Editor's Note

Exciting Changes on the Horizon

Lisa Moore, Editorial Director
Conservation
Oct 04, 2022

Gazing over the vivid fall foliage of Alaska’s Denali National Park, a grizzly surveys a season of change. Change is one of nature’s—and life’s—only constants.

TO PARAPHRASE THE GREEK PHILOSOPHER HERACLITUS, “Change is the only constant in life.” Without change—such as evolution, adaptation, the turn of the seasons, even the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly—life as we know it would not exist.

Magazines also thrive when they reinvent themselves to serve their readers’ changing needs and their own evolving missions. So now, as we close out our 60th year of publishing National Wildlife® magazine, we’re excited to announce some bold new changes coming soon that will allow us to bring you an even more elegant, engaging magazine in the years ahead.

First, and most significant, we are eliminating commercial advertising from our pages. Many of you, our loyal readers, have written to me expressing concern about the look or content of some of our ads, which typically have filled about 12 of the 52 pages in each issue—almost 25 percent! Frankly, the economics of the ad program no longer make sense, and the clutter of ads has always bothered me, as has featuring products that have nothing to do with the National Wildlife Federation’s conservation mission. Soon our pages will flow freely without commercial interruption—a vast aesthetic improvement for our readers.

Next, to complement the new aesthetic, we’re planning to unveil a redesign in early 2023. Changes in typography, an elegant new look and new types of content—including more diverse voices, art and illustration—will appeal to our core readership while also inviting new readers to take notice. These changes will also help advance the Federation’s expanding focus on environmental justice and engaging more people in the conservation movement.

Our final significant change is that we are transitioning from a 52-page bimonthly to a 60-page quarterly magazine, publishing issues in winter, spring, summer and fall. Because we are eliminating ads and increasing our page count, you will be receiving the same amount of editorial content—compelling articles and gorgeous photography—in a more appealing package. And by moving from six to four issues, we will be significantly reducing our carbon footprint and our use of paper, ink and shipping—a plus for the environment.

As we create each issue of National Wildlife magazine, we have you, our readers, in mind. Thank you so much for your valuable support through the years. I look forward to hearing your reactions to our coming evolution!

SHARE YOUR VIEWS: nweditor@nwf.org or @MooreWildlife