This month, we are honoring Jane Braxton Little who was recently presented with the 2025 Excellence in Journalism Award for Distinguished Service to Journalism by the Society of Professional Journalists Norcal. Jane is the editor-in-chief of The Plumas Sun.
Jane Braxton Little is a mother, a grandmother, a wife, and an independent journalist based in the northern Sierra Nevada whose career spans decades covering science, natural resources, environment, and rural life. Her writing has appeared in outlets such as The Atlantic, Scientific American, National Geographic, Audubon, Bay Nature, and many others.
After the region’s last traditional newspaper closed, Jane helped launch The Plumas Sun in 2023, an online community news outlet focused on in-depth, unbiased reporting on local government, wildfire recovery, housing, and civic affairs — essential coverage in a rural news desert.
Jane lived through the 2021 Dixie Fire, one of California’s largest wildfires, which nearly destroyed her Greenville community. She was evacuated and later chronicled both personal experience and broader climate impacts in essays and reporting.
Her work reflects not only immediate devastation but also the long-term challenges of wildfire recovery, housing shortages, and rural resilience. She weaves scientific insight with community stories, connecting global climate issues to lived experiences in Plumas County and beyond.
Jane Braxton Little's work reflect a fusion of community commitment, environmental awareness, and a fierce belief in the power of local journalism to hold space for rural voices and climate-shaped realities. Her leadership at The Plumas Sun and her storytelling — from wildfire onset to recovery — make her both a chronicler, an advocate for her community, and a bad-ass matriarch.
Photo credit and website: https://www.janebraxtonlittle.com/bio
