John Ryan
Year started with KUOW: 2009
KUOW environment reporter John Ryan welcomes story ideas and feedback from listeners. Email him at jryan@kuow.org or call him at 206-543-0637. For secure, confidential communication, he's at 1-401-405-1206 on the Signal messaging app, or you can send snail mail (but don't put your return address on the outside) to John Ryan, KUOW, 4518 Univ. Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105.
Good thing John was a clumsy traveler.
Otherwise his cheap microcassette recorder wouldn't have fallen out of his pocket in an Indonesian taxi, a generous BBC stringer wouldn't have lent him some professional recording gear, and he wouldn't have gotten the radio bug. But after pointing a mic at rare jungle songbirds and gong–playing grandmothers for his first radio story, there was no turning back.
He then freelanced for shows such as All Things Considered, Living on Earth, Marketplace and The World. He also continued his print career by reporting for newspapers including the Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times and Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce.
In 2009, John moved back to Seattle after two exciting years covering avalanches, political intrigue and just about everything in between for KTOO FM, the NPR station in Alaska's capital city.
John has won national awards for KUOW as a freelancer (check out "As the Sound Churns") and now as a staff reporter, including the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi awards for Public Service in Radio Journalism and for Investigative Reporting. He believes democracy only works when journalism holds the powerful accountable for their words and actions.
To see more of John's KUOW portfolio, visit our current site.
In addition to the stories below, John'sKUOWstories from September 2012 and before arearchived here.
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The federal government says it will restore grizzly bears to the North Cascades region in Washington state, where they have not been seen since 1996.
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The federal government says it will restore grizzly bears to the North Cascades region in Washington state, where they have not been seen since 1996.
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The Quinault Indian Nation in Washington state is gradually moving the village of Taholah away from a rising Pacific Ocean. Other communities in the U.S. may need to take a similar approach. -
In a remote stretch of Washington's Olympic Peninsula, streets and sidewalks have appeared. The Quinault Indian Nation spent a decade trying to move its village of Taholah out of reach of rising seas.
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Several states have new laws to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that fuel rising temperatures. Washington has changed how big businesses use energy and how people fuel their vehicles.
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More electrical substations in the Pacific Northwest were attacked in 2022 than the prior six years combined. These come as the FBI has warned of far-right extremist groups targeting the power grid.
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This brings the total of reported attacks on the Northwest power grid to 10 since November. Attacks on substations in the Pacific Northwest have heightened concerns about grid vulnerabilities.
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The heat wave of 2021 was the deadliest weather event in Washington state's history. Hundreds died. What has the state learned from that event and are they better prepared for the next one?
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An oil train derailment near Seattle is under investigation. In late 2020, 10 tanker cars went off the rails. Now, the rail workers unions says they believe the disaster was caused by sabotage.
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Washington has OK'd a plan to allow Navy SEALS to train in state parks. The special ops will now do exercises at more than a dozen sites around the state. Parkgoers are worried about safety.
