This year’s Most Endangered Rivers report from American Rivers makes one thing clear: It is not sustainable for a single river to support 36 million people.

That’s the situation today for the Colorado River. Though millions use its water, it is already so over-tapped that it now dries up to a trickle before reaching the sea. Climate change and population growth have the potential to make the situation worse. The Bureau of Reclamation’s own report (Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study, December 2012) stresses that there is not enough water to meet current demands across the basin, let alone support future demand increases. Scientists predict climate change will reduce the Colorado River’s flow by 10 to 30 percent by 2050. We can’t stay on the path we’re on now if we want this iconic river and its surrounding parks and communities to remain healthy.

That’s why, now more than ever, it’s time to talk about how best to conserve the river while ensuring our protected lands remain unimpaired for future generations.

Images of this iconic river are entwined with the majestic national parks it travels through, from the meadows and rich valleys of Rocky Mountain to the dramatic vistas of the Grand Canyon. A Park Service brochure of the region captures so much of it so well for me:

The national parks of the Colorado River basin set aside the best of the river corridor’s most scenic, natural, and cultural wonders to serve the country’s heart and spirit … Dinosaur National Monument’s cathedral-like canyons where the Green and Yampa Rivers meet … Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park’s steep, narrow gash through some of the hardest rock on Earth … Curecanti National Recreation Area’s vast blue shimmer in the Colorado high country … Canyonlands National Park’s meandering gulches in the heart of Utah’s red rock country … the stark meeting of big water and big desert in Glen Canyon and Lake Mead National Recreation Area … more than 2,000 sandstone arches at Arches National Park … and the breathtaking, mile-deep descent into geologic time that is Grand Canyon National Park.

These parks and recreation areas depend on the river for their health and vitality, and in turn create economic boons for surrounding communities throughout the basin. Yet, it is a nearly impossible challenge for the National Park Service to fulfill its mandate to conserve resources in these parks due to ongoing water management issues. The various federal agencies managing the river have aimed to provide a reliable supply of water to this rapidly growing region of the country but haven’t significantly considered how to incorporate the protection of parklands. Americans recognize the special character of these wild places and protect them for present and future generations. It is now my turn, and yours, to speak up on behalf of national parks to ensure these southwestern jewels remain for our children and theirs.

In their report, American Rivers points to the need for Congress to fund programs that will encourage better water management of the Colorado River for the 21st century. NPCA couldn’t agree more. All concerned agencies, including the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the National Park Service must be involved in the development of a long-term, basin-wide framework to proactively manage water flows to address the needs of surrounding cities, agriculture, hydropower, recreation, and environmental resources. Full participation with an open, transparent process and adequate funding are both crucial to the future of this great American waterway.

NPCA’s Colorado River program is working to incorporate healthy river flows and healthy national parklands into the land- and water-management discussions more fully. These protected natural areas are part of larger landscapes and ecosystems that require collaboration among disparate stakeholders to protect. We work with federal, state, and local agencies to promote proactive measures for long-term restoration and protection of these public lands and waters. We believe that by highlighting the profound impact river management and continued diversion has on our national parks—places that are both beloved for their beauty and valued for their economic leverage—we can engage a diverse network of voices that will advocate to save the Colorado River.

For more information, see our recent press statement on American Rivers’ Most Endangered River and learn more about NPCA’s Colorado River program. You can take action for the Colorado River on the American Rivers website, and learn more by reading the Most Endangered Rivers report and watching the video below.

1. Photographer Chris Mabey is setting out to capture the effects that severe budget cuts have on our national parks and the national park experience. Mabey’s Kickstarter project describes why this is important, what the project will look like, and about when it will be completed. Check it out: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/422234408/the-best-idea-we-ever-had?ref=live

2. Our national parks provide opportunities to capture epic video and photographs. Project Yosemite produces stunning time-lapse videos showcasing Yosemite National Park. Here is their teaser for their second video, Yosemite HDII: http://vimeo.com/62184445

3. On March 25, the president designated Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument as one of three new national monuments added to the National Park System. Park officials at this new monument were quick to jump on social media. Find them now on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/HarrietTubmanNPS.

4. Spring is here, supposedly, so let’s get outside to enjoy our open spaces. This week Appalachian Outdoors posted this picture on Facebook to help remind all of us to just unplug.

-Megan Cantrell, Senior Coordinator of Member Engagement

Scientists estimate that rats are responsible for half of bird and reptile extinctions worldwide, and island wildlife populations are particularly vulnerable. The Channel Islands provide critical habitat and nesting grounds for a variety of land and shore birds, including the threatened Scripps’s murrelet. In 2001 and 2002, seven governmental and nonprofit organizations collaborated on an innovative invasive species removal program as part of a larger effort to protect and restore biodiversity on the islands.

A new Park Service video describes some of the efforts conservationists made to remove the rats, and some of the hopeful results, including a four-fold increase in Scripps’s murrelet nests, an increase in the Scripps’s murrelets’ hatching rates from 30 to 85 percent, a wider habitat range for Cassin’s auklets, and strong improvements for other animal populations, including native lizards and mice. The researchers also recorded ashy storm-petrels nesting on the island—for the first time ever.

Park officials and their partners will release a report on their findings later this year, but in the meantime, the video summarizes the good news while capturing some of the scenic vistas that make this part of the world so special.

-Jennifer Errick, Editor, Online Communications

Learn more

• See more photos of park wildlife and learn more about these stunning islands by watching NPCA’s recent slideshow on this park.
• Read about the recent recovery of the island night lizard at Channel Islands National Park.

We asked the filmmaker, Gavin Heffernan, about his experience creating the video. He shared his passion for parks and photography with us, and sent a few tips for other nature lovers thinking of creating their own time-lapse movies.

NPCA: What inspired you to film in desert national parks?

Gavin: My team and I work in Los Angeles as filmmakers. California’s close proximity to so many parks and wildlife areas gives us an abundance of riches when it comes to filming locations, both for day and night settings.

When shooting the night sky, we’re looking to get as far away from any light pollution as possible. One of our favorite spots is Joshua Tree, which is only about three hours’ drive from us, yet home to jaw-dropping skyscapes and landscapes. The Eureka Dunes in Death Valley are even further away from illuminated civilization, so the results can be even more stunning!

NPCA: Did you encounter anything unexpected or funny in making these videos? 

Gavin: We were surprised by reactions to a “UFO” visible between 1:30 and 1:35 in the video! We added a small note about a very slow circling aircraft in the video description, and the internet exploded with theories from around the globe on what it was.

The aircraft appears to be maneuvering quickly and erratically because of the long-exposure time-lapse. This is misleading. The object is actually moving very, very slowly—one second of video equals about 10 minutes of shooting! Theories about the object have included aliens, experimental aircraft, weather balloons, flying DeLoreans, luck dragons, and more. Several UFO conspiracy sites have picked up the video and made guesses of their own. For more on the subject, here’s a brief Skype interview I did with RightThisMinute.Com.

NPCA: Was creating a time-lapse video the initial goal, or did it evolve to that point? 

Gavin: That was the goal. My team and I had recently completed a popular trilogy of day/night time-lapses called “Joshua Tree Journey,” and we were eager to branch out to more locations. Though we had never been there, the Eureka Dunes in Death Valley had always held a mythical place in our hearts, and with the coming Geminid meteor shower, we knew we had to strike. Even though the temperatures were supposed to drop very low that night, we bought some cold-weather gear and went for it!

NPCA: Do you have tips for creating time-lapse videos? 

I learned a lot from the great community at Vimeo, where incredibly talented users are eager to share their works and techniques. I recommend browsing their excellent time-lapse clips and tutorials, then going out and doing some tests yourself.

Gavin Heffernan’s five quick tips for shooting starscapes and star trails.

1. Aim for nights with the smallest possible moon. At long exposures, the moon is extremely bright and can drown out a dark, starry sky. You can also experiment with different moon phases, as the effect of the moonlight moving over the dark terrain can also be pretty cool. With “Dreamlapse,” we got a perfect setup, as the Geminid peak came at a time when the moon was almost non-existent.
2. Set up your cameras far away from campsites and avoid stray lights. At long exposures (set between 20-30 seconds with a high ISO–I was shooting at 3200), even a tiny light source can interfere with the starscape (and even break the star trails). However, like most of these “rules,” you can break it to achieve artistic effects. For “Dreamlapse” we used a small lantern to illuminate the foreground sand, to replicate the feeling of fire and highlight the mixed color temperatures.
3. Don’t touch the camera in the middle of a shoot! Sometimes even the slightest touch to the lens can shift the frame and ruin the entire effect–or make a nightmare in the editing room. We shoot with two cameras, which keeps us busy enough to avoid the temptation and allows us to get “total coverage.”
4. There are two ways to accomplish star trails. One is to simply take one picture with a very long exposure (like, 60 minutes). However, we use a technique that blends regular star shots (at 25-second exposures) using specialized software known as StarStaX. In either scenario, you need to avoid clouds at all costs! To get the “circle” effect, aim the camera for the North Star, and let the globe’s spin do the work for you! Once in a good position, I recommend shooting until the entire battery is done. On the Canon 5D we use, this is about 3.5 hours.
5. Don’t panic if things look grim! Even if the skies cloud over or conditions worsen, the camera may be seeing something you’re not. It’s seeing the world with a set of superhuman eyes, so let the shot play out–you may be surprised. Some of the best shots in Terje Sorgjerd’s famous “The Mountain” time-lapse came in the middle of a sandstorm, with what Sorgjerd thought was zero visibility! In our Joshua Tree Storm video, we had a similar storm roll over and dampen our hopes, but we kept shooting and ended up getting amazing stuff that we never would have imagined. So stick with it and crack a beer. You’re in for the long haul, and you never know what you’re gonna get. Maybe even a UFO!

See more of Gavin’s work in Sunchaser’s “Joshua Tree Journey” series:

• Part One: http://vimeo.com/15437000
• Part Two: http://vimeo.com/37587197
• Part Three (Storm): http://vimeo.com/53822527

Follow Gavin on Twitter: @GavinHeffernan.
Check out Sunchaser Pictures on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SunchaserPicturesPage

Shiprock, a majestic rock formation of great religious and cultural importance to the Navajo, could once be seen from Mesa Verde National Park, 162 miles away. But now, thanks to air pollution, Shiprock’s visibility is often limited to just 20 miles. Losing sight of this spiritual symbol is just one unexpected way that coal-fired power plants have affected the Navajo and Hopi communities, on top of the more common health and air quality concerns like asthma and haze that affect people who live with constant airborne pollution.

NPCA’s eloquent new video, A Sacred Trust: Threatened National Parks and Native Lands, elevates the profile of native voices advocating for better air quality in the Southwest. 

Two remarkable women inspired the video when they realized that rural Navajo and Hopi families are sorely affected by pollution from coal-fired power plants, yet their concerns are not heard by decision-makers in their tribal capital or our nation’s capital.

One is Donna House, a member of the Navajo Nation, who joined a group of air activists NPCA organized last year in Washington, DC, to lobby on regional haze rule issues. Involved with a Navajo environmental group, Donna is especially concerned about the impact that coal-fired power plants have on the health of the Navajo people. Donna teamed up with NPCA’s clean air counsel, Stephanie Kodish, to interview and record people across the Navajo Nation and nearby Hopi Reservation who are impacted by pollution. Donna works with the community group Diné CARE whose members conducted the outreach and interviews for the video (Diné is the Navajo word for Navajo, and CARE stands for Citizens Against Ruining our Environment).

The video has been compiled from hundreds of hours of footage from committed Diné videographers and translators. Diné CARE also prepared a version designed with a Navajo audience in mind, to be distributed on the Nation. 

Videos and photos are a pale reflection of real-life experience on the Navajo Nation—the vast sky, the improbable rock formations, the endless driving across empty plains to get from here to there. The Nation is about half the size of New York State. Mostly high desert, the summers are hot and dry and the winters snowy and biting cold. The occasional storm or snowmelt makes travel on the many dirt roads problematic. Four beautiful, sacred peaks surround their homeland, as do many wonderful national parks. Four parks—Canyon de Chelly, Navajo Monument, Rainbow Bridge, and Hubble Trading Post—are entirely within the Nation.

The Navajo share a rich and complicated culture. Our work together, much like any cross-cultural effort, has required patience and a willingness to address differences so we can communicate beyond them.

One time, for instance, I met with a number of Navajo in an oversized hogan, a traditional dwelling, for an emotional community meeting.  Residents expressed anger about promises a local energy company had broken, like not getting electricity despite being close to a mine, and no road upkeep despite the needed bulldozers nearby. Some shared grief over relatives who suffered ailments they tie to the mine and power plant. At one point I was completely surprised when a speaker accused those of us visiting of not caring about what they said, because we weren’t recording or writing what the speakers were saying. We mistakenly assumed that writing notes would have been disrespectful!

Another time, Donna, Stephanie, and I were on a conference call to work out the budget for this video project, and Stephanie was curious why there was a line item called traditional food. Donna explained that it is expected when visiting someone, especially in a remote location, to bring along traditional food as a gift of good health and strength. I remembered this later when stopping at the Petrified Forest National Park gift shop before visiting a Navajo friend. I was able to purchase a 20 pound bag of Bluebird Flour, an essential ingredient in Navajo fry bread, and the gold standard of food gifts. My friend’s face lit up when she saw it, and she shared a long tale of the last time she got such a gift during an important ceremonial gathering at her home.

I hope you enjoy the video and share it with friends. We’ll feature it during campaigns to clean up this region’s air, such as early next year when we push for strong controls at the Navajo Generating Station. Fortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency recently announced stricter regulations on three power plants in Arizona. After you watch the video, you can thank the agency on our take action page.

It seems fitting, then, that Wolf Trap has created a series of vibrant dance performances devoted especially to national parks. The seventh installment in this “Face of America” series will debut this Saturday, September 8, featuring the parks of South Florida: Biscayne National Park, Big Cypress National Preserve, Dry Tortugas National Park and Everglades National Park. The show will combine live dance with taped dance performances filmed in the parks; Miami-based timba band Tiempo Libre will perform as dancers highlight the natural landscapes, wildlife,  history, and culture of these iconic places.

Learn more on Wolf Trap’s website, and see a short sample of the show’s performances on the video clip below. And if you buy tickets, use promo code SPIRIT25 at check out to get a 25 percent discount especially for park lovers!

-Jennifer Errick, Editor, Online Communications

At the heart of the video is an interpretation of the Buffalo Soldier experience by Yosemite Park Ranger Shelton Johnson. Shelton has been working for decades to promote diversity in the national parks, and he has been telling this particular story since 1998. What follows are excerpts from a recent interview with Shelton, where he described these experiences to me in his own words.

-Jennifer Errick, Editor, Online Communications

***

My first job in a national park was as a dishwasher at the Old Faithful Inn [in 1985]—and I should add that I was an excellent dishwasher! There weren’t a lot of other African-American employees, even working with the concession in Yellowstone. It always struck me that there were people from all over the world who were working as employees in the park. I remember thinking at the time, how is it that a woman from Italy has not only heard about working in national parks, she’s here doing it, and I didn’t know anyone who had worked in a national park, growing up in Detroit? Early on it struck me that there was a disconnect between the whole idea of national parks and the African-American community.

***

Whenever you talk about the Buffalo Soldiers, you can’t tell that story without talking about race. You can’t tell that story without talking about slavery. You can’t tell that story without talking about genocide. I’m not only telling those stories and covering those difficult topics, I’m telling it to an audience that is mostly European-American. You can imagine a black guy standing up in front of a room, talking to a majority white audience about race. [He laughs.] That doesn’t sound like somebody’s idea of a good time in a national park. I can’t offend the listeners, but at the same time, I’m telling a story that makes people uncomfortable. The big challenge for me was to learn how to be comfortable with my discomfort and to be non-accusatory in the issues that I was bringing up with regard to race and class.

***

African Americans are the group that is least likely to have a wilderness experience. They don’t necessarily feel a cultural connection to the land. What this Buffalo Soldier story does is it provides that bridge back to the earth—back to America. And in a positive way, instead of the negative associations that are tied to both slavery and that period of post-emancipation which led to Jim Crow and the rise of the Ku Klux Klan.

People focus on the physical brutality of [slavery], but they tend to not focus on what that would do to your perception of the land, if the land is a place where you’re forced to work, you get no financial reward for working the land, you’re lucky if you can make it through the day without getting beaten. So how does someone who’s forced to work the land look at the land, under those circumstances? It’s not any wonder when you really delve into the history that you would have these negative associations.

People who have grown up camping and reading John Muir, they have this completely different perception of the land. What I’m going up against is this entrenched cultural aversion. I knew it was going to be a challenge. I had absolutely no idea it was going to be as challenging as it turned out to be.

***

Almost all of the soldiers who served here [at Yosemite] were either the sons or grandsons of enslaved people. Here they are going from this legacy of slavery to this experience of stewardship and protection. That’s an incredible story. That’s why I feel the Buffalo Soldier story is the most important story for African Americans in the entire breadth of the National Park System.

And yet, that history is forgotten. As long as there are African Americans out there who have the mindset that, “Oh, we don’t have anything to do with the national parks. That’s not a black thing,” then my job isn’t done. The absence of information is just as profound as the presence of information. That’s why there’s so much to overcome. We have decades and decades of this mindset that has been internalized within the African-American community that “we have nothing to do with national parks.”

***

It’s easy to assume that it’s poor people of color who don’t have a park experience, but it’s across the board. It doesn’t matter if you’re male or female, rich or poor, highly educated or not as highly educated. If you’re of African descent, you’re much less likely to have a national park experience.

***

Sometimes I make it look too easy when I’m out there performing, because actually, there’s a part of me that’s scared to death. Every single time I put the uniform on, I’m hoping it’ll work. I liken it to dancing in a minefield. While I’m doing it, I know that I’m one step away from absolute disaster.

The thing I’ve found is that when people hear a truth that runs contrary to what they’ve been led to believe, the natural response is to close up, and they stop listening. And when I first started doing my Buffalo Soldier program, there was no humor in it at all. I had a guy who told me early on, “Thanks, ranger. I think I need to go to a bar.” [He laughs.] It was just too hard-hitting. And then I realized at some point that there would have been humor in that story, because there had to have been. You can’t go through a rough time without finding something funny in it to lift your spirit up.

It’s not that I want to hurt [members of the audience], but I want them to understand that this is a story of people who have been hurt. I want them to feel it emotionally, and I want people to connect emotionally with what I’m doing. I don’t see what I do as a performance. I see it more as channeling, and what I want people to walk away with is this sense that they’ve been in the presence of a real person.

Watch the video:

To learn more about Buffalo Soldiers in Yosemite, visit http://www.nps.gov/yose/historyculture/buffalo-soldiers.htm.

Dreaming of a trip to Yosemite? You’ll enjoy this stunning four-minute time-lapse video of the park by Project Yosemite. Wow!

-Felicia Carr, Senior Director of Online Communications