Probably one of the most frustrating things for myself in regards to photography has been the recent shift to digital equipment. I fully recognize the advances within digital, yet the obsolescence of the equipment has already been planned into the gear.

The Nikon D3 is an excellent example of this. The photography press has raved about this new camera, yet I see a $5,000 camera that is grossly overweight (3+ lbs of ungodly photographic cellulite - a camera in serious need of a Weight Watchers program), that lacks digital sensor cleaners, and with it's partial frame optional format of 5.1 mega pixels, its too small file size is unacceptable to at least my professional stock agency. How can Nikon call this a professional camera when one of its file formats is unacceptable to stock agencies?

Mmmmm, let me get this straight Nikon, you want me to pay $5,000 for a camera that was introduced with serious deficiencies, was in need of immediate refinements when it was introduced, and where one of its file formats is not acceptable to professional stock agencies? I think I will pass.

This is not the first time that Nikon has done this. In 1995, when they introduced the F5 it was hailed as a revolutionary film camera by the photography press. Yet, this camera was also seriously overweight (although, not as bad as the D3) and its auto focus sensors lit up in black making them difficult to see in the view finder. At a later date, the F5's black auto focus sensors were corrected to an easier to see red. Yet before this correction was made, many photographers had already paid $2,000 to $2,500 cost for an inferior F5.

The real question is: did Nikon plan to offer an inferior F5 first, with the intention of bilking photographers with this first edition, knowing that they would cough up more money, for a new and improved F5 at a later date? Thereby doubling their profit margins.

Undoubtedly, Nikon will introduce a revised D3 in the future, one that will answer some if not all of the deficiencies that I mention above. Yet, why couldn't Nikon have introduced the D3 with just some of the above basics like: digital sensor cleaners and a partial frame format file size that is large enough for professional stock agencies? Perhaps, because if they had done so, it would interfere with future sales and profit making from a refined D3.

That may sound cynical in the extreme, yet look at the status of digital photography today. Where cameras are routinely introduced, have a short life span and then are replaced, or are upgraded with "new and improved features" etc. The other question, for individual photographers is whether they actually need or use those "improved features" or not? Or are they just buying to have the newest camera irregardless of need that comes on the marketplace?

Certain features like sensor cleaners should be inherent to all digital cameras. Auto focus sensors should always light up in a easy to see color such as red. Motion reduction which is commonly found in many lenses, is now showing up in camera bodies. This is a common sense advancement that would allow one to use any lense with one's camera increasing the chances of obtaining quality images by reducing hand holding camera shake.

But, such a common sense advancement may also reduce profit margins for Nikon and other manufacturers. If motion reduction is in the camera and not the lense, then lenses should ideally, cost significantly less.

Perhaps you think I am just being picky. Well for $5,000 per camera and professional photographers need at least two cameras, now we are talking $10,000, you bet I am going to be picky.

The handling of the F5 was incredible, in fact, due to its handling, I chose Nikon over Cannon, but not the F5. It wasn't until about two years later that Nikon finally got it right with the F100. This camera had all the qualities I was looking for – lighter weight, one could purchase the optional power drive to increase motor drive speed from 3 frames per second to five, durable and reliable, and the auto focus sensors lit up in red, making them far easier to see.

The other frustrating part of digital is the black hole of initial and reoccurring costs. The digital infrastructure is far more expensive than film and its initial cost is much greater. Since digital cameras have followed the way of computers, one will need to upgrade one's equipment every few years: digital cameras, computers, software, printers, just to name a few, and the little extras such as external hard drives, and storage cards for the cameras.

Digital photography runs up against my own philosophy on consumerism, in that when I purchase a product, I like to get as much out of it for as long as possible. Obviously with computers, I have to be more flexible as I believe my last desktop only lasted 5 to 7 years before I recycled it. I hope to maintain a similar time frame for my current laptop as it may last another 3+ years. But essentially, computers, digital cameras and a whole host of electronics (and many other things) are "designed for the dump". In other words, their obsolescence was planned into the products themselves.

I have never been the kind of photographer that had to have every photographic gadget that was introduced. My goal was to have the minimum amount of quality and flexible equipment that would do the job. Cameras, lenses, filters and tripods are mere tools used to capture one's individual vision and creativity.

My own philosophy would be in direct conflict with retail analyst Victor Lebow's promotion of consumption whose famous quote I will repeat here:

Our enormously productive economy… demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption… We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced, and discarded at an ever increasing rate. - Victor Lebow, 1955

Unfortunately, the US followed Victor's ideals but at a huge cost that most people are unaware of. Manipulation of consumers (in advertising) is inherent to our society to encourage them to buy ever more stuff. Much of it is unneeded, has a short life span, or may be low in quality, is esthetically unattractive, etc.

Just one example of this are many of the gift shops in Alaska (especially Denali) where you will see shelves of crap for sale. Certainly not all, but allot of it is absolute junk, much of it not even made in Alaska.

But why should this be an issue? It's an issue because getting the most out of products for as long as one can, is what is best for the environment and for people. Constant turnover of stuff, fills up landfills, releases toxins in both production (air & water), and in disposal, and the use of non-renewable resources; not to mention the constant financial costs of replacement of stuff.

Earlier this year, Kennan Ward told me of a new video camera company called: Red. The professional video cameras that Red produces are designed to grow with advances in technology. In other words, the individual cameras are designed to accept future upgrades. Wow, what a revolutionary concept in the realm of digital photography.

Unfortunately, it is an alien concept to Nikon, Cannon, and almost all other digital camera manufacturers who base much of their profits on the constant turnover of cameras and lenses.

My brother who is an economics professor turned me on to a website that simply, yet comprehensively explains the production/disposal of products, how it impacts our economy (and other nations) the environment, and people both here in the US and abroad. It also discusses planned and perceived obsolescence (concepts developed just after World War ll in the 1940's & 50's) for the creation of products to insure that consumers will continue to upgrade and purchase even more stuff even if their older product works fine.

If you are interested you can check out The Story of Stuff website at: The Story of Stuff and the 20 minute video will automatically start after just a few minutes of loading depending on your connection speed. It is well worth the wait of just a few minutes to check it out.

The above may sound like I am anti-technology. Actually, I am pro technology when it serves a practical purpose, when it is clearly superior to older technology, and when it reduces or eliminates hidden environmental, social, and financial costs.

So where does this leave me in the realm of digital photography? Well, one of the lessons one learns in nature photography is patience.

The features that I am looking for are: full frame, with digital sensor cleaners, lighter weight, durable and reliable, maximum resolution, and higher capacity storage cards that can be easily and quickly changed, great ergonomics, auto focus sensors that light up in red and has backwards compatibility with older Nikon lenses. Built in upgrade ability (like Red video cameras) within the camera would be ideal, but highly unlikely in today's digital environment, unless consumers begin to demand it. There may be other things as well but the above is a good start.

Recently, Nikon introduced the D700 that has many of the above features, yet only offers the camera with 12.1 megapixels. There have been rumors that Nikon will introduce a new camera of up to 24 megapixels in the near future.

I will have to try to evaluate how long such a camera would actually last in today's marketplace and whether it would actually be worth the investment or not. Also, I will have to evaluate as to whether such an investment is worthwhile, and whether I would have to fundamentally change my photography's subject matter to recoup the investment.

Update for 11-29-08 reported at MSNBC

Cops hunt Wal-Mart shoppers after worker dies
Charges possible after Black Friday crowd tramples employee at N.Y. store

You know rampant consumerism is bad when someone dies because shoppers are in such a rush to buy more stuff - on sale.

Lets not forget the spirit of the holiday season - family, friends, fun and joyous activities, compassion for others, and tolerance for those who have different beliefs and/or different lifestyles. And lets not forget those who are less fortunate than us. This is the perfect time to give (even a just a little ) to the Salvation Army or other charitable organizations for those who have come across hard times.

I like to think of the Holiday Season as a time to come together and enjoy one another, not tear us apart or trample one another in our rush (or stress) of the Holiday Season. Take the time to chill folks, relax and enjoy one another.

I have found that internet shopping reduces the stress of buying presents tremendously - no lines, no running around town from store to store (burning up gas & time), no competing for that last item and you can do it all from the comforts of home with a cup of coffee, hot chocolate, or your favorite hot tottie.

For more information on consumerism, check out: Sierra Club Sustainable Consumption .

Happy Holidays and good cheer to all.

Bill 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSVrWcLuu5o

It was nice to see Rush get a recent, and surprisingly positive, article in Rollingstone Magazine and appear on the Colbert Report.

I flew down to Seattle earlier in late May to catch Rush at the Gorge on May 31st. I may not have too many vices but this is one of them; I have been a fan for 31 years. The following is what I had e-mailed to friends about the show.

The Gorge show marked my seventh Rush show going back to my first show in 1981 for Exit Stage Left in Jacksonville, FL, followed by Signals, Grace Under Pressure, and Hold Your Fire concerts in Salt Lake City. After that I moved to Alaska and didn't see them until I flew down for the Vapor Trails concert in Portland, the 30th anniversary concert also in Portland and then finally Snakes and Arrows at the Gorge.


The concert is over and I am recovering from lack of sleep from work and travel.

The Gorge is an amazing venue for a concert. It overlooks the Columbia River canyon with steep bluffs that fall away to the river. Incredibly scenic, in fact, the most scenic outdoor venue I have ever been to.

The chairs were just simple metal folding chairs by the thousands but those were not used much as the crowd stood throughout the entire concert. Quite a mixture of men and women of all ages and with/without kids. Whatever you think about Rush, they have an incredibly loyal following and they are attracting a new generation of fans (as seen at the concert), without any radio airplay of their new stuff.

In fact, a few things I admire about them is that Rollingstone Mag has hated them for decades, they have never won a Grammy even though they have been nominated 3 times?, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has refused to recognize them even though they have nominated garbage and one hit wonders consistently in the past, etc.

For a band that has been around for 35 years and has been hugely influential to many musicians they have managed to maintain their integrity and write the music they wanted to, regardless of external pressures.

Yesterday, also proved to be incredibly windy at the Gorge, the wind was strong enough to move the hanging stage lights and three huge back screens that sit behind and to either side of the drum kit.

My seat was almost directly in front of the drum kit, 35 rows back. Great seat, could see everything and the band put on a great show in some pretty challenging conditions. They played allot of their new material from Snakes & Arrows (9 songs) as well as some of their older stuff. The entire concert lasted three hours.

I was pretty beat after the show and was fighting off sleep during the 45 mile drive back to the motel.

Great show and who knows what the future holds for a new album.

Bill

I just finished discussing Denali's wolves at Café' du Mundo with Dr. Gordon Haber, an independent scientist who studies wolves in Denali and elsewhere in ..:NAMESPACE PREFIX = ST1 />Alaska.

 

East Fork/Toklat Wolves

 

According to Gordon, the East Fork/Toklat wolves are still subsisting on the declining snowshoe hare population. And because of the young age in which they wolves were orphaned (spring of 2005 –

The Targeting & Trapping of Denali's Wolves) they have never learned to hunt moose and especially sheep which are prevalent in the area. This is a significant shift in their historical behavior when both moose and primarily sheep were preyed upon.  

 

Additionally, Gordon showed two maps of where radio collared wolves were found. The map before these wolves were orphaned showed extensive usage of their territory from the Sanctuary River to the beyond Stony Hill and from beyond the northern park boundary to the Alaska Range.  

 

The current map beginning after the six young wolves were orphaned (spring 2005) to today, shows a tremendous reduction in territorial usage, the wolves are primarily concentrating their use in the Sanctuary and Teklanika River drainages, south of the park road. This would explain why we are seldom observing these wolves.  

 

According to Gordon, these wolves never learned the full extent of their territory, and are not even traveling up to the higher ridge tops to hunt sheep. At some point, things are going to dramatically change for these wolves when the hare population crashes to the point where it can't support them. And there is no predicting what will happen then.

 

Grant Creek/Toklat West Wolves

 

The big news for these wolves is that the alpha female and a pup were killed by the East Fork wolves after they were caught deep in East Fork's territory last October. It is unknown whether there is a female of breeding age (at least 2 years old) in the family group and if there is, whether she and the alpha male will breed and produce pups.

 

So, whether we will have a chance to view and photograph this family group at its den site south of the park road west of the Toklat River and it coming and goings is completely up in the air.

 

 Trapping

 

Also, according to Gordon, Coke Wallace of Denali Saddle Safaris has his traps and snares set up again just north of the park boundary and is taking wolves at an unprecedented rate from previous years. He is primarily, taking other wolves some which have traveled over 100 miles from the western portion of the park to hunt the caribou in the Stampede area. But, if the eastern wolf family groups (those most likely to be viewed) East Fork, Mt. Margaret, or Grant Creek travel north outside the park, they to, would be exposed to his snares and traps.

 

Additionally, because of the poor snow conditions, Gordon claims that Coke cannot check his traps in a timely manner, leaving any wolves trapped or snared to suffer an agonizing death.

 

Lastly, Gordon also brought up the issue of why Princess Hotel, McKinley Park Chalets, and other businesses refer their guests to Denali Saddle Safaris (Coke's business), when Coke is targeting park wolves and consequently, attempting to deny park visitors a chance to view them. The only way to force Coke not to target Denali's wolves is to economically choke off his summer business.

 

I would encourage all Denali businesses to uphold the ideals of Denali National Park and the protection of its wildlife, even species that temporarily, foray outside the park. Furthermore, I would advocate that they do and refer business to other companies who likewise uphold and respect these principles.

 

Those businesses whose actions are opposed to these ideals, yet wish to profit from them parasitically, should ideally, be denied any referrals.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to contact me, although I will be traveling from February 15th to March 10th.

 

All the best.

 

Bill

Watkins Nature Photography

  

Bill,

Unfortunately, when we learned that the traffic modelers wanted to add the
data loggers to the study,so they could better understand traffic flow, we
also learned that drivers are assigned to different buses every day.  We
looked into the idea of having portable data entry screens that could stay
with a driver, but learned that that wasn't practical, and the only way to
do it was to install the devices in 20 buses and have them be used (or not
used) by a steady rotation of different drivers.  Joint Venture indicated
that they were interested in the data from the screens, particularly an
understanding of dropoff and pickup of hikers from VTS buses.  I would hope
that drivers would be interested in the road study getting accurate
information about their jobs, but understand that some drivers will never
be placated or convinced that some evil scheme isn't afoot.  We should
probably make it clear that drivers have the option of turning the thing
off if they want to.  It will cut into our sample size, but is better than
getting poor or bogus data.  I hope that when we meet with drivers in the
spring we can convince most of them to give the panels a try.  You suggest
that we should not trust the drivers to have an influence on the road study
because they might provide biased data.  I don't think we have any choice,
so we'll just have to try to convince some of them.

We are using the wildlife sighting information that has been collected for
many years, to make the basic model of the park road that will be used by
the traffic modelers.  That data will determine the probability that
traffic will stop at any particular spot on the road, in the model.  In
order to use that data, it's true that we'll have to work with the data,
and Laura has been doing that (she's on furlough for a month right now).
She's been dealing with the problem of mapping the odometer readings in the
database to actual road miles.  Given the brushfire nature of government
work, we're not always able to analyze all of the data that we take in as
promptly as we'd like.  There's always some other crisis that distracts us.
But by continuing to collect long-term data sets like the wildlife sighting
data, we at least provide continuity and the chance for someone to learn
from it in the future.




Tom Meier
Wildlife Biologist
Denali National Park and Preserve
P. O. Box  9
Denali Park, AK 99755
(907) 683-9572

Last summer, NPS had installed on some of the VTS and Tour buses in Denali National Park Alaska, computers where drivers would punch in the reason why they had stopped their buses. These reasons could be for wildlife, and if so, what kind, photo stops, picking up passengers, etc. Presumably, this will be expanded next summer in 2007.

By doing so, NPS introduced the potential for widespread human error into their roadside study. Not to mention, that if you would like cooperation within a study (especially from those who are highly sceptical and some who are opposed), you would generally ask for it. No such volunteer request occurred from NPS to the drivers of Denali to be actively involved. In fact, I think it came as a surprise to many drivers that their cooperation would be required and/or expected.

This is a significant flaw within the study, and to be honest, with the amount of sceptism and opposition that this study has generated among many drivers, no such requirement should be mandated. NPS should only ask for volunteer cooperation, assuming they want non-biased information.

Prior to this study, drivers on a volunteer basis would give information on wildlife sightings and distances from the road where those sighting occurred. In fact, they had been doing so for years. The drivers found out afterwards and prior to this study, that NPS didn't compile and make any use of this information until this study was orchestrated.

That strikes at NPS credibility. If you are going to ask for someone's help, you had better use it and not let the effort stagnate for years or worse, go wasted.

For myself, I was sceptical of this study in the beginning but was willing to give it a chance as long as it was independent of outside influences. Well, drivers are an outside influence and I can see the results of their information ranging from accurate to inaccurate, to non-cooperation.

And that kind of information lacks consistency and in my view is worthless.

All the best.

Bill
http://www.WatkinsNaturePhotography.com 

---

From:  Tom_Meier@nps.gov
To:  "Bill Watkins"
CC:  Pat_Owen@nps.gov,Carol_McIntyre@nps.gov
Subject:  RE: Update on next week's public workshop on Denali Park Road Visitor Study
Date:  Wed, 18 Jan 2006 16:23:52 -0900
MIME-Version:  1.0
Received:  from np006denver.nps.gov ([165.83.20.80]) by bay0-mc2-f1.bay0.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.211); Wed, 18 Jan 2006 17:24:01 -0800
>Bill,
>
>I think that it's obvious that the park service has little control over the
>opinions or actions of the drivers.  If we learn that the study is being
>actively undercut by drivers, however, we'll do what we can to protect the
>integrity of the study.  I think that it's a mistake to lump this study in
>with every management action to which you take issue.  We don't have the
>luxury of holding this study hostage to various changes that we would like
>to make to the status quo.  We do intend to present information on the road
>study in all of the venues that you mention.  Win didn't paintball a wolf;
>the wolf bit a paintball that Win had left out.
>
>
>Tom Meier
>Wildlife Biologist
>Denali National Park and Preserve
>P. O. Box  9
>Denali Park, AK 99755
>(907) 683-9572
>

 

1-19-06

Hey Tom,

Greetings Everyone,

 

The following is a follow-up e-mail from Dr. Tom Meier (wildlife biologist) discussing the Denali roadside study which is to begin in the spring of 2006.

 

Have a Happy Thanks-giving.

 

Bill

http://www.WatkinsNaturePhotography.com

 

From Dr. Tom Meier,

Philip (Phillip Hooge - Center for Resources, Science & Learning - Denali National Park) added the following explanation of the BACI part of the road study package.  It provides some better information on how things might proceed in a few years.

The Park Service will view any increase  indicated by the results of the
previous studies and modeling efforts as a tentative suggestion.  Any
increase after the EIS will be associated with a adaptive management BACI
approach (Before-After Control-Impact study).  Increases will be temporarily implemented with permanent implementation instigated only after confirmation through the BACI study process.  Negative BACI results will result in a return to previous traffic levels.  The BEFORE part of the
study will be conducted by the measurement of baseline values in a set of
social and biological indicators before any increase.  Any increase will be
implemented on alternative days (The IMPACT and CONTROL) and be associated with an AFTER study measuring the same indicators in the BEFORE study.

Negative BACI results are defined as any statistically significant
difference between the IMPACT (AFTER) and either the BEFORE or the CONTROL (AFTER).  The model is the best evaluation of the state of knowledge about the issue but is not a proof of a negative  effect of increased traffic. The model guides the best informed decision.  The BACI study is the proof that it was the correct decision.

..... I think it's worth emphasing that the design of the BACI study is
such that any measurable change in the indicators that are chosen (whether
they be dust, wildlife sightings, visitor satisfaction, traffic jams)
between the before and after phases of the study, or between the days when traffic is increased and days when it isn't, will result in a rejection of
the traffic increases.

Tom Meier
Wildlife Biologist
Denali National Park and Preserve
P. O. Box  9
Denali Park, AK 99755

Greetings Everyone,

The following is a comprehensive (e-mail) response from Denali National Park wolf biologist Tom Meier in regards to the roadside study questions and concerns that I posted earlier. 

I know many of us have had concerns regarding this study and I think this helps to address and possibly alleviate many of the concerns.

Also, I would like to thank Tom for taking the time to answer these questions in such an open and comprehensive manner.

All the best.

Bill

 

From Tom Meier,

The purposes of the road traffic study are to evaluate the impacts of road
traffic not only on wildlife, but on the quality of the visitor experience
and on other aspects of the road environment, like noise and dust.  The
study isn't funded by the tourist industry.  Rather, it's funded by NPS
funds generated by the franchise fees that ARAMARK and others pay to do business in the park.  Part of the study will also be funded by fee demo
money, obtained from visitor entrance fees.  These are all NPS funds,
generated locally rather than coming from Washington.

Any experimental increase in traffic would come only in 2009 or later, and
only after an Environmental Impact Statement has been completed,
incorporating the results of the wildlife and traffic studies and
concluding that the road isn't already at or above capacity.

I personally think that the wildlife work will be the least conclusive part
of the road study package, but we can't ignore it because it's what the
road is all about.  But sorting out the effects of road and foot traffic,
habituation, daily and seasonal behavior patterns, and individual variation
between animals will be very difficult.  On the positive side, we have Dr.
Rick Mace, the person most experienced at analyzing the effects of roads on grizzly bears in the Rocky Mountains, lined up to help us analyze the
animal movement data.

We plan to examine and incorporate the results of all of the many studies
of traffic/wildlife impacts that have been done in the park.  The unique
contribution of the proposed work is that it will be the first study that
hasn't been road-based, so that it will allow us to compare the movements
of wildlife when they're near the road with movements when they're away
from the road.  The collars we're preparing to put on 20 bears and 20 sheep will fall off in September, having been on the animals for 4 to 6 months.

They will gather data for the 4 months of road use.  Battery limitations
mean that we can get only one location per hour from such collars.  So we
have no intention of looking at events, such as the reaction of an
individual sheep to a bus.  Rather, this data density will allow us to look
at differences in sheep and bear movements between night and day, between different times of the season, and between different geographic areas.  We also hope that we might make inferences about how the movements of bears affect other bears, but that might be beyond the reach of this study.  For all of this, we're relying on the expertise of Dr. Mace, who is doing similar work in Montana.

For the visitor experience part of the study, we're contracting with Dr.
Robert Manning of the University of Vermont.  Dr Manning heads up the Park Studies Lab (http://www.uvm.edu/envnr/parkstudies/), which specializes in analyzing visitor experience, overcrowding, and capacity issues in national parks.  Dr. Manning wants to arrange a meeting next spring, to design the visitor surveys that he and his grad students will begin next summer.  He specifically requested the input of bus drivers and others with long-term experience on the park road.

In order to start getting input from drivers and others on the road study,
I'd like to arrange a meeting in December or January, to set up an advisory
committee to help with the study.  I'd appreciate any suggestions or help
in setting up the meeting and contacting people who might be interested in
attending.

For the traffic analysis part of the study, we hope to put GPS devices on
all buses and large maintenance vehicles, and on a sample of administrative
and personal vehicles on the road.  The devices collect and store locations
as often as every minute or less, and upload the data via a radio signal
when the vehicle returns to its home base.  This data will be used by the
University of Minnesota Intelligent Transportation Systems Laboratory
(http://www.its.umn.edu/labs/itslab.html), in order to build a model of
park road traffic.  This project is a novel one for these people, who
usually work with urban traffic flow, but they have become very
enthusiastic about it, and have designed a data logger that we hope to
install on a sample of buses, so that drivers can record wildlife
observations and the reasons for other stops along the road.  In order to
plan the use of these loggers by 10 or 20 drivers, and in order to develop
appropriate traffic rules for their model, the University of Minnesota
engineers also need to interact with drivers and other road users.  Helping
them with their work will be another main function of the advisory
committee that we hope to form.

I have no doubt that this study will be seen as a boondoggle by those who
see it as an excuse to prevent more people from enjoying the park, and by
those who see it as an excuse to dump excessive numbers of visitors into
the park.  I can't think of a fairer process to answer those concerns than
to conduct a set of well-thought-out scientific studies conducted by the
most experienced scientists in their fields.  As Philip Hooge has pointed
out, the easiest thing for us to do would be to do nothing, and have a
solution thrust on us by Congress.

Following are some brief responses to your questions:

How many bears and sheep are to be radio collared next year?

--  20 of each.

In what areas along the park road are they to be collared?

--  The bears will likely be distributed along the road, the sheep
concentrated on one area, possibly Polychrome/Toklat.

What is the expected mortality of both bears and sheep due to tranquilizing
them?

--  Bears zero, sheep one.

If the collaring process is to take place next spring after the bears have
lost upwards of
30% of their body weight, wouldn't the added stress of tranquilizing them
make mortality more likely? If so, what will NPS due to alleviate this
possibility?

-- Spring has traditionally been the time when bears have been
radio-collared in Denali, and success has been very high.  Bear capture
will be carried out by Pat Owen and Rick Mace, both of whom have extensive
experience with bear capture.

Will NPS be tranquilizing mostly the sub-adults, or female bears or both?

-- We'll be trying for a mixture of ages and sexes.

Will female bears with cubs be tranquilized?

-- Yes.

Without knowing what the Denali grizzly bear population dynamics are along
the road: the impacts of an accidental death to a breeding female are
unknown (but obviously not good) to the population but for roadside
viewing, they can be tremendous. Does NPS have any intention of attempting
to determine the population dynamics of this roadside population before
they begin their roadside study through non-collaring methods?

--  No, because we hope to begin this study right away this spring.  But
there is a significant history of bear monitoring in Denali that provides a
good background.

What procedures will be in place to reverse negative side effects of
tranquilizers?

-- The usual methods that have been used with great success  here and
elsewhere, including the use of drug mixtures to minimize agitation and
other side effects, taking precautions in where animals are left to recover
from drugs, the use of highly experienced crews and pilots in capture
operations, and leaving the animal alone to recover in a quiet environment.
Sheep would be net-gunned, not drugged.  Sheep capture will be handled by
Jim Lawler and John Burch of NPS in Fairbanks, who are very experienced at
this.

Will a vet be on board to monitor the condition of the bears and sheep
while they are being tranquilized?

-- No.  Having experienced biologists who have handled hundreds of animals
has proven to be the best tactic for efficient, brief handling of animals.
None of the capture-related mortalities that I'm aware of could have been
prevented by a vet on site.

What will NPS do with orphaned cubs (spring & 1 1/2 yr olds) if a female
bear is accidentally killed due to tranquilizing?

--  This hasn't happened here, and I'm not sure what the policy would be.
I would suspect that younger cubs would be taken into captivity and older
ones left alone, but that is only a guess.  It's an extremely unlikely
scenario.

Is NPS prepared for the public uproar if a Denali bear family that is
commonly viewed is negatively impacted by the above?

--  I'm not sure how you prepare for a public uproar, but this seems like
an unlikely thing.  We are certainly prepared to accept the consequences of
what we do.

Will NPS attempt to use color-coded radio collars (if they exist) to lessen
the negative and visual pollution that collars have on the general viewing
public?

-- Yes.  Sheep collars would be white, bear collars brown.  We would also
implement an educational effort, to explain that these collars were on the
animals for just a few months, that they will automatically fall off, and
to explain the purpose of the study.

Why isn't NPS using data collected in the past by not only NPS personnel
(Karen & Shan's roadside study) but also data accumulated by bus drivers
over the years to establish a base line from which to move from?

-- All of this data will be looked at in the design of the road study and
the preparation of the EIS.  Unfortunately there have been many such
studies, with sometimes inconclusive or conflicting results.  The easy
answer would be to use those past studies to justify what we do, without
attempting to fill in the gaps in what we know.

What studies and/or reasons does NPS have to justify the exclusion of the
previous roadside data and NPS studies?

--  We have no reason to exclude any of those data.

Will the large number of day hikers and backpackers from the Toklat River
to the Eielson area also be included within the study to determine their
impacts on the movements of bears and sheep? If not, why not? As this is
critical habitat, especially for bears.

--  The best way to evaluate pedestrian traffic is probably to assume that
increased road traffic will lead to increased pedestrian traffic.  The
purpose of the study is to evaluate the impacts of road traffic, however
those effects are manifested.

Buses, bears and sheep will have GPS tracking units, yet how will NPS make
the determination that a bus caused a change in a bear or sheep's behavior
versus a natural cause without actually viewing the interaction?

--  As I mentioned above, we can't hope to look at particular events (bear
meets bus) with the 1-hour resolution of animal locations that we'll get.
We only hope to see the larger patterns of animal movement and reaction to the road.  But we do hope to have people out on the road to ground-truth the results and to provide the kind of anecdotal evidence that can help
explain them.

Also, NPS is planning to vary the numbers of buses onto the road on certain days to determine the impacts of additional buses. Some days there will be a heavier concentration of buses than others. This past summer, Tour would almost routinely send out over 20 buses in the morning, along with VTS, and the Kantishna buses, this inundates the park with road traffic. Kennan Ward (professional photographer) reported to me that on one morning as he was exiting the park, he counted 55 buses. How many more buses does NPS plan to send out over and above what is already traveling into the park? Also, does NPS intend to study the impacts of this plan on the park experience for visitors?

--  No change in the existing road traffic quotas can be made without
appropriate environmental compliance, which is the purpose of this study
and the subsequent EIS.  So any experimental increase is years down the
road.  It would be nice to be able to declare bus holidays or otherwise
manipulate traffic, but we don't expect to be able to do that, because of
the schedules of the majority of park visitors who are on tours, and
because it would be an arbitrary curtailment of opportunities for some
visitors and not for others.  The overarching purpose of the study is to
preserve the quality of the visitor experience.  This might sound overly
visitor-oriented, but I would argue that preserving the quality of that
experience necessarily involves preserving the integrity of the environment
and the wildlife populations.

I believe adding more buses will only degrade the visitor experience as
this creates more traffic, dust, and wildlife jams. Additionally, it
especially impacts those visitors who recreate on or near the park road. If
NPS goes through with this plan, they should also survey visitors as to
their experience.

--  That's why we're relying on Dr. Manning, who has made a career of
studying the quality of experience of national park visitors, to provide
those answers.  I really believe that the visitor experience and logistic
constraints will be the keys to the appropriate limits to road traffic,
rather than any wildlife impacts that we can measure.

Lastly, the Tourism industry has funded this study, and many bus drivers
have reported to me that they believe that the results of this study have
been pre-determined in favor of the Tourism industry which would result in
ever more increases in bus traffic.

--  As mentioned above, the study is funded entirely by NPS funds, some of which are generated by the franchise fees that commercial operators pay to operate in the park.  We do have the cooperation of the bus company in
installing GPS devices etc.  We will also be dependent on the cooperation
of bus drivers and other road users.  But the involvement of these people
should not mean that the study is biased in one direction or another.  Our
purpose is to provide a scientific basis for decision-making, and an
understandable model of traffic impacts.

I hope that this has helped to explain the perspective of the people who
are involved in this study.  This isn't meant to be the definitive NPS
explanation or response, just my personal observations.  I hope that we can
continue to correspond about this, and that we can convene an advisory
committee of drivers and other road users, to help design and implement the study.

Tom Meier
Wildlife Biologist
Denali National Park and Preserve
P. O. Box  9
Denali Park, AK 99755

Beginning next year, the National Park Service in Denali National Park is planning to embark on a roadside study to determine the impacts of bus traffic on the park's wildlife. Bus traffic has increased tremendously over the years, primarily in the Wilderness and Denali Natural History Tours but additionally in the Kantishna Lodge buses. Many locals including bus drivers, professional photographers, and local residents believe that this increase in bus traffic has diminished quality wildlife viewing in the park to a significant degree.

 

To determine whether this is true or not, NPS is planning to tranquilize grizzly bears and Dall sheep and attach GPS radio collars to them.  Furthermore, Tour and VTS buses will also have GPS tracking units within them. NPS is intending to and I quote “ Increases in traffic will be staggered over-multiple years and on alternative days to allow for an experimental and an adaptive management approach utilizing the powerful BACI method to evaluate any increases and adjust traffic levels to prevent damage to resource or visitor experience.” End quote.

 

 It is not unusual during peak season for Tour to send over twenty buses in the morning. At present during peak season, if you include VTS, Tour, DNHT, and Kantishna and all systems running at peak numbers, we may have upwards of a hundred buses entering into Denali. Furthermore, I have several questions in regards to this study:

1. How many bears and sheep are to be radio collared next year?
   
   
2. In what areas along the park road are they to be collared?
   
   
3. What is the expected mortality of both bears and sheep due to tranquilizing them?
   
   
4. If the collaring process is to take place next spring after the bears have lost upwards of
   30% of their body weight, wouldn't the added stress of tranquilizing them make mortality more likely? If so, what will NPS due to alleviate this possibility?
   
   
5. Will NPS be tranquilizing mostly the sub-adults, or female bears or both?
   
   
6. Will female bears with cubs be tranquilized?
   
   
7. Without knowing what the Denali grizzly bear population dynamics are along the road: the impacts of an accidental death to a breeding female are unknown (but obviously not good) to the population but for roadside viewing, they can be tremendous. Does NPS have any intention of attempting to determine the population dynamics of this roadside population before they begin their roadside study through non-collaring methods?
   
   
8. What procedures will be in place to reverse negative side effects of tranquilizers?
   
   
9. Will a vet be on board to monitor the condition of the bears and sheep while they are being tranquilized?
   
   
10. What will NPS do with orphaned cubs (spring & 1 1/2 yr olds) if a female bear is accidentally killed due to tranquilizing?
    
    
11. Is NPS prepared for the public uproar if a Denali bear family that is commonly viewed is negatively impacted by the above?
    
    
12. Will NPS attempt to use color-coded radio collars (if they exist) to lessen the negative and visual pollution that collars have on the general viewing public?
    
    
13. Why isn't NPS using data collected in the past by not only NPS personnel (Karen & Shan's roadside study) but also data accumulated by bus drivers over the years to establish a base line from which to move from?
    
    
14. What studies and/or reasons does NPS have to justify the exclusion of the previous roadside data and NPS studies?
    
    
15. Will the large number of day hikers and backpackers from the Toklat River to the Eielson area also be included within the study to determine their impacts on the movements of bears and sheep? If not, why not? As this is critical habitat, especially for bears.
    
    
16. Buses, bears and sheep will have GPS tracking units, yet how will NPS make the determination that a bus caused a change in a bear or sheep's behavior versus a natural cause without actually viewing the interaction?
    
    
17. Also, NPS is planning to vary the numbers of buses onto the road on certain days to determine the impacts of additional buses. Some days there will be a heavier concentration of buses than others. This past summer, Tour would almost routinely send out over 20 buses in the morning, along with VTS, and the Kantishna buses, this inundates the park with road traffic. Kennan Ward (professional photographer) reported to me that on one morning as he was exiting the park, he counted 55 buses. How many more buses does NPS plan to send out over and above what is already traveling into the park? Also, does NPS intend to study the impacts of this plan on the park experience for visitors?

I believe adding more buses will only degrade the visitor experience as this creates more traffic, dust, and wildlife jams. Additionally, it especially impacts those visitors who recreate on or near the park road. If NPS goes through with this plan, they should also survey visitors as to their experience.

Lastly, the Tourism industry has funded this study, and many bus drivers have reported to me that they believe that the results of this study have been pre-determined in favor of the Tourism industry which would result in ever more increases in bus traffic.  

 

If you have any comments please feel free to respond to this posting. Additionally, I will be inviting NPS biologists and various environmental representatives from different groups to partake in this blog.

 

All the best.

 

Bill

http://www.WatkinsNaturePhotography.com

 

Welcome to the personal and business blog of Bill Watkins and Watkins Nature Photography.

 

Currently on my website I have an extensive two part essay on why the Arctic Refuge should be preserved. You can read it at: http://www.nancyscans.net/billwatkins/Templates/Free1.asp and http://www.nancyscans.net/billwatkins/Templates/HTML1.asp.

 

Yesterday, due to pressure from moderate Republicans (yes, there are some actual moderates in the Republican Party) and solid Democratic opposition, the House Republican leadership withdrew the provision that would have opened the Arctic Refuge to development as well as a provision that would have allowed states to lift a moratorium on oil development off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

 

Furthermore today, the House scuttled a vote on the House’s version of the budget bill. You can read the article on MSNBC news at: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9995331/. This is a significant victory in the continuing effort to protect the refuge. Although undoubtedly, the proponents of oil drilling will try to attach drilling language in a future budget bill, but hopefully, this victory will make things more difficult for them at least in the near term.

 

New Images - Update:

 

I am still in the process of editing film but hope to upload a sampling of new images onto the website by the 1^st of December.    

 

Travel Plans:

 

I will be in state until at least Christmas and possibly until early January. Then at that time I am planning to be either on the road again or flying out of state. I haven’t made any final decisions on destinations yet, but someplace tropical with ocean breezes sounds wonderful, especially during the cold, dark Alaskan winters.

 

All the best.

 

Bill

http://www.WatkinsNaturePhotography.com