"When I began as a photographer, I was taking pictures mostly for myself. When we had children, my mindset changed, and now I do the work mostly for them because I don't want my kids or anyone else's to grow up one day and only be able to appreciate the wonders of nature in a museum or read about it in a book or see it in a zoo. I feel we are blessed to be stewards of this planet, but in many cases, we have forgotten that with this privilege comes responsibility. Photography can be a powerful witness to our shortcomings, but also to show that beauty and hope still exist in the natural world. It can help communicate to people why something matters. Conservation photography is an active and powerful tool to begin this process, to start the conversation, to call for action. Time is short.”
–Michael Forsberg

Michael Forsberg is a Nebraskan whose 30-year career as a photographer and conservationist has been dedicated to wildlife and conservation stories in North America's Great Plains, once one of the greatest grassland ecosystems on Earth. His images have been featured in publications including Audubon, National Geographic, Nature Conservancy, and Sierra magazines. His fine art prints are in public and private collections, and his solo exhibitions have traveled nationwide.

In 2017, Mike received the Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography from the Sierra Club in Washington, DC, and the Environmental Impact Award from the North American Nature Photography Association. Also, in 2017, his image of sandhill cranes on the Platte River was selected to illustrate USPS's Forever stamp celebrating Nebraska's 150 years of Statehood. In 2000, his photograph of a Nebraska tallgrass prairie was issued as an international airmail stamp in the United States Postal Service's American Scenes Series. In 2020, Mike received the J. Sherwood Chalmers Medal from The Garden Club of America.

Mike is the author and photographer of On Ancient Wings – The Sandhill Cranes of North America, self-published in 2005, Great Plains – America's Lingering Wild, published by the University of Chicago Press in 2009 and Into Whooperland – A photographer’s journey with whooping cranes, self-published in 2024. He was featured in the Nebraska Public Media documentary Crane Song and co-produced Great Plains – America's Lingering Wild, based on his book of the same title, released on PBS in 2013.

In 2011, Mike co-founded Platte Basin Timelapse (PBT) in partnership with the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Michael Farrell Photography and Fine Art. Today, it is a conservation storytelling project that informs scientific research, builds educational content, and tells stories of a Great Plains watershed in motion. The documentary Follow the Water, based on the project and Mike's traverse across the Platte Basin watershed, was released on PBS nationally in 2019.

Mike is a faculty member at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, a Fellow with the Center for Great Plains Studies and the Daugherty Water for Food Institute, and a Senior Fellow with the International League of Conservation Photographers.

He lives with his family and a collection of unruly animals in Lincoln, Nebraska.

"Mike's idea of a good time is to hike for miles, with a full pack of gear on, in the dark, into a stiff wind, at twenty below zero, just to sleep in a snowbank beside a stream on the slim chance that trumpeter swans may appear in from of him when the light finally comes. And sometimes they do. And we're all richer for it." –Joel Sartore, National Geographic Photographer and Founder of The Photo Ark

SELECTED AWARDS AND HONORS

34th Annual Literary Heritage Award - 2023
The J. Sherwood Chalmers Medal, The Garden Club of America - 2020
Ansel Adams Award for Conservation Photography, Sierra Club - 2017
Nebraska Statehood Forever Stamp, US Postal Service - 2017
One of the selected 150 Notable Nebraskans - 2017
Environmental Impact Award, North American Nature Photographers Association (NANPA) - 2017
Nebraska Master Naturalist - 2016
Legislative Resolution 627, the Legislature applauds and commends Michael Forsberg - 2016
Mission Award, North American Nature Photographers Association (NANPA) - 2009
Conservation Education Award, The Wildlife Society - 2004
Highly Commended in the BBC's International Wildlife Photographer of the Year - 2003
Award of Excellence in the Science/Natural History category of the 58th Annual Pictures of the Year (POY) - 2001

SELECTED BOOK COVERS

The Nebraska Sandhills
Wild Again: The Struggle to Save the Black-Footed Ferret by David Jachowski
Nebraska Poetry: A Sesquicentennial Anthology
Jewels of the Plains
Grasses of the Great Plains
The Second Nebraska Breeding Bird Atlas
The Encyclopedia of the Great Plains
The Echo Maker
The Snowbound Anthology

SELECTED Publications

Whooping Crane (Grus americana) family consumes a diversity of aquatic vertebrates during fall migration stopover at the Platte River, Nebraska. Western North American Naturalist. Authors: Caven, Andrew J.; Koupal, Keith D.; Baasch, David M.; Brinley Buckley, Emma M.; Malzahn, Jenna; Forsberg, Michael L.; and Lundgren, Mariah.

Capturing change: the duality of time-lapse imagery to acquire data and depict ecological dynamics. Ecology & Society. Authors: Emma Brinley Buckley, Craig Allen, Michael Forsberg, Michael Farrell, Andrew Caven.

Hitching a ride: First record of a Least Chipmunk (Tamias minimus) in eastern Nebraska. Nebraska Academy of Sciences. Authors: Keith Geluso, Michael Forsberg

One home is a house for many: biodiversity associated with an American beaver lodge. The Scientific Naturalist. Authors: Tye, SP, ML Forsberg, EM Brinley Buckley, JS Dale, K Geluso, AM Siepielski, and MJ Harner.

Phenology of a North American beaver (Castor canadensis) lodge near the Platte River, Nebraska, unveiled by time-lapse photography. Society for Freshwater Science. Authors: Emma Brinley Buckley, Keith Geluso, Michael Forsberg

Assessing biological and environmental effects of a total solar eclipse with passive multimodal technologies. Ecological Indicators. Authors: Emma Brinley Buckley, Andrew Caven, Benjamin Gottesman, Mary J. Harner, Bryan C Pijanowski, Michael Forsberg

Biological and Environmental Datasets from August 21, 2017 Total Solar Eclipse. Data in Brief, Authors: Emma Brinley Buckley, Andrew Caven, Benjamin Gottesman, Mary J. Harner, Bryan C Pijanowski, Michael Forsberg