NANPA News Environment News Press Releases   Legal Alerts Environment Alerts Member Alerts   NANPA Calendar   Conferences     Sponsors -	Conferences October 2003 Regional Forum - the Black Hills and Badlands Photos and text by Juli Wilcox, Forum Coordinator Rising like an ancient, elliptical sea-mountain in a vast prairie ocean are the far eastern reaches of the Rocky Mountains, the Black Hills. At the higher elevations in the Hills, the water and air are pure and clear. Big-horn sheep and mountain goats graze atop granite hills. Cougars hide in the rocky pine forests. Goshawks belligerently defend their nests. The nights are cool and the days are bright. If one narrows one's eyes and looks 75 miles east, the mixed prairie grasses dissolve into a jagged sea-bottom that is the baddest of the Badlands--- Badlands National Park. It is an ever-eroding arid bone-bed. While bison, coyotes, and muledeer roam the surface, below lie millions of fossilized sea creatures and long-lost mammals, their bodies encased in sandy ash and shale waiting to be washed from darkness into light. There, when rains carve clay draws and make the rivers run white, it might as well be on the other side of the moon because it is like no place on earth. It is the western-most part of the state I call home- it is South Dakota. In South Dakota's Black Hills is Custer State Park (CSP), the largest state park in the USA. Within its 73,000 acres, bison, whitetail deer, and pronghorn (antelope) roam freely. Many hundreds of black-tailed prairie dogs burrow the meadows making homes for themselves and smaller mammals, reptiles and arachnids. They are all prime pickings for raptors, coyotes and badgers. An 18-mile Wildlife Loop and several well-maintained gravel roads provide public access to all the creatures, plants and geological formations of the park. Bordering CSP on the south is Wind Cave National Park, a 28,000-acre wildlife preserve. Elk herds and bison travel freely over gentle grasslands while beneath the surface wind mysterious 60 million year-old cave passages, lighted and made safely accessible by the National Park Service. The world's largest mineral boxworks and other fascinating cave formations are here. A few miles farther south in Hot Springs is the Mammoth Site. It's a million dollar plus facility and National Natural Landmark which contains the remains of over 50 Columbian and woolly mammoths and piles of their peers. Here, the world's largest display of Ice Age fauna is being excavated and preserved exactly where the animals fell around 25,000 years ago. We'll stay at the historic State Game Lodge in Custer State Park October 2-5, 2003 for a regional forum. We'll travel in our own vehicles in small groups photographing the fauna and flora of Custer State Park, Wind Cave and Badlands National Parks and the Mammoth Site. It's an opportunity to shoot all day long, stay up far too late at night, receive personalized instruction, learn a skill such as how better to use flash, shoot digitally, use the basics of Photoshop to edit film or digital images, plan and produce travel photography, or blend your photography and writing into a marketable product. Non-photographer spouses or friends may want to tour some of hundreds of other area attractions. We'll be led by accomplished pro photographers Jack Ballard, Michael Francis, Charles Glatzer, Jason Lindsey and Steve Maka who will provide personalized instruction and evening programs. Local photographer Paul Horsted will give a slide show on "Traveling with Custer", the photographs of George Armstrong Custer's photographer William Illingworth which, with the help of researchers and GPS readings, Paul was able to locate and re-photograph today. REGISTER on-line or contact the NANPA office. You may call 605-665-9818 or e-mail Juli at jwilcox@willinet.net if you have other questions. See you in South Dakota! Forum Index     Register     Article     Schedule     Instructors     Attractions         Site Index       Search       Disclaimers       Contact Us   North American Nature Photography Association 10200 West 44th Avenue, Suite 304 Wheat Ridge, CO 80033-2840, USA Phone: 303-422-8527 Fax: 303-422-8894 E-mail: info@nanpa.org   © 2001 All Rights Reserved