Photographs to engage public in renegotiation of Columbia River Treaty

NANPA Foundation supports efforts with Philip Hyde Conservation Grant

The sun drops behind the Rattlesnake hills and casts the last light of the day on the White Bluffs and Hanford Reach of the Columbia River. © David Moskowitz
The sun drops behind the Rattlesnake hills and casts the last light of the day on the White Bluffs and Hanford Reach of the Columbia River. © David Moskowitz

Alma, IL — The NANPA Foundation awarded its 2021 Philip Hyde Conservation Grant to David Moskowitz for support of his project Big River: Exploring the Contemporary Columbia River Watershed. Moskowitz will use his photographs to educate and engage the public in the renegotiation of the Columbia River Treaty, as parts of it are due to expire in 2024.

The Big River project will include a photography book and website featuring an interactive map that allows visitors to explore the river’s watershed, learn about its conservation issues, and meet partners leading efforts to protect it. The $2,500 grant will cover expenses of ongoing field work to create images. Moskowitz has already completed over 20 photo field trips across the region since 2019, methodically building a shot list of images needed to tell the river’s complex story of water management and salmon restoration.

The Columbia is the largest river to drain into the Pacific Ocean from North or South America. It wanders 1,243 miles across seven U.S. states, one Canadian province, and dozens of First Nations territories, connecting widely disparate ecosystems and human cultures. Photographs from the grant-funded project will help a wide variety of stakeholders, including tribes and First Nations that wish to exercise their sovereignty to participate in the treaty process in general and seek to add a third rail of Ecosystem Function to the renegotiated treaty.

Moskowitz is a wildlife biologist, outdoor educator, and photographer focused primarily on the western U.S. and Canada. He is photographer and author of the books Caribou Rainforest, Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest, and Wolves in the Land of Salmon as well as co-author and photographer of Peterson’s Field Guide to North American Bird Nests.

“I aim to bring wild animals and overlooked ecosystems out of the shadows and into the lives of people far and wide,” says Moskowitz, a proud member of NANPA. Moskowitz continues, “Funds from the Philip Hyde grant will allow me to continue my field work documenting the rich biodiversity and cultural landscape of the Columbia River and generate support of ongoing conservation and environmental justice issues unfolding across this vast watershed.”

NANPA Foundation’s grant was named for Philip J. Hyde, primary conservation photographer for the Sierra Club whose color images of Western landscapes became a weapon against environmental degradation. Photographers receiving the grant are following in his footsteps of environmental protection through photography. Moskowitz’s award is the 23rd project supported by the grant fund.

About NANPA Foundation NANPA Foundation is the charitable arm of the North American Nature Photography Association. It raises funds and provides resources to advance awareness and appreciation of nature through photography.

NANPA Foundation Announces Krista Schlyer as 2016 Recipient of Philip Hyde Grant

Award Highlights Use of Photography in Conservation Efforts

Anacostia 11-19-15-3001

The NANPA Foundation is pleased to announce that Krista Schlyer of Mount Rainier, Maryland is the recipient of the 2016 Philip Hyde Grant for her work using photography and visual storytelling to draw attention to one of the United States’ most denuded river ecosystems: the Anacostia River. This $2,500 peer-reviewed grant is awarded annually by the NANPA Foundation to a nature photographer who is actively pursuing completion of an environmental project.

The award will help continue Schlyer’s project which is to create a thorough documentation of the river from its deep biodiversity to the connection of people to this river system, as well as the past and ongoing threats to the river’s health and the solutions that promise a better future. Her documentation of the deforestation, agricultural and urban runoff, and toxic industry which has caused the deterioration of the river’s ecosystem began six years ago. The grant allows her to continue her work which will culminate in August 2018 with a photography/coffee table book, oral history, film, outdoor traveling exhibit and slideshow presentation.

North American beaver (Castor canadensis) on the Anacostia River, Washington DC metro region. USA. July 2014. Cropped

North American beaver (Castor canadensis) on the Anacostia River, Washington DC metro region. USA. July 2014.

Since 1999, the Philip Hyde Grant has been made possible by individual donations to the NANPA Foundation. It is awarded by the NANPA Foundation to a NANPA member who is actively pursuing a peer-reviewed environmental project that is consistent with the missions of NANPA and the NANPA Foundation.

Trash and other pollution in the Anacostia River watershed. Photo taken in the US Arboretum.

Trash and other pollution in the Anacostia River watershed. Photo taken in the US Arboretum.

This grant was named for Philip J. Hyde who was the primary conservation photographer for the Sierra Club and became known for his color images of Western landscapes that became a weapon against environmental degradation.  Photographers receiving the grant are following in his footsteps of environmental protection through photography.

The NANPA Foundation initiates, partners, operates, and generates funding for projects that advance the awareness and appreciation of nature through photography.  For information about the NANPA Foundation, visit its website at www.nanpafoundation.org.

 

Applications for the 2017 award will be accepted beginning in late summer. For more information and updates, visit the NANPA Foundation website.

Great blue heron on the Anacostia River.

Great blue heron on the Anacostia River.