About Me
Chasing glaciers and the light in Glacier National Park, MT.
Guiding in Gates of the Arctic National Park, AK, during a rare spell of evening sunshine amidst the rain.
I grew up in the lowland forests of southeastern Pennsylvania before making my way west in 2011, and spent the last decade living across the American West, from CO to WA to MT, chasing adventures, telling stories and guiding in the backcountry. In May 2023, I completed a master’s degree in Environmental Journalism at the University of Montana, where I worked on stories exploring the intersection between identity, mental health and climate change. I also completed the UM Natural Resource Conflict Resolution Certificate Program.
I am deeply inspired by remote places, especially in the alpine and on the water, and I’ve spent my life exploring them. Now I’m slowly making myself a home in Missoula, Montana, learning to find balance between time indoors and out, and shifting between my three roles: environmental storyteller, natural resource facilitator, and backcountry guide.
While these three roles might sound different, they each allow me to ask the following questions in different ways:
What can we learn from the landscapes and communities that surround us?
How does it feel to have a relationship with place?
How can we deepen our connections to our communities and our landscapes by sharing our stories and working together?
These are questions I’ve spent my life asking, and I’m deeply thankful that I’m able to continue exploring these spaces in my professional life.
In my free time, I’m either out in the landscape trying to climb up things or trying to slow down with rivers.
If you’d like to work together, or have any questions for me, please reach out at richardhforbes@gmail.com!
Storytelling is one of the most useful tools we have for achieving meaning: it serves to keep our communities together by asking and saying who we are, and it’s one of the best tools an individual has to find out who I am, what life may ask of me and how I can respond.
- Ursula K. Le Guin
Media Coverage / Conferences / Presentations
Fall 2024: I presented to the Justice Challenge as an expert on Held v. Montana, as part of a semester-long series of presentations on Climate Justice. The Justice Challenge is a three-year USDA grant-funded colloquium bringing students together from 12 universities to explore how they can impact the world.
Winter 2024: I presented on “How to Start Winter Backpacking” with Andrew Skurka for his “Ask Us Anything” series.
Winter 2023: I was profiled for the University of Montana’s Graduate School podcast, Confluence, speaking about my relationship with climate change and my work.
Summer 2023: I was featured on Public Radio’s Living on Earth program, speaking about my experience reporting on the historic Held v. Montana trial.
Spring 2023: I spoke at the University of Montana’s Eco-Melancholia Conference, presenting on my work on the glaciers of Glacier National Park for a talk titled “Mountains, Landscapes, and the Human and Animal Worlds.”
I am an experienced public speaker, and regularly present to groups of students in Missoula on a variety of topics, including Held v. Montana, Mental Health in Journalism, and my glaciers of Glacier National Park project. Reach out if you’d like to see if I can support your event!
“I was meant for all things to meet:
to make the clouds pause in the mirror
of my waters, to be home to fallen rain
that finds its way to me, to turn eons
of loveless rock into lovesick pebbles
and carry them as humble gifts back
to the sea which brings life back to me.”
— Complaint of El Río Grande, by Richard Blanco
