, “City of Glass,” by Ben Goldfarb, and “Rogues of the Rainforest,” by Douglas Fox, were selected for the Best American Science and Nature Writing. “Of Moths and Marsupials,” by Kate Evans, and “Call of the Liar,” by Carly Cassella, were selected for the Best Australian Science Writing.

In 2023, bioGraphic won a bronze Anthem Award in the second annual awards competition from the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, which acknowledges achievement in purpose and mission driven work. “The Saguaro Solution” was listed as a notable in the Best American Science and Nature Writing.

Our “Lens of Time” video series won the 2018 Webby Award for Best Documentary Series and the 2017 Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival Award for Best Limited Series–Short.

Our film “The Anomalies: Venom Race” won the 2019 Jackson Wild Media Award for best Science in Nature Film–Short Form, and “Basking on the Brink” was given an honorable mention in the Society of Environmental Journalism 2019 Awards for Reporting on the Environment.

“Shoot to Save” won the Los Angeles Press Club’s 2018 Southern California Journalism Award in the Environmental Reporting category. Also in 2018, bioGraphic won an EXCEL Award for best magazine in the Digital Media category from the Association of Media and Publishing.

In 2017, “Owl Wars” won an American Society of Journalists and Author’s (ASJA) Writing Award, while “Maggot Revolution” won the Food Sustainability Media Award. In addition, “Forgotten But Not Gone: The Pacific Fisher” was honored as a finalist by the G2 Green Earth Film Festival, and “Life on the Rocks” was honored as a finalist for the American Geophysical Union’s Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence in Science Journalism–Features.