By GLEN CREVIER
Minneapolis Star Tribune

It is safe to say that the coverage of the outdoors has a taken a turn from the traditional when Nemo is the subject of one section's cover story, and skateboarding star Tony Hawk is the centerpiece on another.

No longer are sports editors relying solely on photos of dead deer and stories about the big catch to satisfy outdoor enthusiasts.

The new approach seems to be: "Keep the traditional, but expand your definition of the outdoors."

"Fish don't always bite," says Sam Cook, outdoors writer for the Duluth News Tribune. "So work hard to appeal to both kinds of readers."

Compelling writing, good story-telling and aggressive reporting are now as important on the outdoors beat as they are on the NFL beat. The perfect outdoor writer, most editors agreed, is someone who can craft an adventure story, cover legislative issues or write about trends and issues that affect the environment. Reaching a wide audience, women included, is vital.

"The person who thinks he/she is only writing for fellow experts should apply to Field and Stream," said David Sell, sports editor of the Colorado Spring Gazette.

If an informal survey of 25 sports editors and outdoors writers is any indication, going beyond the routine is now the norm.

"Try to be different," says Dan Dinsmore, assistant managing editor of the Portland (Maine) Press Herald. "Who says the outdoors section is supposed to be specifically for just hunters and fishermen? Why can't it also be for the mother who wants to take her kids hiking in the mountains?"

In many cases, it is.

The Charlotte Observer, publishes a weekly page called "Outdoors: Adventure in the Carolinas."

"We try to stick to that adventure theme and give people a taste of a variety of activities, but we still do fishing on about a third of our pages to recognize that traditional readership," said Mike Persinger, executive sports editor. "We try to be as consumer and how-to savvy as possible, and we run several survey pages a year, listings of fishing guides at the coast, places to go whitewater rafting or hiking, 10 waterfalls you can hike to ... We want to give people ideas about things to do, not just tell them stories about others doing those things."

Consistent outdoor coverage is a staple at the Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard. The department of 11 writers has a full-time outdoor writer and devotes two pages to coverage each week. "We cover traditional activities and we also have rotating free-lance columnists on hunting, bicycling, boating and hiking. We've also covered speedgolf, kayaking, wilderness walks, cycling to wineries," said sports editor Ron Bellamy. "All of our stuff is participatory."

When the Chicago Tribune replaced the late John Husar, it decided to change the focus of its outdoor coverage from strictly hunting and fishing "to more adventure writing," according Dan McGrath, associate managing editor/sports. "We wanted to broaden our coverage, not only because we felt John was so exceptional with the hooks and bullets coverage that we could not duplicate it, but we also felt it was time to tell more stories." The Tribune hired Lew Freedman, winner of numerous writing awards, who covered traditional sports, with some outdoor assignments, for the Anchorage Daily News.

Recognizing that readers want coverage of participatory outdoor activities is more important than where it appears in the newspaper. Some papers have committed to outdoors coverage separate from the sports sections, and others are pondering new sections that cover these topics.

For instance:

The Duluth News Tribune devotes three pages to outdoors coverage each Sunday as part of the Features/Travel section.

At the Colorado Springs Gazette, sports handles the traditional hooks and bullets coverage, but the paper's Life section has two reporters who write about skiing, hiking and other recreational sports in a Friday section called "Out There."

The Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune publishes a six-page section each Thursday that deals exclusively with outdoors coverage of all varieties.

The Appleton (Wis.) Post-Crescent devotes two pages each week to traditional outdoors coverage and a page called Wisconsin Wilderness and runs recreational stories in the features section.

The paper also has a unique way to gauge the appetite of its readers for outdoor coverage.

"We have instituted a quarterly Outdoors panel made up of between 8-10 people active in our outdoors community either through their profession or through their passion for a particular aspect of the outdoors," said sports editor Brad Zimanek. "We ask them what they are looking for, what issues we need to address and what things we can do that are fun for our readers. They have given us a lot of good ideas. My advice to improve outdoors coverage is to have some fun and break away from some of the traditional ways of doing things and see where it leads you."

Some examples that have worked for other papers:

The Star Tribune of Minneapolis devoted a full page to the secrets of successful outdoor photography.

When "Finding Nemo" was a big hit in movie theaters, the Orlando Sentinel did a story on clown fish, the Sentinel also produced a Christmas story on the infamous Red Rider BB gun.

The Vancouver (Wash.) Columbian produced a cover story on how kids know Tony Hawk and why parents should too, and a novice primer on climbing the Cascades.

How to cover X-games activities for the coveted Generation-Y readers is still is an unsolved mystery for most sections.

"That is part of an ongoing discussion in our newsroom," said Gary Robinson, executive sports editor of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. "I think upper management is intrigued with the idea that coverage of X-games activities could create new readership. ... But I would think it would be a mistake to take current space allocation and divide it between what we're doing now for the traditional and non-traditional coverage. The answer is to give more space."

The Orlando Sentinel is among the few newspapers that tailor coverage for this demographic with a weekly page called "Rush" that covers wakeboarding, skateboarding and other X-game type sports.

In the end, most editors agree great writing and reporting will captivate a large segment of readers whether, the topic is analyzing an environmental issue, a first-person adventure feature or a how-to piece.

"Write good stories," said Joe Palmquist, sports editor of the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash. "Find a writer who really knows the outdoors and writes with a passion about all aspects of the outdoors. ... The best thing we can do is offer credibility and good story telling."