BC Grasslands

Chris Harris book on the Cariboo-Chilcotin Grasslands

SPIRIT IN THE GRASS - The Cariboo-Chilcotin's Forgotten Landscape

NEW RELEASE, October, 2007

The Cariboo Chilcotin grasslands are one of the ecological wonders of the world and British Columbia's most endangered ecosystem. Visually driven yet content rich, this book will undoubtedly become one of the most important British Columbia conservation books published to date.

 

• About the Book
  
  
• Multimedia Presentations and Book Signings Near You
  
  
• Book Orders (Introductory Special)
  
  
• Grasslands Gallery

"The stunning images in this book evoke wonder and awe, which are essential if we are to love and fight to protect such sacred places".. - David Suzuki

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Video: Doris Blanchet was so excited about the Grasslands Awareness Project, that she volunteered to produce a "Video Story Card" for the benefit of the project and the book. Doris has a fledging software company, 321forkeeps.com where she creates custom video cards for any of life's events such as weddings, babies, birthdays, anniversaries and memorials.

The Chris Harris Newsletter

This posting is to advise everyone that the subject of this weblog (the Grasslands Awarenwss Project) is now being carried on through the Chris Harris Newsletter. Please visit Chris' website www.chrisharris.com to see current and archived newsletters or to receive notification of a new newsletter. We feel the newsletter is a better way to convey the Grasslands message.
Remember, this project is the visual story of the creation of a major B.C. coffee-table book on the Grasslands of British Columbia. Working in partnership with the Grasslands Conservation Council of B.C., Chris Harris will journalize his photographic adventures with images, stories and photographic information. Please join in on the visual adventure by subscribing to the Chris Harris Newsletter. Thank you.

A Marsh Wren Builds its Nest

    The grasslands are buzzing at this time of year and I am having a wonderful and challenging time photographing all the action with my new Canon 500mm IS lens. Two weeks ago I positioned myself at the side of a marsh in the Bechers Prairie grasslands, west of Williams Lake. I was trying to photograph an Eared Greebe, but my attention soon switched to a beautiful small Marsh Wren who was building its nest. It would carry reeds from the cattails to build the nest foundation and then gather the soft white fluff from the tops of the cattails to pad the inside of the nest. The nest is the shape of a football and they are extremely well camouflaged. Can you see it? They even build several so as to confuse their predators. These two images are to show the gathering of nest material and how difficult it is to find or even see these beautiful nests. In the Grassland Animals album you’ll see the ever-so-cheerful secretive and tiny Marsh Wren.

Join us in Learning

The Grasslands Awareness Project: This posting is to notify you of three powerful Slide-Sound presentations that are coming up shortly in the BC interior. The Grasslands Conservation Council of BC and I invite you to share images and stories from the Cariboo-Chilcotin Grasslands, the last large pristine inter-mountain grasslands in North America. To be notified of all future events including the unfolding of this project, visit my website and subscribe to the Chris Harris Newsletter.

Please join this exciting journey of discovery. The locations are:

Tuesday, May 10, 7:30 pm
Williams Lake City Council Chambers
Williams Lake, BC

Wednesday, May 18, 7:30pm
Clock Tower Alumni Theatre
Thompson Rivers University,
Kamloops, BC

Thursday, May 19, 7:30pm
Quaaout Resort & Conference Centre
Little Shuswap Lake Road West
Chase, BC

Evening Sunset

I had spent the day hiking and photographing in the open grasslands, and after making a few sunset images, I was heading back to my camper for supper. Thinking that my days work was over, I was unexpectedly surprised when the silhouetted branches in an aspen copse drew my attention to the still remaining colour in the sky. I quickly set up my tripod and grabbing my 14 mm lens, I made this image just before the richness of colour waned into the night. Once again, I felt satisfied with my days work and began taking down my tripod in order to head back to my camper. But wait…visit the landscape photo album to see what happened next!!

Ice in Abstraction

Searching and finding the ice patterns which I showed you in my last posting is exciting enough, but when you explore still deeper another world unfolds. One example is this miniature piece of ice. Using a macro lens I moved in until tiny reflections became glittering stars. If you visit the landscape photo album you’ll find what I saw when I moved in still closer!

Patterns in the Ice

On last weeks posting we saw chunks of ice flowing downstream and circulating in an eddy when we visited the Chilcotin River during spring break-up. This posting I’d like to take you in for a closer look. Down on the ice flows I discovered a myriad of ice patterns. Using both a telephoto and macro lens, I explored their colours and form, paying special attention to shape, line, texture and perspective. I wish I could show you everything I saw but for now I’ll show you two ice sculptures created naturally in nature – elegant shapes which I have never seen before in ice. In this image is a flawlessly shaped bell – a perfect Christmas tree decoration – with blue reflections from the sky above. If you visit the Landscape Album you’ll see my other "Patterns in the Ice" discovery. Enjoy!

Spring Break-up

Hi everyone. Once again, it’s been awhile, but I have been out shooting steadily and have been falling behind with my office work! My last posting showed the circular ice formations along the Fraser River. This time I’m going to take you to the Chilcotin River where I found more startling ice patterns. We’ll start off with an overview image of the Chilcotin River at Farwell Canyon taken from the bridge. Spring came early this year leaving no snow amongst the south sloping hoodoos in the background. Along the colder river, however, cold nights kept the ice a lot longer. Needless to say, I couldn’t resist the temptation of climbing down the slippery slopes for a closer look. Visit the Landscape Photo Album for a closer look at what I found!

Pizza Ice!

On my March 7th posting I took you out to the Churn Creek area along treacherous road conditions. I finally got to my destination by driving at night after freeze-up. The next morning I woke up and went down to the Fraser River. It was there I found these amazing pizza shaped ice formations along the shoreline. I had never seen ice shaped like this before – it was a total surprise. I quickly got my camera gear and started my compositional search. What an exciting morning! Even the chunks of ice floating down the river seemed to be circular. In the background are the canyon walls of the mid-Fraser River Canyon near the Gang Ranch. The grasslands are right on top. Needless to say there was no time for breakfast until 11am that morning!

Grasslands Awareness Project-Official Launch

This past Tuesday evening at The Lodge Conference and Retreat Centre in 100 Mile House, the GCC in partnership with myself, officially launched the Grasslands Awareness Project. The goal of the project is the creation of a major BC publication on the Grasslands of British Columbia. The presentation included a power point presentation describing the grasslands from a global perspective to that of the grasslands in B.C. This was followed by the feature presentation on the grasslands of the Cariboo-Chilcotin which included a slide-sound show. The evening was also a fundraising event. The response was overwhelming. One lady offered to initiate an artists retreat in the grasslands which is to end up as an exhibit to promote the project. A gentleman volunteered to be an official fundraiser for the book project while yet another gentleman offered to sponsor a 500 mm IS telephoto lens in order to capture the endangered birds and animals which depend entirely on the grasslands. There were many other donors as well and they are being rewarded with a tour to the grasslands with a grasslands ecologist and myself. All-in-all it was a most encouraging evening...a great one for the grasslands and for the book project as well. Thank you so very much from all of us.