It's so quiet the town fathers retired the lone traffic light years ago. Yet to writers, legislators and activists interested in the Rocky Mountain West, this hamlet of 1,600 is renowned. High Country News, nearly 25 years old, circulates to only 15,000 people. But 500 of them live in or near the District of Columbia. A thousand are teachers who use the paper in their classes.
Hundreds are reporters who watch it for story ideas.
The paper is widely considered one of the most influential publications in the western United States. Environmental reporters recently named it one of the best news organizations for environmental coverage, along with the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Publisher Ed Marston and editor Betsy Marston, both 54, moved to Paonia from the East Coast 30 years ago. Most of the dailies in the region are pretty parochial, paying little attention to anything beyond their own borders and not taking much of a big-picture view of the region. Originally an environmentalists' organ, High Country News is now read by ranchers and miners as well as Sierra Club members.