Are you a change agent? Do you want to make a difference? Now’s your chance! In honor of its 25th birthday, the NANPA Foundation set an ambitious goal to raise $25,000 and is well over half way there. This week, an anonymous donor offered to match, dollar for dollar up to $2,500, all donations to the NANPA Foundation.
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The Philip Hyde Conservation Grant is a $2,500 grant awarded by the NANPA Foundation to a NANPA member pursuing a peer-reviewed environmental project that aligns with NANPA’s and the NANPA Foundation’s missions. Applications for the 2021 grant are being accepted through 11 p.m. EDT on October 29th, so there’s still time to apply. Past recipients have been engaged in projects covering a wide gamut of locations, ecosystems, plants, and animals. As part of their responsibilities, grant awardees periodically report on their progress. Last month, 2020 grant recipient Mary Lundeberg reported on her work protecting nesting shorebirds on Florida beaches. Today, we hear from more previous awardees on how their projects are progressing.
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An exceptional group of judges is getting set to evaluate the photos entered in NANPA’s 2022 Showcase nature photography competition. Being chosen for recognition by this panel will be a real mark of distinction, not to mention the prizes and other benefits of entering this competition. Remember, all entries are due no later than 11 p.m. EDT on Monday, September 20, 2021. So, don’t delay! Get your images ready now! Find the rules and full details on NANPA’s Showcase pages.
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Conservation photographer Clay Bolt tells Dawn Wilson, Ron Hayes, and Mark Raycroft how he learned about the rusty-patched bumble bee and why he got involved in efforts to get it added to the Endangered Species list. Find out how this bee stopped the Atlantic Coast pipeline, what you can do in your own community to support native pollinators, and which SNL Weekend Update joke hit close to home for Clay. Plus, hear what happened when Clay and Eli Wyman went to Indonesia in search of Wallace’s giant bee—a species that hadn’t been seen in more than 35 years—and why your mobile phone may be the best conservation tool around.
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It’s hard to believe that this fiscal year over! Today we welcome Dawn Wilson as NANPA’s next president as well as new board members Beth Huning, Trent Sizemore, and Kika Tuff. Lisa Langell will stay on for a second term and be a great mentor to the incoming members. I’m looking forward to working with and helping everyone achieve NANPA’s goals and dreams.
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I have been a NANPA member for a year and a half. Even in that short time, NANPA and its supportive community have influenced me in many meaningful ways. Life seems to be full of wonderful flukes, and my introduction to NANPA was one such instance. One morning in November of 2012, when I was a high school senior, I received word from a fellow photographer of a great photographic opportunity that existed for high school students. Though just three days away from the deadline of NANPA’s High School Scholarship Program application, I immediately jumped at the opportunity. I quite honestly remember thinking it looked too good to be true – a chance to spend a week in the field and at the NANPA Annual Summit, all the while learning and being inspired. I wondered to myself a little incredulously, How could I not have heard of NANPA before? It looks awesome!
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Clay Bolt of Livingston, Montana has been named the 2019 Philip Hyde Conservation Grant recipient by the NANPA Foundation. Bolt’s award of $2,500 will be used to continue his study of bumble bees, specifically the effect of climate change on bumble bees in the Sky Islands in south-central New Mexico.
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Paddling in Baja California Sur. Photo by Cathy Illg.
Based on their reputations alone I knew the keynote speakers at last month’s Summit in Las Vegas were going to be good, but their presentations surpassed my wildest expectations—brought tears to my eyes a couple of times. Of course, that might not be much of an endorsement. My wife, Cathy, says I’m a big crybaby at the best of times, while I maintain I’m just sensitive.
Environmental Impact Award winner Clay Bolt.
For several years now we’ve been hearing about problems with bees. Mass die offs. Colony collapse disorder. Potential shortages of hives for commercial pollination. In 2013, after hearing about the troubles bees were having, Clay Bolt started photographing bees around his South Carolina home. After posting photos of two tiny bees online, and finding people (even entomologists) couldn’t identify them, a new project was born, which led to Clay Bolt receiving this year’s Environmental Impact Award.
January 15, 1994. NANPA Founding Board. Sheraton Hotel, Ft. Myers; Seated, clockwise from lower left: Jim Saba, Karen Hollingsworth, Rick Zuegel (Forum chair), Frans Lanting, Mark Lukes (President), Jerry Bowman (Co-ED), Francine Butler (Co-ED), Gil Twiest (Treasurer), Aileen Lotz, Karen Beshears, Helen Longest-Slaughter, Jane Kinne (President-elect). Standing, L to R: Gary Braasch, John Nuhn, Roger Archibald, Russ Kinne. Missing: George Lepp. © Shirley Nuhn & Roger Archibald.
It all started back in October 1993, when ornithologist, artist and nature photographer, Roger Tory Peterson invited a group of nature photographers to the Roger Tory Peterson Institute in Jamestown, New York. This was the first time that an organized group of nature photographers had assembled in one place, and more than 100 photographers showed up for panel discussions, networking, and presentations. This meeting was so well received that everyone wanted to do it again—and thanks to a ton of work and great organization—by April 1994, NANPA had a founding board, president, bylaws and mission, with plans underway for their first annual conference, which took place in Florida in January 1995. NANPA’s first awards were also bestowed at the 1995 conference when Roger Tory Peterson received NANPA’s first Lifetime Achievement in Nature Photography Award, and Outdoor Photographer Magazine was honored with our first Community Recognition Award.