Tag: Rock Creek Conservancy

Get Outside for National Public Lands Day!

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National Public Lands Day 2020 logo © NEEF
National Public Lands Day 2020 © NEEF

By Frank Gallagher, NANPA Blog Coordinator

Saturday, September 26, 2020, is National Public Lands Day. Each year the fourth Saturday of September is so designated in an initiative created and sponsored by the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF). Typically, this is the “largest single-day volunteer event for public lands,” with hikes, workshops, cleanups, demonstrations, and all sorts of opportunities for people to participate. Last year, more than 200,000 volunteers took part. With the Covid-19 virus still a threat, things will be different this year, but there will still be many chances to get involved.

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A Nature Photographer’s Thanksgiving, Part 2

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Volunteers in a Rock Creek Conservancy work crew remove invasive plants, giving native species room to grow and sustain insect and animal life.
Volunteers in a Rock Creek Conservancy work crew remove invasive plants, giving native species room to grow and sustain insect and animal life.

Story and photo by Frank Gallagher

Along with the bounty on the table tomorrow, most of us will be grateful for things like our family, health, home and hearth.  We might also be thankful for the wonderful photographic opportunities that abound in this old world, even with all its problems (see A Nature Photographer’s Thanksgiving, Part 1).  I am embarrassed to admit that sometimes missing from my list of things to be thankful for are the volunteers that make possible so many of the experiences I enjoy.

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The Many Flavors of Conservation Photography

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The Rock Creek Conservancy is partnering with the National Park Service and working with the local community to strategically restore five sites ("mini-oases") within Rock Creek Park.

The Rock Creek Conservancy is partnering with the National Park Service and working with the local community to strategically restore five sites (“mini-oases”) within Rock Creek Park.

Story & photo by Frank Gallagher

When we think of conservation photography, we often have in mind images of the grand and majestic:  elephants, whales and tigers; the Grand Canyon, glaciers and coral reefs.  You don’t have to be a well-known photographer like Joel Sartore or Florian Schulz, or work with National Geographic or the Sierra Club to have an impact.  Those are all important, to be sure, but not everything has to be charismatic megafauna, epic landscapes, famous names or mass media.  There are also many opportunities for conservation photography in the small, in the local and in the mundane.  Sometimes, opportunity is knocking in places you’ve come to take for granted.

I was thinking about that recently, during a project for Nature Photography Day.

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