Morgan Heim Becomes the 19th Recipient of the Philip Hyde Grant

Morgan Heim of Astoria, Oregon has been awarded the 2017 Philip Hyde Grant by the NANPA Foundation for her work on Trespass, a photographic project that illuminates the environmental impacts of trespass marijuana operations on California’s public lands. Trespass marijuana grows are illegal cultivation of marijuana on public land, usually a national forest, park, wilderness area or sacred tribal lands and are happening in thousands of sites throughout California. Aside from the drug war implications, these trespass sites’ large quantities of pesticides and rodenticides on crops and camps are causing an epidemic of wildlife poisonings, clear-cuts, water theft and pollution.

The Philip Hyde Grant will enable Heim to camera-trap unreclaimed grow sites where wildlife rummage through the refuse of an eradicated grow and are at great risk for poisoning. Heim’s four years’ worth of work on the project has so far resulted in magazine articles, short films and a media library about the trespass grows and their impact on the environment. She intends to create gallery exhibit kits for her and her partners to distribute to create guerilla-style marketing campaigns about the environmental issues associated with the trespass grows. Photography is a key component to all of this education about the growing problem.

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.

©Morgan Heim

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.