Nick Mott
Nick Mott is a multimedia journalist based in Livingston, Montana who focuses on the environment, wildlife, climate, and public lands. His reporting has been in the New York Times, NPR’s All Things Considered and Morning Edition, The Washington Post, Outside, High Country News, and PRI’s The World, among other outlets. His podcast productions have been on How To Save a Planet, Reveal, Throughline, NPR’s Up First, 99 Percent Invisible, and more. He’s produced the independent podcast Threshold, Sony Music’s BioHacked: Family Secrets, and the Montana Public Radio Podcasts Richest Hill, Fireline and Shared State. He also hosted REI’s Take it From Me. Together, his podcast productions won a Peabody and a national Edward R. Murrow award, been named one of the best podcasts of the year by the New Yorker, breached the iTunes Top Ten charts multiple times and received praise in publications all across the country. When he’s not reporting, he’s usually stumbling his way up a mountain somewhere. He released his first book, with co-author Justin Angle, in 2023. In 2024, his podcast—The Wide Open Season One: Threatened—premiered. The show, a collaboration between Montana Public Radio and the Montana Media Lab, is about what the Endangered Species Act can teach us about living with wildlife and living with each other. He also leads the public land content at the new website, bettertrail.com.
The Wide Open
A podcast about living with wildlife, and living with each other.
Books
This Is Wildfire: How To Protect Yourself, Your Home, and Your Community in the Age of Heat (Bloomsbury, 2023)
Featured in The New Yorker, NPR’S Book of the Day, and much more.
Awards and Recognition
Winner, Edward R. Murrow Award, Fireline (Executive Producer/Writer/Editor), Best Podcast, Region 1, 2022
Winner, EB Craney Award, Non-Commercial Radio Program of the Year, Shared State (Lead Producer/Editor), 2021
Runner-up EB Craney Award, Radio Newscast of the Year, 2021
Winner, Peabody Award, Threshold (Producer), 2020
Winner, National Edward R. Murrow Award, Best News Series, Small Market Radio, Threshold (Producer), 2019
Winner, Regional Edward R. Murrow Award, Best News Series, Small Market Radio, Threshold (Producer), 2019
Winner, Sigma Delta Chi Award, Feature Reporting, Society of Professional Journalists, Threshold (Producer), 2019
Citation, Coverage of International Affairs, Lowell Thomas Award, Threshold (Producer), 2019
Runner-Up, Best Continuing Coverage, Associated Press Television and Radio Association, awarded for coverage of grizzly bear management for Montana Public Radio, 2019
Runner-Up, Best Documentary, Associated Press Television and Radio Association, Richest Hill (Producer), 2020
New Yorker features MTPR’s Richest Hill as “Must-Listen” podcast and one of the Best Podcasts of 2019
Grantee, National Geographic Emergency Response Fund, exploring the impact of coronavirus on science for Montana Public Radio
Grantee, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, Threshold
Clips
“The Home Insurance LA—and America—Needs.” New York Times. January 2025.
“The Wide Open.” 99 Percent Invisible. February 2025.
“Fatal grizzly attack renews debate over how many bears are too many,” Weekend Edition, NPR, August 2023
“Treaty Rights, Bison, and the Country’s Most Controversial Hunt,” High Country News, July 2023
6-Part Series, High Country News, Continuing Coverage on the Fallout of 2021 Yellowstone Floods
“I Got Stuck In the Yellowstone Floods.” The Atlantic.
“Extreme Home Makeover: Threshold Edition,” Threshold, Season 4, Episode 6
“Underground Markets”. BioHacked: Family Secrets. Writer and Producer
“Political Feuds Don’t Take Vacations.” Shared State, Season 2. Host, Reporter, and Writer.
“A record number of Yellowstone wolves have been killed. Conservationists are worried,” NPR, All Things Considered.
“Scientists are Learning More About Fire Tornadoes,” NPR, All Things Considered
“The Climate Change Link To More and Bigger Wildfires,” NPR, Morning Edition
“Healthcare Workers Try To Bring COVID-19 Patients Joy, Less Isolation As Life Ends,” NPR, Morning Edition
“Life is Too Hard Without Music,” Threshold, Season 2, Episode 11
“Meet the outfitters welcoming Grand Canyon rafters back to a COVID-19 reality,” High Country News
“The Refuge Revealed,” Reveal, The Center for Investigative Reporting
“As Regulations Roll Back, Could Water Protection Business Dry Up?” NPR, Morning Edition
“Montana Residents Ask Supreme Court To Allow Cleanup Beyond Superfund Requirements” NPR, Morning Edition
“Who Owns the Wild: Grizzlies or Humans?” Outside
“Bill of the Month: First Kidney Failure, Then A $540,842 Bill For Dialysis” NPR and Kaiser Health News
Threatened Season 2, Episode 4: Ospreys and Environmental Restoration
“Goats Are Picking Up The Load For Backcountry Travelers. Some Worry About The Impact” NPR, All Things Considered
“Food Assistance Payments Came Early But Have To Last Until March” NPR, All Things Considered
“Are Private Firefighters A Public Good Or An Unfair Perk For The Wealthy?” Mountain West News Bureau
“Grizzlies Have Recovered, Officials Say; Now Montanans Have to Get Along With Them.” NPR, Morning Edition
“Judge halts first grizzly hunt in decades two days before their start,” The Washington Post
“As the Arctic warms up, a 'new ocean' is bringing new commerce to the top of the world,” PRI’s The World
“Ice is us: Alaska Natives face the demise of the Arctic ice pack” PRI’s The World
“WATCH: Tim Fain Live from Studio B.” Montana Public Radio.
“WATCH: Honey Honey Live from Studio B.” Montana Public Radio.
Projects
Talks, Workshops, and Other Recognition
MIT Moore Fact-Checking Workshop, 2019
“Telling Environmental Stories in Sound: Podcasting About the Environment,” Workshop, Co-Leader, Society for Environmental Journalists, 2019
Mentor, Crown Reporting Fellowship, University of Montana, 2022