Looking Back

The New Mexico History Museum will be opening an exhibit called "Looking Back: Reflecting on Collections."  Four photographs from the Naamehnay Project Navajo Nation Four Corners work will be featured in the exhibit.


The exhibit will be up for about a year.  The public opening and reception will be on Sunday, March 8 from 1to pm.
Look forward to seeing you there.
be strong, be safe, Carlan

Opening the Entire Chaco Protection Zone to Oil and Gas Industrialization

A yearlong federal moratorium on oil and gas leases within 10 miles of the Chaco Culture National Historical Park ended this past Saturday.  Today the Bureau of Land Management Farmington Field Office and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Navajo Regional Office released a joint Draft Resource Management Plan Amendment (RMPA) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for lands surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

The Trump Administration’s plan envisions opening the entire Chaco Protection Zone to leasing, including lands that directly border the National Park. Even where protections are proposed for Chaco, they will do little to protect the Park, other nearby Chacoan cultural resources, and the Native people who live on the landscape surrounding the Park.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

Management Plans for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante Open Lands for Extraction

The Trump administration announced it was opening two national monuments to development. The culturally and geologically significant Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments will be available for cattle grazing, mining, and oil and gas development. Five tribes had formed a coalition in 2015 to promote protection of the Bears Ears region; dozens more tribes have expressed support for their effort.

The Interior Department’s release of a formal land-use blueprint for the approximately 861,974 acres of land will allow oil, gas and coal companies to complete the legal process for leasing mines and wells on land that had once been part of Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, established by President Bill Clinton. In December 2017, President Trump cut the monument’s acreage about in half, aiming to open the newly unprotected land for drilling and development. At the same time, he removed about a million acres from another Utah monument, Bears Ears. Together, the moves were the largest rollback of public lands protection in United States history.

Under the plan, much of Bears Ears and nearly 1 million acres in and around Grand Staircase are open to grazing. BLM will also make two new routes in Grand Staircase open to off-road vehicles, which archaeologists and conservationists are concerned could damage vulnerable artifacts and natural features. “These plans represent the lowest common denominator for BLM stewardship,” Stephen Bloch, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, one of the plaintiffs in the monuments lawsuits, said in a statement. “One of the wildest landscapes in the lower forty-eight states will be lost if these plans are carried into action over the next few years.”

be strong, be safe, Carlan
 

New Mexico in Black and White

The light in New Mexico is magical.  Dawn to dusk.  Clear skies to storms.  Each day each moment changing. Stunning landscape to create black and white photographs.  March 22 - 27 I have the pleasure of teaching Expressive Black and White Landscapes and Fine Art Digital Printmaking at the Santa Fe Workshops.  Join me as we travel across the New Mexico landscape capturing once in a life time moments and creating exhibition black and white prints.  For more information and to register visit Santa Fe Workshops.

Look forward to our paths meeting in Santa Fe for an exciting week of making photographs together.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

Two Weeks, Two Wheels, and Two Lanes

For the past five years I have been criss-crossing the US, north to south, and east to west, on the old two lane US Highways.  Making photographs, meeting folks along the way, collecting stories.  All on two wheels. On editorial assignments for Harley-Davidson HOG® magazine.  Many of you have followed this blog and have been side by side with me on these incredible journeys.  Thank you all for that special companionship.

This past July I rode, photographed, slept, and ate across America on US Highway 2 dubbed the Great Northern.  Began the journey in St. Ignace, Michigan.  Crossed Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, ending just north of Seattle, Washington.  Just over 2800 miles.

The concept for the story was going Bronson-style "lightening up" as Nancy calls it.  Just the basics: photo gear, cell phone, paper maps, and a duffel with a few essentials.  For two weeks I never turned on the TV.  Sparing myself from everything that appears to be wrong.  By the time I reached Seattle, my spirit had been gratefully renewed with everything that is perfectly right.

My trusty companion on the ride was Ol' Sport.  Simple, basic, lightening up.  Ol' Sport and me - what a ride we had - a couple of buddies traveling down that ribbon of highway that connects us all together.

The published story is in the current issue of Hog® magazine. I was excited to see they used one of my images on the cover as well.   If you would like to read the story click here for a pdf copy.

"Wow! What a Ride".

be strong, be safe, Carlan

Congressional Bill Includes Protection for Greater Chaco

Congress took action last week to protect Chaco Culture National Historical Park from oil and gas drilling.  The appropriations bill ensures that there will be no more leasing on federal lands within ten miles of the park, pending needed studies and consultation with tribal communities.  The ten-mile zone around the park is particularly important, as it includes more than a dozen Chacoan great house communities, ancient roads, and thousands of other significant cultural resources.  Thank you, Senator Udall, Congressman Lujàn, and the entire New Mexico congressional delegation for securing these important protections.

Thank all of you for your support to help make this happen.  A good note to end the year on.

be strong, be safe, Carlan

The Clock is Ticking

The clock is ticking. It has been almost exactly six months since Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt agreed to halt oil and gas lease sales within a ten-mile buffer zone surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park for one year. That means we are halfway to the end of Interior’s temporary ban on new developments near the park, and the fate of the Greater Chaco Landscape remains in limbo. Chaco is like no other place on earth. It is a living cultural landscape with significant architecture, pictographs and petroglyphs, and other resources that are reminders of the economic, agricultural, and ceremonial hub.  http://bit.ly/36lgQ2W – By Paul Reed, Archaeology Southwest

Please take a moment to follow the link to learn more.  The Greater Chaco Landscape connects the people of the American Southwest to our shared heritage, and it must be granted official federal protections before it is lost forever.

be strong, be safe, Carlan