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Tag: history

27 March 2017

Manzanar provides an emotionally powerful history lesson

quote Manzanar National Historic Site Independence CaliforniaI’ve struggled writing about Manzanar, but I have much to say.  Not only an inspiring history lesson but a look into my own soul.  Manzanar National Historic Site took me by surprise.  I was prepared to be sad, but instead felt disturbed that this could even happen, and inspired by a people who accepted their plight.  Had someone told me to pack what I could carry and move, I’d have been kicking and screaming.  Instead these quiet and accepting Japanese people did as they were told with very little dissent in an effort to show their patriotism.  “Nani mo dekimasen” nothing can be done.

entrance Manzanar National Historic Site Independence California

“I was put into a camp as an American citizen, which is against the Constitution because I had no due process…It was only because of my ancestry.”  –Margaret Ichino Stanicci

Seems every wave of immigrants who move to America suffer through fear driven prejudice by many of our citizens who can probably trace their heritage to another land.  Even before WWII, anti-Asian sentiment was strong and especially in the western states.  Japan’s December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor intensified hostilities toward people of Japanese ancestry. Then on February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the military to remove “any or all persons” of Japanese ancestry living on the west coast to one of the ten War Relocation Centers.  Ten thousand people were incarcerated at Manzanar, two-thirds of them were American citizens by birth.  They traveled by train, bus and private car to their new home, the abandoned town site of Manzanar, California.

Visitor Center gymnasium Manzanar National Historic Site Independence CaliforniaThe Manzanar visitor center is located in the original gymnasium and one of the best I’ve seen.  The National Park Service added an annex for information, theater, and sales where I received my Junior Ranger book, the hardest one I’ve ever done next to Joshua Tree for very different reasons.  First watched the emotional 22-minute film, The Ides of Trump, which I highly recommend.  Don’t think anyone walked out of that theater with a smile.  Some, like myself, had tears in our eyes.  I feel so ashamed that President Roosevelt made this decision on behalf of the American people even though we were engaged in war with Japan.  I respect the 120,000 people who were incarcerated at all ten of the “retention centers” across the US with most in the west.  I am disturbed thinking this could happen again.

Visitor Center display Manzanar National Historic Site Independence CaliforniaThis huge image greeted me to the display room like a slap in the face.  I wandered through the huge room which shared multiple sides of the story with the emphasis on the people who were born, lived, loved, worked, married, and died at Manzanar.  I felt overwhelmed with an ache in my heart.  I couldn’t read it all.  Every display had a huge impact.  I simply perused as each display worked deeper into my soul.  Besides I wanted to drive the 3-mile self-guiding tour before closing at sunset and planned to return the next morning when the experience became even more moving.

town layout display in Visitor Center Manzanar National Historic Site Independence California

Block 14 barracks Manzanar National Historic Site Independence California

inside barracks ManzanarNational Historic Site Independence CaliforniaThe landscape currently looks nothing like the community it became yet there is evidence from the past.  The camp was built on land then owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and was arranged into 36 blocks with 14 barracks each that housed up to 300 people.  Initially, each barracks had four 20×25’ rooms with eight people per room.  An oil stove, a single hanging light bulb, cots, blankets, and mattresses filled with straw were the only furnishings provided.  Everyone ate in a mess hall, washed clothes in a public laundry room, and shared latrines and showers with little privacy.  Over time, people personalized their barracks and the blocks evolved into distinct communities.  The 500-acre housing section was surrounded by barbed wire and eight guard towers with searchlights plus patrolled by military police. Outside the fence, military police housing, a reservoir, a sewage treatment plant, and agricultural fields occupied the remaining 5,500 acres.  The original town of Manzanar, Spanish for apple orchard, was first developed as an agricultural community in the early 1900s with over 20,000 fruit trees.  Before that native Paiutes lived here.  The one thing all these people had in common was relocation.

Arai family pond renovation Manzanar National Historic Site Independence CaliforniaSeems the Japanese culture encourages living in nature, something we could all learn from, even in crowded environments gardens can provide that connection.  Moved to a desolate desert scattered with sage brush at best after the scraping of the land to build housing, mess halls, hospital, laundry facilities, latrines, school, church, orphanage, and administrative buildings had to be a shock to everyone’s system.  The wind blows more than frequently in the Owens Valley making for dust everywhere.  Yet people still created gardens for pleasure with running water in pools and waterfalls.  Stone lined paths.  Anything to bring a sense of “normalcy” to their lives.  Some were outside a families’ barracks, others were built for the community.  The National Park Service is working on renovating some of the gardens and re-vegetation.  I spoke to a park arborist at the Arai fish pond, a personal garden, and he said the pond may never have water but the plan is to replant the garden, “Anything is better than sagebrush.”  Many of the huge old black locust and cottonwood trees are dying and being cut down.  Yet new sprouts will turn to saplings and someday provide shade once again.

Merritt Park Manzanar National Historic Site Independence California

“You could face away from the barracks, look past a tiny rapids toward the darkening mountains, and for a while not be a prisoner at all.  You could hang suspended in some odd, almost lovely land you could not escape from yet almost didn’t want to leave.”  __Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston

I walked around Merritt Park, once an oasis of beauty and solitude for a crowded, confined community.  Meandering paths and waterways, bridges, lawns, and flower gardens filled its 1.5 acres.  I could hear children laughing, couples intimately whispering, a basketball game being organized.  I didn’t take many photos, ignoring the camera ever hanging at my side.  It almost felt intrusive.  Yet now as I write this, I have the desire to return, looking at this physical display of history with different eyes.

Interpretive sign Manzanar National Historic Site Independence CaliforniaManzanar was a community were life went on.  The War Relocation Authority (WRA) formed an advisory council of internee-elected block managers. Internees established churches, temples, and boys and girls clubs. They developed sports, music, dance, and other recreational programs.  Most internees worked in the camp. They dug irrigation canals and ditches, tended acres of fruits and vegetables, and raised chickens, hogs, and cattle.  They served as mess hall workers, doctors, nurses, police officers, firefighters, and teachers.  They made clothes and furniture for themselves and camouflage netting and experimental rubber for the military.  Professionals were paid $19 per month, skilled workers received $16, and non-skilled workers got $12. Many pooled their resources and created a consumer cooperative that published the Manzanar Free Press and operated a general store, beauty parlor, barbershop, and bank.

cemetery Manzanar National Historic Site Independence CaliforniaOne hundred and fifty men, women, and children died in Manzanar.  Fifteen were laid to rest in the cemetery outside the barbed wire fence in the shadow of Mt. Williamson.  The Japanese characters read “Soul Consoling Tower”.

Manzanar postcard sent Ides of Trump Independence CaliforniaBeing my first day’s visit was on March 15th, “The Ides of Trump”, a day activists were encouraged to send a postcard to #45 to show our concerns, I bought a postcard, wrote “Don’t Let This Happen Again” on the back, and mailed it from Independence, California.  Then spent the night just outside of town at the Inyo County Independence campground.

Nawa Munemori family tag Manzanar National Historic Site Independence CaliforniaI returned the next day.  Working on my Junior Ranger book required that I actually read more of the display signs.  Before people were sent to Manzanar, and other camps, each family was assigned a number and given tags.  I took a tag then walked through the displays discovering more about Nawa Munemori.  Nawa was born in Japan and arrived to Manzanar with three of her five grown children.  She hung an American flag in the window daily, until her son who fought in Italy died along with a bit of herself.  Junior Ranger badge Manzanar National Historic Site Independence California

Yes, I did work hard learning to earn my Junior Ranger badge.  Plus enjoyed an educational discussion with both a Ranger and a young woman interning from the Student Conservation Association.  Sure would like to see more national park sites offering a “Not so Junior Ranger” program to kick the learning curve up a notch or two.

 

Asian boy playing basketball Manzanar National Historic Site Independence CaliforniaNext I walked through the two reconstructed barracks.  A man of possible Asian decent with his two children had just walked out of #2 onto the basketball court.  The boy found a bin of basketballs and joyfully began to shoot for the hoop.  Had I just transported in time?  I wondered if this family visited Manzanar in tribute to ancestors.  His enthusiasm was contagious as I felt my first smile since visiting this tragic place.

watchtower Manzanar National Historic Site Independence CaliforniaThe Manzanar camp closed on November 21, 1945, three months after the war ended.  Yet despite freedom, many internees took decades to rebuild their lives and rarely spoke about the experience.  The government removed most of the structures burying the gardens.  Nature began to take over.  Beginning in 1969, a group of activists lead by Sue Kunitomi Embrey who had lived in Manzanar, formed the Manzanar Committee which pushed for the creation of Manzanar National Historic Site established in 1992.  Yet in the 1980s this mistake was recognized by a Congressional authorized commission concluding that “race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership” led to this incarceration.  Between 1990 and 1999, the US government issued over 82,000 apology letters and redress payments to Japanese Americans.

“I have come to a conclusion after many, many years that we must learn from our history and we must learn that history can teach us how to care for one another.”  –Rose Hanawa Tanaka

Let us hope a lesson can be learned from places like Manzanar and not ever let this happen again.

To see what life looked like in Manzanar check out these photos by Ansel Adams in 1943.

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California, Manzanar NHS, National Parks and Monuments, Places I've been, United States history, Japanese internment, War Relocation Center 41 Comments
24 August 2016

National Park Service celebrates its 100th birthday

National Parks collage

Although the National Park Service celebrates its 100th birthday on August 25th the story of our national parks begins with an older history than the agency established to protect the now 412 sites across the United States.  Update:  Make that 413 sites as President Obama today “designated the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument encompassing awe-inspiring mountains, forests, and waters of north-central Maine.”

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park NPS archives

First National Park

A story of long ago tells how men camping in the Yellowstone region of Wyoming thought the landscape so special it should not be developed but instead put aside for all people.  Whether this is true or not, Congress established Yellowstone National Park in 1872 “as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people” and placed it “under exclusive control of the Secretary of the Interior.” making this amazing landscape America’s first National Park.  In following years the United States authorized additional national parks and monuments, many of them carved from the federal lands of the West. These, also, were administered by the Department of the Interior, while other monuments and natural and historical areas were administered by the War Department and the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture. No single agency provided unified management of the varied federal parklands.

Buffalo soldiers at Yellowstone 1896Buffalo soldiers at Yellowstone, Wyoming 1896 (NPS archives)

Yellowstone’s first “Rangers” were African American Buffalo Soldiers, named by Native Americans because their wooly hair looked like buffalo.  They drilled and marched at Vancouver Barracks, now part of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Washington, and they pedaled to Yellowstone when the military wanted to see if bicycles were practical vehicles.  They were assigned to keep illegal grazing down, fight forest fires, build trails and roads, and expel poachers.  I certainly hope they didn’t have to patrol on bicycles in this rugged land.

Cliff Palace Mesa Verde National Park ColoradoMesa Verde National Park, Colorado established 1906

Antiquities Act

Signed by President Theodore Roosevelt, the 1906 Antiquities Act states  “That the President of the United States is hereby authorized, in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be national monuments…”  This Act also protects historic and prehistoric ruins from unauthorized excavation and looting.  In fact Mesa Verde was the first National Park designated to protect Native American ruins that same year.  As President from 1901 to 1909, Roosevelt signed legislation establishing five new national parks and four national monuments.

Acadia National Park Rocky Ocean Drive Coast by Kristi Rugg NPS5ABAAE29-1DD8-B71B-0B65C077C4876E7FAcadia National Park, Maine established 1916 (NPS archives)

Birth of NPS

On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act creating the National Park Service (NPS), a new federal bureau in the Department of the Interior responsible for protecting the 35 national parks and monuments then managed by the department and those yet to be established. The Organic Act states that “The Service thus established shall promote and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as national parks, monuments and reservations…by such means and measures as conform to the fundamental purpose of the said parks, monuments and reservations, which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”

Stephen MatherStephen Mather (NPS archives)

 Horace AlbrightHorace Albright (NPS archives)

Stephen Mather, the first Director of NPS, recognized the parks needed public support and as an astute marketer aligned NPS with railroads and auto associations promoting the parks as travel destinations. Horace Albright, his deputy and later his successor as Director, both saw the benefit of extending the park system to the East to where the bulk of the population and elected officials who controlled their budget.  In 1916, President Wilson  announced the creation of Sieur de Monts National Monument and three years later signed the act establishing Lafayette National Park.  In 1929, the name changed to Acadia National Park.

National Parks can be created only through an act of Congress.  The Secretary of the Interior is usually asked by Congress for recommendations on proposed additions to the System.  The Secretary is counseled by the National Park System Advisory Board, composed of private citizens, which advises on possible additions to the System and policies for its management

Visitor Center built 1937 by CCC Cedar Breaks National Monument UtahVisitor Center built 1937 by CCC Cedar Breaks National Monument, Utah

Decades of Growth & Change

An Executive Order in 1933 transferred 56 national monuments and military sites from the Forest Service and the War Department to the National Park Service.  This action was a major step in the development of today’s truly national system of parks—a system that includes areas of historical as well as scenic and scientific importance.  During this time, the U.S. was in the depths of the Great Depression.  President Franklin Delano Roosevelt sought to change that by putting the unemployed to work through the Civilian Conservation Corps, while also conserving the country’s national resources.  Groups of men fanned out across the country, planting billions of trees, fighting wildfires and building roads and trails at places like Shenandoah and Glacier national parks.

National Park Service logo pre-1952                                          National Park Service arrowhead

On July 20, 1951, the arrowhead became the official emblem of the National Park Service.  Each image on the arrowhead represents a valuable resource that the National Parks strive to protect.  The mountain, Mount Rainier in fact, represents the amazing scenery in our national parks as well as the natural resources they provide.  The Sequoia tree represents the plants, while the American Bison stands for wildlife.  The arrowhead shape reminds us of the historical and cultural values of our parks.

Canyonlands National Park UtahCanyonlands National Park, Utah established 1964

The Wilderness Act of 1964 prompted NPS to carefully examine all park land that potentially qualified as wilderness areas and provided additional legal protection for park areas threatened with development.  The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 required that all historical parks be entered in the National Register of Historic Places.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park view from Wilderness Ridge NPS FE42A7DF-155D-451F-67F3C5587A4D55AAGuadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas established 1966 (NPS archives)

Mission 66 was a 10-year program, initiated by National Park Service Director Conrad L. Wirth in 1956, to upgrade facilities, staffing, and resource management throughout the System by the 50th anniversary of the Service in 1966.  Congress appropriated more than a billion dollars over the 10-year period for Mission 66 improvements.  The legacy of the program included dozens of visitor centers, hundreds of employee residences, as well as the Mather and Albright employee training centers at Harpers Ferry and the Grand Canyon.

North Cascades National Park view from Sahale Peak NPS EDDF18BB-155D-4519-3ED1EC559E165A31North Cascades National Park, Washington established 1968 (NPS archives)

In 1968 the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and National Trails System Act expanded the diversity of units in the National Park System.  And the Volunteers in the Parks Act of 1969 allowed volunteers to help with administered areas.  Then the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 directed all federal agencies to avoid or minimize environmental degradation and conduct planning with studies of potential environmental impact.

Zion National Park from Smithsonian Butte Road Scenic Backway UtahZion National Park, Utah established 1919 (NPS archives)

In an Act of August 18, 1970, Congress elaborated on the 1916 NPS Organic Act defining the NP system as “any area of land and water now or hereafter administered by the Secretary of Interior through the NPS for park, monument, historic, parkway, recreational or other purposes” and saying all units of the system have equal legal standing in a national system.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park paths to follow by Laura Thomas NPS 3306F9FB-1DD8-B71B-0B560532EBC15E0ATheodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota established 1978 (NPS archives)

The Endangered Species Act of 1973 required the protection of endangered or threatened species which increased the role of science in park management.  Redwood National Park was expanded in 1978 to stop the threat of logging adjacent to the park which encouraged the protection of national parks from external threats.

Glacier Bay National Park cruise ship approaches Margerie Glacier NPS 304D39D1-1DD8-B71C-07897C55389FE615Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska established 1980  (NPS archives)

In 1980, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act converted most of the 45 million acres of national monuments President Jimmy Carter had proclaimed doubling the size of the National Park System and increasing designated wilderness.

Dry Tortugas National Park Fort Jefferson aerial looking east by NPS 3EA6FC2D-1DD8-B71C-07E07949135F5392Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida established 1992 (NPS archives)

To commemorate NPS’s 75th birthday experts from within and outside the agency made recommendations for the future urgently calling for park management grounded in scientific research.

Last light stormy sky from Lodge North Rim Grand Canyon National Park ArizonaGrand Canyon National Park, Arizona established 1919

 NPS today

The National Park System of the United States now comprises 412 areas covering more than 84 million acres in 50 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, Saipan, and the Virgin Islands. These areas are of such national significance as to justify special recognition and protection in accordance with various acts of Congress.  The National Park Service manages parks, monuments, historic sites, memorials, battlefields, preserves, recreation areas, rivers, seashores, lakeshores, parkways, and trails.  Their mission to preserve “unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the National Park System for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.”

Ranger Gaelyn & morning light over canyon from Lodge North Rim Grand Canyon National Park ArizonaThe role of today’s Park Rangers carry the same responsibilities as the Buffalo Soldiers, yet we are no longer generalists with individuals doing every needed job out there.  Divisions have been created for administration, facilities, interpretation and education, science resource, law enforcement, emergency medical services, search and rescue, structural fires, dispatch, and backcountry, all under the supervision of a park superintendent.  I am honored to be an Interpretive National Park Ranger helping people of the world understand and connect to these special places.

Ranger Wanda Lust & elephants Addo Elephant National Park South AfricaAddo Elephant National Park South Africa established 1931

The founding of Yellowstone National Park began a worldwide national park movement that today includes some 1,200 national parks or preserves in more than 100 nations.

FindYourPark ShareYourParkHelp celebrate ‘America’s Best Idea’ by visiting a national park site and enjoy free entry as you #FindYourPark August 25-28.  At the North Rim Grand Canyon National Park we’ll be serving birthday cake, kids can join in to break a piñata, and I’ll be presenting my new evening program at 8:30 when I share the history of the National Park Service and visitors join in by sharing their favorite National Park.

Waiting line at entrance station Arches National Park UtahArches National Park, Utah established 1971

Future of NPS

As America has grown in population over the past 100 years, so has the visitation to its most gorgeous and cherished spots.  In 1916 the total recreation visitors to all sites was 326,500.  In 2015 the number of visitors exceeded 300 million.  Could mean we need more national park sites.  Maybe we’ll see some new sites added before President Obama leaves office like Bears Ears in Utah, Birthplace of Rivers in West Virginia, Greater Grand Canyon Heritage in Arizona, and Gold Butte in Nevada.

Glacier National Park MontanaGlacier National Park, Montana established 1910 (NPS archives)

Our national parks play a critical role in protecting wildlife and ecosystems in an ever evolving landscape.  Climate change, however, is one threat that can’t be stopped by park boundaries.  It will be interesting to see what the next 100 years will bring.

 

“As we mark the centennial of the National Park Service, my question is this: What is the relevance of our National Parks in the twenty first century? And how might these public commons bring us back home to a united state of humility?”
– Terry Tempest Williams

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30 August 2015

A visit to historic Grafton

After the drive through Zion we stopped at an honor system fruit stand in Rockville and bought some plums, red and green tomatoes.  Then we crossed the Virgin River on the historic Rockville Bridge on the way to historic Grafton.

Historic Rockville Bridge Rockville UtahThe Rockville Bridge spans the east fork of the Virgin River, built in 1924 at the direction of the National Park Service, to link national parks and monuments, Cedar Breaks, Zion, Bryce, Pipe Springs and Grand Canyon with the rail head at Cedar City.  The route was then sent around Smithsonian Butte which we may or may not have driven later. The Rockville route was discontinued in 1928 by the construction of the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.

Schoolhouse-church & A H Russell home historic Grafton UtahSettled in 1847 by Mormon pioneers, Grafton became a ghost town twice.  During the 1860s the town washed away then relocated to higher ground before being abandoned after Navajo raids.  Once the troubles settled down people returned to Grafton and constructed the adobe schoolhouse/church.  Then in 1906 the town men helped build the Hurricane Canal and moved their families, and some even their houses, to Hurricane.  And by 1945 the town once again became a ghost town.

A H Russell home historic Grafton UtahIn June 1997, the Grafton Heritage Partnership was organized to protect, preserve, and restore the Grafton Townsite with cooperation from former Grafton residents, the Utah State Historical Society, the BLM, the Utah Division of State History, and others.  Originally built in 1862, the Alonzo Russell home, severely damaged by years of vandalism and weather, was restored in 2004.  Restoration is more than a pretty façade.  Comprehensive work included: removing stucco, rebuilding the underlying original adobe walls, reconstructing an interior staircase, two fireplaces and their chimneys, rebuilding the front porch and rear kitchen, reroofing the entire structure, and replacing all windows and doors.  Much remains to be done.

Louisa Russell home historic Grafton UtahThe home of Louisa Russell has not yet seen restoration.  I sure did like swinging under that big tree.

 John Wood home historic Grafton UtahThe John Wood home has been restored along with their barn but is privately owned so we could only look over the fence.

View from historic Grafton UtahIn addition, 150 acres (61 ha) of farmland were purchased, on which agricultural operations are performed to enhance the farming appearance.

Cemetery historic Grafton UtahThe handcrafted fence surrounding the Berry gravesite in Grafton Cemetery, badly dilapidated by 2000, was restored in 2004.  Parts were recrafted from existing fence remains and details from historic photographs.

The old townsite made a good movie set for westerns like In Old Arizona, the first talkie filmed outdoors in 1929, the following year The Arizona Kid, and Ramrod in 1947.  Then in 1969 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, one of my all time favorites.  I tried to get Bill to pose like Robert Redord riding a bicycle with his sweetheart school teacher on the handlebars yet he wasn’t cooperative.  But we did watch the movie a few nights ago and I recognized the area.  Unfortunately the school teacher’s house no longer remains.  In 1981 the TV show Child Bridge of Short Creek was filmed here and in 1984 The Red Fury.  Don’t remember seeing any of the others.

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Hi, I’m Gaelyn, the Geogypsy

I retired after 29 summer seasons as a Park Ranger, traveling solo for 40+ years. My passions include travel, connecting to nature, photography, and sharing stories.

I started exploring US National Parks in 1977 and 20 years later became a seasonal Park Ranger.  I’ve lived full-time in a RV for 30 years working summers and playing winters.  I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow old, other than grow up.

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The gypsy life spring-summer 1998 - "You were a real pioneer. RV'ing before it was cool." ...Yogi

How do you process photos? - “Your photographs create an Emotional feeling in the viewer...that they become One with You.” …Cindy

Life’s transitions between travel and work play - "I know you love your job as much as you love travel -- it shines through all your posts." ...Sallie

Lions at Kruger National Park - “Wonderful post, thank you. I was hooked start to finish!” … Peter B

11 lessons looking back 2013 - “A great post -- made me think, made me smile, made me want to cry." ...Sallie

Wildlife video Kruger National Park - “Gorgeous, this makes me want to go straight to South Africa now.” … Ayngelina

Living nomadically & connecting to nature documentary - “What an experience you had and gave to the "crew." Sometimes I think you don't realize how unique and inspiring you are.” …Alan

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1. Prioritize the well-being of nature over photography. 2. Educate yourself about the places you photograph. 3. Reflect on the possible impact of your actions. 4. Use discretion if sharing locations. 5. Know and follow rules and regulations. 6. Always follow Leave No Trace principles and strive to leave places better than you found them. 7. Actively promote and educate others about these principles

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Sites I follow, read & recommend

  • A Full-time Life
  • A Yankee in Belgrade
  • Bob's Eyes
  • Box Canyon Blog
  • Camels and Chocolate
  • Dawns bloggy blog
  • In the Direction of Our Dreams
  • Jane in her infinite wisdom
  • Janie and Steve, Utah Trails
  • Kathie's Birds
  • Las Adventuras
  • Memorable Meanders
  • Oh, The Places They Go
  • On the Road Abode
  • Port Elizabeth Daily Photo
  • Stillhowlyntravels
  • Take to the Highway
  • Technomadia
  • the good luck Duck
  • Travel with the Bayfield Bunch
  • Wandering Earl
  • Wheeling It
  • Yogi's Den

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