WY Wilderness Association presents "Wild Music in the Park" July 13 in Sheridan

Wyoming Wilderness Association offers a weekend of art and nature with painter Joan Hoffman

From a press release from the Wyoming Wilderness Association:

The Wyoming Wilderness Association is excited to be hosting a weekend of art and nature with Joan Hoffmann, extraordinary oil and pastel artist from Colorado and Vermont, conservationist and teacher.

Friday- Sunday June, 15-17th, Hoffmann will inspire painters of any medium or skill level, in a car campout near Honeycomb Buttes. Saturday morning artists will rendezvous to set up car camping near the Honeycombs, with short day hikes to paint, and campfire critiques and stories to follow. Sunday morning, artists will paint the gorgeous Honeycomb Buttes for a grand finale of an inspiring art-filled weekend. This opportunity is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Martha Tate at 307-672-2751 or visit WWA’s website at http://www.wildwyo.org/

Wyoming Wilderness Association encourages everyone to take advantage of the summer, get out and explore the wild parts of the state, and find out what makes Wyoming and its wilderness areas so special.

Call for applicants: Signal Fire Arts in Oregon

Signal Fire is pleased to announce our 2012 programs and Call for Applicants. We are now accepting applications from all creative disciplines for the 4th annual Outpost Residency and the 2012 Overture Backpacking Retreat. Applications are due March 15, 2012.

Signal Fire was formed in 2008 by activist Amy Harwood and artist Ryan Pierce in response to the urban demand on working artists. We bring artists to the farthest stretches of our remaining wild and open places, crafting experiences that instill self-reliance and catalyze new creative energy. We utilize public lands to advocate for the access to— and protection of— these places in order to enrich and sustain society.

This year’s Outpost Residency will host eight artists for two separate one-week sessions in Eastern Oregon’s remote and breathtaking Wallowa Mountains. The selected artists will live and work in studio-size canvas wall tents. Signal Fire organizers provide food, lead optional hikes, and have wilderness medical training. Applications are due March 15th and will be reviewed by a guest jury comprised of writer Matthew Stadler, musician M. William Helfrich (mbilly), visual artists Anna Gray and Ryan Wilson Paulsen, and filmmaker Julie Perini. The residency period is July 14-20 and July 22-28, and is free to selected applicants.

From June 30- July 6, Signal Fire offers Overture, a backpacking retreat in Mt Hood National Forest near Portland, Oregon. This will be out third guided backpacking retreat, returning to the same ancient forests and pristine waters from last year’s popular Love Triangle Hike. This trip is offered at-cost to participants. Free applications to both Outpost and Overture can be found on our website.

Next autumn Signal Fire will also be organizing Afloat, a canoe trip on Utah’s Green River. This program is by invitation only, as a trial run for open-application river trips in coming years.

The growing list of Signal Fire residents includes a wide spectrum of visual artists, filmmakers, musicians, curators, performers, and creative agitators. We are committed to keeping our programming low cost or free.

Contact: Ryan Pierce, 415-690-0949, ryan@signalfirearts.org

Give the gift of the Wyoming outdoors this holiday season

From the WAC's sister agency within State Parks and Cultural Resources:

Gift certificates that can be used toward the purchase of Wyoming State Parks annual daily use and overnight camping permits are currently available in Cheyenne at Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites & Trails Headquarters located on the fourth floor of the Barrett Building, 2301 Central Avene.

Gift Certificates can be purchased through December 31, and would make a great Christmas gift for the outdoors person on your list. Gift certificates can only be redeemed at Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites & Trails Headquarters.

Also, annual daily use permits bought between January 1, and February 15, will be $6 cheaper for Wyoming residents and $7 cheaper for non-residents via the department’s early bird discount.

Resident annual daily use permits are $33 ($27 with early bird discount), annual overnight camping permits are $40 and additional vehicle permits are $7. Non-resident annual daily use permits are $53 ($46 with early bird discount) and additional vehicle permits are $7.

The additional permits for second vehicles can be purchased for vehicles registered in the same household.

For more information about State Park permits and gift certificates, please call 777-6323. Wyoming State Park headquarters is located in the Barrett Building, 2301 Central Avenue, and the fourth floor in Cheyenne.

Jalan Crossland Band featured at UW Biodiversity Conservation Alliance Badger Ball Sept. 23

The Jalan Crossland Band will perform at 8 p.m., Friday, Sept. 23, in the University of Wyoming College of Arts and Sciences auditorium. Tickets cost $10 for students and $15 for the public.

The concert is part of the annual Biodiversity Conservation Alliance's Badger Ball, to raise funds for the BCA , a non-profit organization in Laramie. The concert is sponsored by UW's ACRES Student Farm and the BCA. All proceeds will go toward protecting Wyoming public lands and wildlife.

Crossland adds dazzling guitar and banjo finger-picking to his tales of 21st century rural life.

Black Crow, White Crow will open Friday's concert.

Photo: The Jalan Crossland Band will perform at 8 p.m., Friday, Sept. 23, in the UW College of Arts and Sciences auditorium. (Brummond Photo)

Sneak peek at BBHC's upcoming exhibitions

From a BBHC press release:

The beauty of one of the last fully-functioning mountain ecosystems in the world, the stories of contemporary American Indian life entwined with tradition, and a view of the real and idealized West as seen through the evolution of western clothing-the Buffalo Bill Historical Center explores these diverse themes through this year's upcoming special exhibitions.

The stunning landscape and wildlife images of Yellowstone to Yukon: Freedom to Roam reveal the beauty in the large area running from Yellowstone National Park up through the Yukon in Canada, a nearly two-thousand-mile corridor encompassing vital passageways on which wildlife depend for survival. The more than forty large-format color photographs by Florian Schulz highlight conservation issues and efforts to link existing parks with connected corridors throughout the region.

In collaboration with the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, the exhibition was organized by the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture at the University of Washington in Seattle and Mountaineers Books. Yellowstone to Yukon opens April 15 in the Historical Center's John Bunker Sands Photography Gallery and runs through August 7.

On April 29, a second extraordinary photography exhibition opens in the Special Exhibitions Gallery. Arapaho Journeys: Photographs and Stories from the Wind River Reservation features the photography of Sara Wiles. The exhibition provides historical background for the Northern Arapaho people while the contemporary images invite viewers into the culture, values, and philosophies that guide contemporary Arapaho life. The photos include children, elders, families, and tribal activities.

Arapaho Journeys will be on view from April 29 - October 2 and is supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.

The real West and the idealized West are represented through apparel in a unique exhibition titled Dressed Just Right: An Evolution of Western Style from Function to Flamboyance, opening June 3, also in the Special Exhibitions Gallery at the Center. Function and style blend together in the western clothing, accessories, and decorative arts that make up the exhibition.

More information about these special exhibitions, as well as the permanent galleries, programs, field trips, and other events planned for 2011 can be found at the Historical Center's Web site, www.bbhc.org

Laura Bell speaks about "Claiming Ground" Dec. 9 at Teton County Library in Jackson

On Thursday, Dec. 9, 7 p.m., author Laura Bell will talk about “Claiming Ground” at the Teton County Public Library in Jackson.

With stints as a rancher, forest ranger, outfitter, masseuse, wife and mother, author Laura Bell vividly recounts her struggle to find solid earth in which to put down roots in her memoir, "Claiming Ground." At loose ends after graduating from college, Bell leaves her family home in Kentucky for a wild and unexpected adventure: herding sheep in Wyoming’s Big Horn Basin. Inexorably drawn to this life of solitude and physical toil, a young woman in a man’s world, she is perhaps the strangest member of this beguiling community of drunks and eccentrics. Only through time and distance does she acquire the wisdom that allows her to see the love she lived through and sometimes left behind.

Location: Ordway Auditorium. Free. Adult Humanities Coordinator, Oona Doherty, 733-2164 ext. 135 or odoherty@tclib.org.

Award-winning poetry inspired by stint in Wyoming

Poet William Notter’s “Holding Everything Down” (Southern Illinois University Press) was just awarded the High Plains Book Award in the poetry category. Notter grew up on the plains of northeastern Colorado, and currently lives in Richmond, Virginia. He spent three summers as an interpretive guide in Wyoming’s Bighorn National Forest, which inspired his poem “Morning News in the Big Horn Mountains.” Here’s an excerpt:

Morning News in the Big Horn Mountains

The latest movie star is drunk just out of rehab,
two or three cities had extraordinary killings,
and expensive homes are sliding off the hills
or burning again. There’s an energy crisis on,
and peace in the Middle East is close as ever.
In Wyoming, just below timberline,
meteors and lightning storms
keep us entertained at night. Last week,
a squirrel wrecked the mountain bluebirds’ nest.
I swatted handfuls of moths in the cabin
and set them on a stump each day,
but the birds would not come back to feed.

Buy the book and read the rest.

(Info gleaned from New West Online)

Call for entries: International Forest Film Festival

For more information on this press release, contact: Lisa Samford, Executive Director, Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, (307) 733-7016, lisa@jhfestival.org or Sylvia Chen, United Nations Forum on Forests Secretariat. chen14@un.org

Jackson Hole, WY – An International Forest Film Festival competition to mark the International Year of Forests, 2011 has named Vance Martin, Jan McAlpine, and Cristina Mittermeier as the judges who will select winning films from 18 finalists in six categories.

The International Forest Film Festival competition, launched by the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and the United Nations Forum on Forests Secretariat, will announce the finalists in December 2010, and the winners will be honoured at the global launch of Forests 2011 at UN Headquarters in New York in February 2011.

“The International Forest Film Festival offers a unique opportunity to bring the issues and objectives of Forests 2011 to a global audience,” said Ms. McAlpine, director of the United Nations Forum on Forests Secretariat. “The power of cinematic art is universal. It connects with people all over the world on a personal level. The International Forest Film Festival will spread the message of Forests 2011 in that same powerful manner.”

Winning films will first be showcased at the global launch of Forests 2011 in New York, and will then be screened at other festivals and events around the world throughout the year. The film festival is part of a global effort to raise awareness on the importance of forests, their relationship with people and the sustainable management, conservation and development of all types of forests.

While the overall theme for the film submissions is “Forests for People,” specific film categories will explore the multitude of ways that people interact and benefit from forests. From the social, cultural, economic or spiritual aspects of the “360 Degrees on All Things Forest” category to highlighting uniquely dedicated individuals in the “forest heroes” category, the competition seeks to take an all-encompassing approach to forest issues. A full description of guidelines and categories is available at www.forestfilmfestival.org. Films made since 2000 are eligible for entry, and submissions will be accepted until November 30th 2010, through www.WithoutABox.com.

Vance Martin has been president of The WILD Foundation since 1983. An innovative leader known for bridging the interests of people and nature, he has lived extensively overseas, worked in over 45 countries, and helped to establish many non-profits. An avid supporter of the role of culture, media and the arts in helping solve environmental issues, he has also written and/or edited 10 books and many articles. Vance has also served on the boards of numerous organizations such as the Cheetah Conservation Fund, Friends of Peace Parks, Conservation & Preservation Charities of America, Fulcrum Publishing, Wilderness Foundation (South Africa), Wilderness Foundation (UK), International Conservation Caucus Foundation, and others.

Jan McAlpine is the Director of the United Nations Forum on Forests Secretariat, having held that position since November 2008. She has a long experience in international forest policy, initiatives and negotiations and has been part of the UNFF and its predecessors for 15 years. Over the years she helped shape important actions, decisions and resolutions, notably as a negotiator on issues relating to international forest and timber trade at the White House, and as the Senior Advisor and lead for Forests in the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC.

Cristina Mittermeier is the President and Founder of the International League of Conservation Photographers, whose work with leading scientists, policy makers, government leaders and conservation groups produces the highest-quality documentary images of both the beauty and wonder of the natural world and the challenges facing it. As a photographer and writer, Cristina has co-edited nine books. From the popular to the scientific, Cristina’s work has appeared in major magazines around the world. Her evocative images focus on demonstrating the important relationship between human cultures, especially indigenous people and biodiversity.

WYO Photo of the Week: Larry Friedman

Many of you remember Larry Friedman's Wyoming photos, notably the ones shot around the Flaming Gorge in Sweetwater County. He has an amazing ability to catch lightning in mid-strike during summer storms. Larry moved from Green River to the Chicago area last year but he hasn't lost his Wyoming touch. This recent one shows cattle grazing near Flaming Gorge. The man knows his bovines -- he's also a veterinarian. This photo is 20x30 inches.

"Greater Yellowstone Sights & Sounds" on YouTube

From the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody:

An American avocet, a long-billed shore bird, prances in shallow water; a grizzly bear lumbers through a stand of fire-blackened trees; a golden eagle chick devours its meal of rabbit leg; mudpots bubble and boil in Yellowstone's Norris Geyser Basin. It's all part of the nature of life in the Yellowstone area-and captured on film by the Greater Yellowstone Sights and Sounds project (GYSS) of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center's Draper Museum of Natural History.

And now it's easily accessible to all through the video sharing phenomenon of YouTube. "We're pleased to announce our newly produced YouTube channel," says GYSS Manager Richard Chapman. "It features more than 20 new and exciting short video clips, with more to come-all in stunning high definition-that highlight a variety of sights and sounds from the Greater Yellowstone area."

The videos on YouTube, for public interest and educational use, are designed to get people-kids in particular-interested in natural history and science. This public component is one part of the larger GYSS Archive project, which collects sights (video and still photographs) and sounds (audio) of Yellowstone nature, including animal life, geology, vegetation, geography, and human commentary or interaction. The resulting archive, when completed, will be a searchable, scientific database that creates a unique and enduring record of life and human perceptions in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

The GYSS videos are on the Draper Museum of Natural History's own channel on YouTube, found at www.youtube.com/user/DraperNHMuseum or by searching for Draper Museum from any YouTube page. The videos are also linked to the Draper's content on the Buffalo Bill Historical Center's Web site, www.bbhc.org http://www.bbhc.org/

FMI: Visit the new www.bbhc.org or call 307.587.4771.

Photo Credit: The natural wonders and wildlife-like grizzly bears-of the Greater Yellowstone area star in Greater Yellowstone Sights and Sounds videos now available on YouTube. Photo by C.R. Preston.

National Museum of Wildlife Art springs into summer

National Museum of Wildlife Art events, June 16-23

Wednesday, June 16

Art Alive @ 12:05 Bald Eagle: Protecting an American Icon

National Museum of Wildlife Art · 12:05PM · Museum galleries · FREE for members or with Museum admission.

Join Craighead Beringia South's Avian Program Project Manager, Bryan Bedrosian, for an inside look into the lives and behavior of Jackson Hole's bald eagles and how our actions can affect and protect this amazing species.

Wednesday, June 16

Family Fundays: Dragons & Butterflies

National Museum of Wildlife Art · 2:00 – 3:00pm · Chrystie Classroom · FREE for members or with Museum admission.

This popular summer family series returns! Participants will explore the permanent collection and temporary exhibitions. Activities will supplement those unique experiences and are designed for school aged children. Pre-registration required ONLY for large groups. Call 307–732–5435 for more information.

Friday, June 18

Summer Film Series: Amba the Russian Tiger

National Museum of Wildlife Art · 2:00 – 3:00pm · Cook Auditorium · FREE!

This remarkable film tells the story of "Spirit Amba," the Russian Tiger. Cameraman Gordon Buchanan travels through the dense forests of Ussuriland hoping for a glimpse of one of the rarest and most elusive animals on the planet. Film and synopsis provided by the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival.

Sunday, June 20

Summer Film Series: NATURE: Parrots in the Land of Oz

National Museum of Wildlife Art · 2:00 – 3:00pm · Cook Auditorium · FREE!

From the outrageous drumming palm cockatoo in the tropical rainforests, to the shameless red female eclectus parrot of the far north who keeps a male harem, and the incredibly prolific budgerigars of the deserts, a spectacular array of parrots has evolved in Australia. Film and synopsis provided by the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival.

Monday, June 21

Young at Art

National Museum of Wildlife Art · 10:30 – 11:15AM · Chrystie Classroom · Free for members or with Museum admission.

Art classes for toddlers ages five and under, accompanied by their caregiver, focusing on the simple art concepts of color, shape, texture and line. Pre-registration is unnecessary except for large groups. Call 307-732-5435 for more information.

Tuesday, June 22

Summer Film Series: NATURE: Parrots in the Land of Oz

National Museum of Wildlife Art · 2:00 – 3:00pm · Cook Auditorium · FREE!

From the outrageous drumming palm cockatoo in the tropical rainforests, to the shameless red female eclectus parrot of the far north who keeps a male harem, and the incredibly prolific budgerigars of the deserts, a spectacular array of parrots has evolved in Australia. Film and synopsis provided by the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival.

Wednesday, June 23

Family Fundays: Shells & Patterns

National Museum of Wildlife Art · 2:00pm · Chrystie Classroom · Free for members or with Museum admission.

Activities designed for school-aged children help explore the permanent collection and temporary exhibitions. Pre-registration required for large groups. Free for members or with Museum admission. Call 307–732–5435 for details.

Gretel Ehrlich will lead Wilderness Writer's Retreat Aug. 6-9

From a press release:

Join Gretel Ehrlich and the Wyoming Wilderness Association in a journey into the Rock Creek recommended wilderness in the Bighorn National Forest August 6-9 for adventure, reflection, and writing.

Wyoming-based author and poet Gretel Ehrlich will lead workshops and readings during the Wilderness Writer’s Retreat. Gretel is an accomplished author of This Cold Heaven, The Solace of Open Spaces, and The Future of Ice, among other works of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. Gretel Ehrlich’s essays, short stories, and poems have been included in many anthologies and publications. She has received many prestigious awards and is currently at work on a novel.

Are you a writer? All levels and varieties welcome!

Do you feel comfortable in the backcountry? We will be out for 3 nights and 4 days (with a fabulous camp cook and main camp equipment supplied).

Can you hike uphill carrying a mid-sized pack for 5 miles? The horses will carry camp in, but you’ll have to pack your personal gear.

Scholarship Information: Two full tuition scholarships are available for the 2010 Wilderness Writer's Retreat. Successful applicants will have demonstrated financial need in addition to an aptitude and vocation in the field of writing.

To apply, please submit the following to WWA, PO Box 6588, Sheridan, WY 82801 by noon on June 7, 2010:

Your name, mailing address, phone number and email contact information

Tax return receipt for 2009

One 1,000-word essay demonstrating why your participation in the Wilderness Writer's Camp will have value.

An additional sample of your work in the form of poetry or prose, at least 3 poems/pages.

Essays and writing samples will be judged for composition and development of style, and winners will be announced by noon on June 28.

Fee for the Wilderness Writer's Retreat is $700.

FMI: Contact Sara at the Wyoming Wilderness Association -- 307-672-2751; sara@wildwyo.org; 325 E Loucks St., PO Box 6588, Sheridan, WY 82801