If anyone is interested, I gave a 20 minute talk on our open gate grazing approach earlier this year at the Great Plains Fire Summit and that presentation is now available on YouTube if you want to watch it.

I arrived at the Niobrara Valley Preserve on Monday to help with a bison roundup. During the last two hours of my drive, the sky was covered by diffuse clouds. Since I was arriving extra early, I knew I’d have some time for photography and those clouds looked perfect for photographing autumn color in the steep-banked creeks passing through the deciduous woodland and into the river. Those creeks can be hard to photograph because they’re usually in full shade (boring light) or in strong dappled shadows (difficult contrasts to deal with). Diffuse clouds create nice even light that has some color to it. I was excited.

Unfortunately, as I pulled into the drive at headquarters, the last of those diffuse clouds moved off to the south, leaving bright sunshine. Oh well. I hiked up a creek near the headquarters anyway, hoping to find at least a few possibilities for photos. It was beautiful but I only came back out with a couple images. It was still worth the walk.

After we moved the bison into the corral Monday afternoon, I had about an hour before I needed to head back for supper. I used the opportunity to slip over to my favorite stream for autumn leaf photography. As the sun dropped, I worked up and down the stream, photographing leaves that had landed in the stream or on its wet banks.

The leaves in the stream represented many distinctive Great Plains woody species. Green ash, hackberry, sandbar willow, plains cottonwood, smooth sumac, and bur oak leaves were all present. The wide sandy streambed made a terrific backdrop for the leaves, especially where there was a skiff of groundwater from seeps and springs, as well as patches of green algae.

So, there you go. It’s a weird batch of photos to share after a week of bison work but you’re used to my weirdness by now, right?