Southern California is widely recognized for its diverse geography and adventurous outdoor recreation. Starting today, the Los Angeles Times is launching Outdoors, a new weekly section that will be the definitive source of journalism about nature, outdoor recreation and the environment for Southern California and the West.

“Through compelling stories written with an insider's authority, we want to draw together the spectrum of people who relish the outdoors and care about the environment,” said Bob Sipchen, Outdoors editor. “The section will exult in a Southern California truism: Here it is possible, on a single day, to ski fresh powder in the morning, surf big waves as the sun sets, and — to expand the idea — pause along the way to mountain bike a technical single-track and nymph for scrappy trout in a wilderness stream.”

Sipchen, an 18-year veteran of the Los Angeles Times, has worked in most of its sections, covering a wide range of subjects. Most recently, as associate editor of the Editorial Pages, he shared the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing with Alex Raksin. Sipchen contributed to The Times' Pulitzer Prize-winning team coverage of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. From 1995 to 1996, he helped cover the U.S. presidential campaign, and in 1997, while traveling 22,000 miles through 46 states in a rented 26-foot RV with his family, he wrote about the state of the American family.

Sipchen's devotion to the outdoors began when he moved to California at age 5. By 6, he was hiking and horseback riding in the San Bernardino National Forest. At 10, he began surfing and snorkeling near his parents' beach trailer in Baja California. During college, he worked summers as a firefighter and patrolman for the U.S. Forest Service. Today, he and his family often go off to surf, body board, mountain bike, backpack, fly fish, ski, snowboard, photograph wildflowers, trail run, snorkel and river raft.

Each week Outdoors will offer a mix of stories, essays and service information representing the wide range of topics of interest to the diverse community of outdoors enthusiasts. In the first few issues, readers will find:

  • Action: Plummet down Sierra creeks with young kayakers and
    scuba dive with Lynne Cox, who gained international fame
    swimming vast distances in the Arctic, Antarctica and Africa
    but had never been beneath an ocean's surface until Outdoors
    offered an invitation.

  • Nature: Track wild condors with George Plimpton and find out
    why scientists dip Santa Barbara Island lizards into plastic
    bags of phosphorescent paint.

  • Ideas: Wriggle through a muddy black cave as author Barbara
    Hurd sheds light on humans' fear of nothingness, and track the
    clues to happiness that mystery writer Tony Hillerman finds in
    the AAA's “Indian Country” map.

  • Information: Explore Southern California hiking trails, bass
    lakes and half pipes. Learn whether wildfires have fried your
    favorite campsite, how game wardens bust poachers, why
    sailboats threaten Baja California's point breaks.

  • Equipment: Learn about the stickiest climbing shoes and the
    slickest board bottoms, the brightest LED headlamps and
    lightest filters for outsmarting giardiasis.

In 2002, the Los Angeles Times began a two-year program to revitalize its Features sections, starting with the revamped daily, Weekend and Sunday Calendar sections, as well as the Food and Health sections. In 2003, The Times introduced the Home section, in addition to today's new Outdoors section. The launch of a new section on fashion and beauty has been rescheduled for 2004.