MrAndMrsIzzy

N139A99x31-1 “Rocks and Trees” Rocky Mountain NP, Sept 1999. Established on January 26 1915. Rocky Mountain National Park’s 415 square miles, covers a wide range of environments, including high meadows, forests, alpine lakes, and high peak areas above tree line. It’s also a UNESCO designated, Biosphere Reserve, one of the spots where The Continental Divide is located, and home to the headwaters of The Colorado River.

N139A99x32-1 “Bouquet” Rocky Mountain NP, Colorado. Sept 1999. Established on January 26 1915. Rocky Mountain National Park’s 415 square miles, covers a wide range of environments, including high meadows, forests, alpine lakes, and high peak areas above tree line. It’s also a UNESCO designated, Biosphere Reserve, one of the spots where The Continental Divide is located, and home to the headwaters of The Colorado River.

N143A99x8-1 “Untitled” Carolina Sandhills NWR, McBee S.C. Oct 1999. The 45,300 + acres of Carolina Sand Hills NWR, gets its name from dunes that blew in between 75,000 and 6,000 years ago. Over time, the loose dunes got stabilized by vegetation. Attempts at farming the area, were not particularly successful. The federal government came along in 1939 and started restoral and preservation programs. The programs worked and the natural ecosystem, along with its characteristic vegetation and wildlife is recovering. At least that was the case in October of 1999, when this image was captured.

N143A99x24-1 “Fall Colors” Carolina Sandhills NWR, South Carolina Oct 1999. At the time of its purchase by The Federal Government in 1939, the 45000 acres of Carolina Sandhills NWR was a wasteland. Poor farming and forestry management practices had left it badly eroded and supportive of very little wildlife. Efforts began immediately to restore a healthy native eco-system. Today the refuge serves as a showcase for what can be accomplished if the will is there.

N145A99x16AOld-1 “Shenandoah 1” Shenandoah NP, Virginia Oct 1999. Sitting at the Northern end of The Blue Ridge Parkway, between Waynesboro on The South, and Front Royal on The North, is long, narrow, Shenandoah National Park. 70 some odd miles from Washington D.C., or a day’s drive from New York (depending on your point of view). 200,000 acres of forests, meadows, hiking trails, deer, black bear, bobcats, assorted birds, etc.

N045A94HiRez36Hx20A-1 “October Reflection” Minnewaska State Park, New York, October 1994. Lake Minnewaska State Park Preserve. West of New Paltz New York in the Hudson Highlands. 22 Thousand Plus acres of open space, 35 or so miles of carriage roads, 50 or so miles of hiking trails, and photo ops like this one of trees reflected in, and leaves floating on, the surface of a puddle. (That "Wolverine 96660" in the "Taken with" line in the photo info section. That's a film scanner. Granted, a cheapy one. But it does what I need it to do.)