Craig Welch is an environment writer at National Geographic. Prior to joining National Geographic, he was the environmental reporter for The Seattle Times, where he worked for more than 14 years. A journalist for two decades, his work has appeared in Smithsonian magazine, the Washington Post, and Newsweek. He spent a year as a fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, and the Society of Environmental Journalists has twice named him Outstanding Beat Reporter of the Year. In 2010, HarperCollins published his book, “Shell Games: A True Story of Cops, Con Men, and the Smuggling of America’s Strangest Wildlife,” a nonfiction detective story about wildlife thieves. [more at https://pulitzercenter.org/people/craig-welch]. He wrote the cover story on forests in the May issue of National Geographic this year.