The Books That Built Backcountry Press

In 2012, after nine years of writing Conifer Country, the book had evolved into my Master’s Thesis at Humboldt State. Based on all the time and energy we had put into this book, my wife Allison and I decided to take the leap and start our own small business. We had options with other publishers but the time seemed right for us to print and distribute the book ourselves. Conifer Country was our first baby and we wanted to keep it around. The book had become a well-refined masterpiece and we were going to take on all aspects of getting it into people’s backpacks.

Currently in their 6th round of printing–with over 12,000 copies sold–Conifers of the Pacific Slope and Conifer Country are the books that built Backcountry Press.

Michael Kauffmann, co-owner of Backcountry Press

In the process of working toward my MA at Humboldt I decided to begin another project I called Conifers of the Pacific Slope. This is a field guide to the 65 conifer species (10% of the world’s conifers) in California, Oregon, and Washington. Its creation involved developing range maps for all species and also photographing and describing them. I finished this book in 2013.

Between these two books (and two real babies!), our fledgling business, Backcounty Press, grew. We are always working to get our books into more independent bookstores and National Park visitors centers across the West.

We continually challenge ourselves and our customers to explore Earth’s natural history–in the backcountry and close to home.

We give back too!

Every year we donate to a variety of organization, here are a few.

• Siskiyou Mountain Club
• North Coast Regional Land Trust
• Humboldt Trails Council
• KS Wild
• Redwood Region Audubon Society
• North Coast Environmental Center
• Friends of the Dunes
• Salmon River Restoration Council