Climate Change and National Park Wildlife. A Survival Guide for a Warming World

One of the organizations we support is the National Parks Conservation Association or NPCA. They have just issued a report on climate change and National Park wildlife. According to Thomas Kiernan, President of NPCA

What's happening in the parks is symptomatic of changes unfolding across the
larger landscapes to which they are inseperably connected, the same landscapes
that contain our communities. Changes that harm wildlife - depriving them
of food, water, or shelter - will ultimately harm us.

The report is available free online at http://www.npca.org/climatechange/wildlife_survival/ It's 60 pages long, but much of those pages are filled with beautiful wildlife photography. Take a look, read the report, and consider supporting NPCA.

Battle of Zollicoffer

Zollicoffer is what Bluff City TN was called during the Civil War. There is a reenactement held just outside Bluff City each year. This is the second year I've gone and this was even better than the first time. Great weather, lots of action, and plenty of characters around.

Check out a few of the photos from that day at Battle of Zollicoffer

What does a landscape photographer do on a foggy morning?

On an early fall morning I got up way before sunrise to go down to Warriors Path State Park to get some sunrise shots. You never know what you will find after you get up and head out. Sometimes your rewarded with a beautiful sunrise (I've been blessed with several) but sometimes you get clouds or even worse - fog. The hard part of getting up and driving out there is past so I might as well make the best of it.

A foggy morning can result in some erie pictures and some that are very interesting. You wont get a brilliant sky, or beautiful warm colors of the early morning sun, but sometimes you get rewarded with something like the photo here. You can browse to a large image by clicking here.

The soft lighting of overcast days can eliminate unwanted shadows, cut down on nasty glare, and make the colors really pop. Cloudy and rainy days are some of the best times to shoot landscapes. Just avoid the ugly sky and focus on the intimate details. Watch for those opportunites to get that picture that's different from the ones everyone else shoots on the pretty days.

The End of Fall

I've been out on more trips to more places this fall than any other year. I've been blessed with some beautiful fall colors. The leaves are pretty much down now and the color gone here in the Tri-Cities but I did capture some pictures over the past two weeks and posted them at Fall Colors 2009

I hope you enjoy this and the other pictures from this fall.

Dupont State Forest

The Eastman Camera Club took a day trip to Dupont State Forest in Oct. for the fall color and waterfalls. The fall colors were not as bright as we had hoped but the waterfalls were very full! It was overcast all day, which is good for taking waterfall pictures in the middle of the day. The pictures are available in the Dupont State Forest 2009 album.

The Friends of Dupont provided shuttle bus rides between the falls and a lake. They also do this for spring wildflowers on Mother's Day Weekend. We're already planning on going back.

Blue Ridge Parkway Fall Colors

June and I spent three days on the parkway in October, one of which was a nice sunny day. The other two were pretty much washouts. We stayed at an excellent B&B in Black Mountain, NC called The Arbor House. The first few pictures are taken from the back of the B&B looking out over Lake Tomahawk with the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background. The rest of the photos were taken between Black Mountain and Blowing Rock.

The fall colors varied from brilliant to just about gone. There had been an unusual amount of rain leading up to that time, which knocked down many of the leaves. You'll see from the photos that there were still a lot left.

The photos are in the Blue Ridge Parkway 2009 album. I hope you enjoy.

Rocky Fork Wilderness

June and I hiked into the Rocky Fork Wilderness on Saturday and loved it. It's a beautiful place that was saved from developers in 2008. Here's some info on the acquisition Rocky Fork Acquisition

We went hoping to catch some early fall color but the leaves have not started to turn yet. We've had a couple cool nights so it won't be long.

Here's some photos from that trip.
Rocky Fork