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awkwardbotany · 1 year

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What Is Cheatgrass and Why Should I Care?

To understand the current state of rangeland wildfires in the Intermountain West, you must first familiarize yourself with a plant commonly referred to as cheatgrass. This annual grass moved into the region over a century ago, and its spread has had a massive impact on the environment, as well as the economy and our way of life. Just the very mention of cheatgrass in the West will get some…

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#annual grass #Bromus tectorum #Charlie Clements #cheatgrass #cleistogamous flowers #downy brome #grasses #Great Basin #Intermountain West #introduced plants #invasive species #James Young #native plants #noxious weeds #overgrazing #rangeland #seed dispersal #weeds #wildfire

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thorsenmark · 1 month

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I Found Myself Driving, Hours Upon Hours (Death Valley National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: I Found Myself Driving, Hours Upon Hours Just for the possibility of seeing this again Recent snow storms had allowed me To see another beauty of southern California But it also closed roads, with the one here being one At least, until earlier that day You didn’t disappoint years ago And you’re still wondrous today Mountain peaks and Badwater An imaginary Mos Eisley The wind takes away my breath, Literally and figuratively, when I take in this view Dante’s View, you only bring out awe Another work of short poetry or prose to complement the image captured one afternoon in Death Valley National Park at Dantes View. My thought on composing this image was a simple landscape one with my Nikon SLR camera angled slightly downward to capture a sweeping view down the mountainside, across Badwater Basin, and then to the snowcapped peaks of the Panamint Range. I would lose much of the blue skies above, but I felt this alignment helped to bring out a wider angle, almost panoramic feel with the image captured. My thought on this location brought back memories from April 2015 on an earlier visit seeing this wondrous landscape in a national park. I could imagine a Star Wars setting with Mos Eisley as well as just the natural beauty present. There was a wind blowing that could easily take one’s breath away but had that crisp, cool feel with the low temperatures to make for an enjoyable, brisk walk along the trails and ridges. If you look at the lower portion of the image just left of center, you will notice a what looks like a thin white walkway jutting out. You can zoom in and notice tiny ant people walking along Badwater Basin, almost 6000 feet below!

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thorsenmark · 2 months

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My Outdoor Wellness Trip by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the south down Kelbaker Rd. Here I wanted to capture a look down the road with the more distant ridges and peaks of the Mojave Desert Range in this portion of California.

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thorsenmark · 2 months

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Colorado River Flowing Through Needles and a Backdrop of Mountains and Blue Skies by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While taking in views along a dirt road paralleling the Colorado River in Needles, California. My thought on composing this image was to find a location where I could capture the river flowing by and use it as a leading line into the image. Far off would be ridges and peaks of the Eldorado-Newberry Mountains. On the other side of the river is the state line border with Arizona. I liked how there was this front coming through that brought almost a texture to the blue skies in the clouds with its highlights and shadows, seemingly painted across the skies. I angled my Nikon SLR, camera slightly downward, in order to bring the horizon higher into the image, and create more of a sweeping view. I later worked with control points in DxO PhotoLab 6 and then made some adjustments to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image.

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thorsenmark · 7 days

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I Love It When I Am Amongst the Mountains (Death Valley National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While in Death Valley National Park at Dantes View with a view looking to the northwest down and across a mountainside to the valley and basin below. Far off are views of other snowcapped mountains in the more northern part of Death Valley and outside the national park.

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thorsenmark · 13 days

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Engulfed in Memories to Share with Mesa Verde National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the southeast while taking in views across cliff dwellings present at the Spruce Tree House in Mesa Verde National Park. This is from an overlook walk while I began hiking the Petroglyph Point Trail. My thought on composing this image was to capture of you of the cliff dwellings and have them run across the image center. I've pulled back a little more on the focal length so that I could include some of the trees and nearby surroundings as a foreground interest and have a layered look beyond. The cliff wall above was also important as it added to the setting and story for how the Ancestral Puebloan people would have to go up and down the walls to get to those dwellings.

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thorsenmark · 13 days

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Smith Mountain and Distant Views of the Northwest Mojave Ranges (Death Valley National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking the Dantes View Trail with a view looking to the south in Death Valley National Park. My thought on composing this image was to use the ridge I was on as a leading line into the image and then down the mountainside to the basin and valley below. While I did want to angle my Nikon SLR camera slightly downward to bring out more of a sweeping view, I was also limited by how much because of the sun's position in the sky and minimizing any artifacts across the camera lens.

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thorsenmark · 5 months

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Get Yourself to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking the Discovery Trail and taking in views of the ancient bristlecone pines in this portion of the Schulman Grove and Inyo National Forest. The view is looking to the southwest with a distant view of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

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thorsenmark · 19 days

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A View of Badwater Basin from Dantes View (Death Valley National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While at Dantes View looking to the west my thought on composing this image was to center the walkway that is present in the lower portion of the image but include some of the surrounding salt basin with its patterns. I felt that including some of the mountainside was an important perspective for this setting, especially as it goes down about 6000 feet to below sea level. If one pixel peeped, it would be possible to see the ant like people walking in the Badwater Basin. The rest of the composition was attempting to get an alignment with the walkway and the salt patterns and having that fill most of the image from edge to edge.

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thorsenmark · 26 days

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Hoodoos and a View Beyond at Rainbow Point (Bryce Canyon National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the north while taking in views across hoodoos and other eroded formations at Rainbow Point in Bryce Canyon National Park. My thought on composing this image was to take advantage of the color contrast between the nearby hoodoos with its reds and oranges along the escarpment edge with that of the greens of the evergreen trees in the lower valley and canyon area. I decided to angle my Nikon SLR camera slightly downward as I felt it better brought out that view to allow the eyes to slowly move across this national park landscape and be drawn into the image.

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thorsenmark · 1 month

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I’m Letting the Bisti Memories Start Here by Mark Stevens

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thorsenmark · 1 month

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Heading off to Explore the Bisti Badlands by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the northeast while taking in views to the badlands area where I’d be hiking and exploring in the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness Area.

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thorsenmark · 1 month

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My New Habit Is Looking Forward in Life by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While at a roadside pullout along National Old Trails Road and US 66 with a view looking southwest to the ridges and peaks of the Southern Mojave Ranges. I wanted to capture what looked to be a wide angle view, even the focal length was more telephoto when I later looked at the image settings.

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thorsenmark · 1 month

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A Lone Yucca Plant on a Sand Dune Slope Along the Loop Drive (White Sands National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: While walking around and exploring different parts along the Loop Drive in White Sands National Park. The view is looking to the south to a lone yucca plant. I chose to use the sand dune with its distinct white sands as a backdrop for the plant as it definitely helped to highlight it. I didn't see a reason to not include some of the blue skies and clouds above as I lined up the image. I felt that they weren’t a distraction and definitely complemented the colors of the white sands.

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thorsenmark · 1 month

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Exploring the Wildflowers and Hillsides of Lincoln National Forest by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the south while taking in views across a field of wildflowers to a more distant hillside in Lincoln National Forest. This was at a roadside pullout on a graveled road heading to the Ski Cloudcroft area. In composing this image, I decided to get down low and capture a look across and then beyond this field. I decided to have the grassy meadow and hillside fill most of the image with only a little bit of skies above. I found the latter to be overcast and really didn't add much to the image or setting.

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thorsenmark · 4 months

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Wide Open Spaces in White Sands National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the south while taking in views across white sands and dune formations present along the Alkali Flat Trail in White Sands National Park. For this image, I was walking along a downward slope of a dune ridge and was able to capture a sweeping view from that high ground, looking across the wave upon wave of sand dunes.

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