Great Plains Exhibition at Wildcat Hills Nature Center
Mike’s Great Plains: America’s Lingering Wild Exhibition will be at the Wildcat Hills Nature Center in western Nebraska for the summer. Mike will be speaking at the opening reception on the evening of June 27th.
Haines Branch Prairie Corridor project: An opportunity to leave a legacy
Mike, the Prairie Corridor Cabinet leader, former mayor Chris Beutler, and Maggie Stuckey, executive director of Lincoln Parks Foundation were featured on the cover of Lincoln’s L Magazine. The article discusses the Haines Branch Prairie Corridor project. Read the article in the link provided below.
Premiere of "Time and the River"
Lincoln Friends of Chamber Music and the Glenn Korff School of Music joined forces in a concert to present the world premiere of “Time and the River.” Composed by Kurt Knecht (UNL DMA 2009), the work is inspired by and incorporates the images from the Platte Basin Timelapse project of Michael Forsberg and Michael Farrell. The concert was held on April 27th, 2019.
To learn more about the show visit: https://events.unl.edu/2019/04/27/132092/
Exhibition: River Runs Through It
From February-August 2019 the A River Runs Through It exhibition will be at Kearney, Nebraska’s Museum of Modern Art (MONA). Platte Basin Timelapse is featured in this exhibition along with many other talented Nebraska artist. The above images is on display at the museum along with several other multimedia pieces produced by the PBT team.
Follow the Water Documentary on PBS National
On Earth Day 2019 Follow the Water aired nationally on PBS.
In this 60-minute documentary, Mike Forsberg and Pete Stegen set off on a 55-day traverse across the Platte River Basin. They travel more than 1,300 miles-on bike, on foot and in a canoe--to trace the journey of Nebraska's Platte River from snowmelt in the mountains of Wyoming to where it finally flows into the Missouri.
Click the link below to watch the documentary.
CoJMC pop-up class: Platte River Crane Experience
Mike Forsberg and Mike Farrell taught a pop-up class held through the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications called, Platte River Crane Experience. The class was held at the Crane Trust Nature & Visitor Center on March 8-9, 2019. Forsberg and Farrell took the students into a crane blind in the morning and evening, a week later the students presented the projects they put together from their experience.
Click the link below to listen to the podcast and watch the short video about the class.
https://www.unl.edu/podcasts/following-cranes-journalism-pop-class/
Nebraska Agro-Tourism Conference
Mike was a Keynote speaker with rancher Sarah Sortum at the Nebraska Agro-Tourism Conference on February 28, 2019 in Ord, Nebraska.
Audience: Anyone wanting to start or grow a successful agri/eco tourism business. Typical attendees include farmers, ranchers, outfitters, vineyard operators, u-pick operators, managers of eco-tourism attractions, chamber/tourism directors, and more.
Story: A Trout with Feathers
In 2015, I began a quest to document the life of North America’s only aquatic songbird - the American dipper. I did it in my home watershed, the Platte River Basin, in its upper reaches in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming. Now four years later, because time never stops and stories are never really finished as much as they are taken away from you, here’s an essay with a portfolio of images, along with a short documentary film produced by my colleague Mariah Lundgren with Platte Basin Timelapse - PBT for short.
PBT was created in 2011. It is dedicated to telling the stories of a watershed in motion, and to do so takes a village. One small part of my effort is a series of natural history-based stories that will roll out over this next year - pieces I have been chipping away at for years. Trumpeter swans in the Nebraska Sandhills are next, then bighorn sheep in the Wildcat Hills, and then the role of beaver as hubs of biodiversity along the Platte River, and so on.
These indelible creatures are the wildlife among us in a surprisingly rich watershed in the heart of the Great Plains. They stand as symbols for ecosystem health, they are survivors whose stories help shine a light on conservation challenges past, present and future, and they deserve to exist in this landscape just like we do, beyond any utilitarian purpose, for their intrinsic beauty and for their own sake.
I hope you enjoy the dippers at least half as much as I have getting to know them. It has been a privilege to glimpse below the surface into their remarkable watery world. They are a trout with feathers...
Click the links below to read the full story and watch the short documentary film
Story: A Trout with Feathers
FILM: A Trout with feathers
Great Plains Nature Photographers Annual Meeting
Mike was be the featured speaker for the Great Plains Nature Photographers 2018 annual meeting at the McPherson Opera House. The Great Plains Nature Photographers organization has been in existence for roughly 30 years. Through photography, the organization has been shining a light on prairies and plains and America’s lingering wild.
Powder River Basin Resource Council's 46th Annual Meeting
Mike was the Keynote speaker at the Powder River Basin Resource Council’s 46th Annual Meeting. Mike’s Great Plains: America’s Lingering Wild Exhibition will be at the Sheridan Public Library during the month of November.
2018 Watershed Symposium
Mike, along side with members of the Platte Basin Timelapse project, and Chris Johns of National Geographic Society, presented a pre-conference storytelling workshop at the 2018 Watershed Symposium in Whitefish, Montana in partnership with National Geographic and the University of Nebraska.
Land and Livelihoods Conference
From September 24-26, the Western Landowner Alliance held the Land and Livelihoods Conference in Billings, Montana. Mike, and Sandhills Rancher, Sarah Sortum were able to present about the Platte Basin Timelapse project and what it means to live in the Nebraska Sandhills. For more information about the conference, visit their website: http://wlameeting.org/
The Switzer and Sortum children looking through telescopes on the Switzer Ranch. (Mike Forsberg)
Summit Workshop 2018
It was another very successful year at the Summit’s Nature & Wildlife Workshop in Jackson, Wyoming. Thank you to all of the participants, staff, and faculty for making this possible. See you next year.
The Nature and Wildlife Workshop, also called Photography at the Summit, is the longest-running workshop in the Summit Series. It brings together a faculty of top international photographers and editors — many from National Geographic — and combines it with the beautiful setting of the Grand Tetons. Our faculty offers a wide-variety of photography knowledge, so a student may go shoot in the morning with an expert nature photographer, review their work in the afternoon with a professional editor, then go over their editing process with a tech expert.
NEBRASKAland: Chimney Swifts
Mike wrote a story about Chimney Swifts for NEBRASKAland’s June 2018 magazine.
“One fall evening while walking the dogs around the neighborhood and Irving Middle School in Lincoln, Nebraska, a small group of parents waiting for their kids at soccer practice were pointing up to a massive vortex of swirling chattering silhouettes descending into the school’s towering chimney. “Look at all the bats!” I heard someone say. At first, I thought they were, too. But as we watched I realized these were birds, and they were disappearing into the chimney not coming out of it for the night And they were using a nearby church’s chimney too. I went home and did some quick research. They were a huge migrating flock of chimney swifts.”
To read the full story, click HERE.
Outdoor Photographer: Braided Journey
Mike recently contributed a story about his 1300-mile traverse across the Platte River Basin in 2016 to the Outdoor Photographer magazine.
“On July 1, 2016, my filmmaker friend Pete Stegen and I had set out on what we called a braided journey: traveling by bike, backpack and canoe 1,300 miles across our home watershed, the Platte River Basin, a 90,000-square mile geography that stretches from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming through Nebraska in the heart of the Great Plains.”
To learn more about the magazine visit the Outdoor Photographer website: https://www.outdoorphotographer.com/
The New Territory Magazine Issue 06
Big Sky Tourism: Nebraska's ecotourism industry learns lessons from Namibia
Ornate box turtle tracks on the Switzer ranch in the Nebraska Sandhills. (Michael Forsberg)
Founded by a journalist in 2015, The New Territory is a quarterly print magazine. Its mission is to cultivate connections among the land, people and possibilities of the Lower Midwest.
In Issue 06 of the New Territory Magazine Mike's images were featured in an article about a ranching family in the Nebraska Sandhills taking lessons they learned in Namibia about ecotourism and applying them on their ranch.
To purchase this issue of the magazine or subscribe to upcoming issues check out their website:
http://newterritorymag.com/product/the-new-territory-issue-06-hinterlands
NEBRASKAland: Success in the Salt Marsh
For the August-September 2018 NEBRASKAland magazine, Forsberg contributed a written story and photographs about the endangered saline wetlands found just north of Lincoln, Nebraska.
"Wetlands are among the most productive and biologically diverse habitats on earth. They are the kidneys of the landscape, filtering our water of pollutants and converting them to less harmful substances. They control flooding by giving water a place to go and slowing down runoff and allowing water to absorb back into the soil. They recharge local water tables and aquifers. Sadly, they have been viewed more as a nuisance or an impediment to progress in our country's brief history. Nebraska's eastern saline wetlands have also suffered extensive losses. However, there is hope as many people now recognize the importance of these wetlands and are taking actions toward Success in the Salt Marsh."
We encourage you to subscribe to NEBRASKAland magazine so more of these important stories can be heard and supported. If you do not subscribe, and still want to read this story you can by clicking the link below.
Read here (page 26-38):
http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/1008599-nebraskaland-aug-sept-2018/1
Our Vanishing Future: Photographs and Illustrations
Join Trident Booksellers and Cafe and Endangered Species Coalition at Trident Booksellers and Cafe in Boulder, Colorado on Friday, August 3rd from 5 - 7 PM for the opening of Our Vanishing Future: Photographs and Illustrations. This art exhibit will feature photographs by professionals and illustrations by student artists of our vanishing species. The art will be available to view from Wednesday, August 1st to Monday, August 27th at Trident Cafe. Some of Mike's photographs will be featured in this exhibit.
Learn more about the exhibit on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/2033028807026722/
Follow the Water Documentary Premiere
Join Mike Forsberg and Pete Stegen at the three,
Follow the Water premieres across Nebraska this summer
Follow the Water is a NET Nebraska production about Mike Forsberg and Pete Stegen's two-month, 1300-mile traverse across the Platte Basin. They traveled the landscape by bike, foot, and canoe. This was all in effort to explore this critical water source and to show how it intersects with the lives of those who live in this 90,000-square mile watershed in the heart of North America. It will tell the story of the Platte River Basin as Mike and Pete journey through the watershed - meeting dedicated conservationists, giving voice to the land and wildlife, seeing whats at stake, exploring the Platte Basin Timelapse project, and more.
"If you want to find where the power lies, follow the money. If you want to find where life is, follow the water."
Where does your water come from?
SCREENING VENUES
Sunday, June 3, 2018
6:00 p.m. CT
The World Theatre
2318 Central Ave.
Kearney, NE 68847
No registrations are required for this FREE screening.
Sunday, July 8, 2018
7:00 p.m. MT
The Midwest Theater
1707 Broadway
Scottsbluff, NE 69361
Register to attend this FREE screening event here.
Thursday, July 12, 2018
6:00 p.m. CT
Fontenelle Forest
1111 Bellevue Blvd N.
Bellevue, NE 68005
Register to attend this FREE screening event here.
Prairie Corridor Project
The Prairie Corridor on Haines Branch is a project that hopes to create a ten-mile tallgrass prairie trail corridor connecting Pioneers Park and Spring Creek Prairie. This project will restore tallgrass prairie, protect habitat, provide opportunities for education, research, and outdoor recreation.
Recently, the Parks Foundation organized a group of sixteen individuals who share the vision for this prairie corridor. These Cabinet members will assist in fundraising, community outreach, advising, and other aspects of the project as it moves forward. Michael is the chair to the Cabinet.
To learn more, visit: http://prairiecorridor.org/
Read the Journal Star article here: http://journalstar.com/news/local/this-is-something-special-city-and-others-partner-to-build/article_8f9613cc-2d87-5dd8-b759-a44e6c3d3cc8.html