David Bolling has wandered through the media universe for more decades than he cares to remember or confess. In a career that has spanned daily and weekly newspapers, radio, television, documentary filmmaking and a smidgen of theater, he has been in perpetual search of meaning, relevance, insight, understanding, the occasional revelation, really good zinfandel and the world’s best margarita.
In a parallel universe he has also played the role of environmental activist, working to protect wild rivers and promoting wise water policy. Along the way he has won more than 50 state and national awards for his writing, editing, photojournalism and his documentary film, “Living and Dying on Everest.” He has conducted more than 2,000 interviews with subjects ranging from U.S. presidents to prostitutes, film stars and famous dogs (really). He has traveled from Mt. Everest to the Great Barrier Reef covering stories of adventure, survival and environmental abuse, and he persists in pursuing enduring relationships with wild places.
Before founding Valley of the Moon magazine in 2015, David served as editor and publisher of the Sonoma Index-Tribune and SONOMA magazine, was publisher and editorial director of Whole Earth magazine and for more than a decade was co-owner and editor of the Santa Rosa News-Herald and Sonoma Business magazine (now Northbay Biz).
Following four years as executive director of Friends of the River, a statewide conservation organization, he wrote the book “How to Save a River,” published by Island Press.
Bolling spent four years hosting a series of outdoor adventure television programs on the Outdoor Life Network, and in 2000 was sent to Mt. Everest as Travel and Outdoor Editor by Verde Media, a short-lived, multi-media start-up.
He is a longtime whitewater river guide and retains some degree of sanity through the practice of Transcendental Meditation. He has lived in the Valley of the Moon — in Glen Ellen — long enough to raise two adult daughters and a third soon to enter Sonoma Valley High School. The family has a cat named Pearl and a canine companion named Albus Milo Dumbledog.
