A message from a Lily Fan about tomorrow’s groundbreaking at 2 PM CDT said “Carpe Diem!” We got mixed up and seized the day today, the date of the email. Today was beautiful. Winds and waters were calm. The sky was blue, and the aspen and birch yellows had deepened. If ever we were to photograph landscapes for the upper walls of the Northwoods Ecology Exhibit, today was the day. It felt like a day off. Wherever we looked, we wanted to capture the beauty.
We went to the overlook the BBC had used for an aerial scene in Bearwalker back in 2008. Red maples were still brilliant, although dropping their leaves now, but the aspens and birches dominated the landscape, set off by the greens of the conifers. The goal was to put together a string of pictures to stitch together for a panorama 4 feet tall by many feet wide to show the beauty of this northwoods forest. It was the best chance of the year to catch the color.
Focusing on the overlook, which is a major hike in with no trail, we missed doing many other things. We’re hoping for another day with weather like today to capture more before the leaves fall.
We finished the day by radio-tracking the 3 yearlings to see if they are still moving, and they are. We don’t get GPS locations on our computers from them because they wear smaller collars that don’t have room for a GPS unit.
The technology team tells us the video and sound equipment is ready to broadcast the ground-breaking tomorrow at 2 PM CDT. The live-feed link at NABC-Groundbreaking will be activated at 1:30 PM CST—it will not work until then. We’re feeling the enthusiasm for tomorrow with your many messages of congratulations and encouragement.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center