Places Volume 4

PLACES
On Assignment with Jerry Monkman
LAND CONSERVATION
Photos from projects on the Maine
Coast, the Adirondacks, and more.
FARMS AS OPEN SPACE
New Hampshire land trusts work
to conserve area farms.
MAINE WOODS ADVENTURE
A spring visit to the AMC’s
Maine Wilderness Camps.
MERRIMACK
Work begins on a new film
exploring one of America’s
most endangered rivers
AWARD SEASON
The Monkmans are awarded
their second National Outdoor
Book Award.

My 2015 film,The Power of Place, explored the impacts of a potential transmission line project on the New
Hampshire landscape. That project is one step closer to being defeated - Story on page 4.
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From Jerry
I’m looking at a foot of snow outside my New Hampshire window today,
but I’m confident we’ll all be enjoying the blissful warmth of spring when
you read this. It’s fun to share some highlights of the great photo and
video projects I’ve been a part of during the last year in this 4th edition of
“Places.” I’m blessed to consistently work with local, regional, and national
NGO’s working to conserve some amazing places in the Northeast. Most of
this issue is devoted to those places (though I’ve thrown a little bragging
in as well - please forgive me!) Enjoy the pages that follow and have a great
spring and summer.
Cheers!
Table of Contents
-Jerry
Announcements.....................................................................................................4-5
A new book, a new award, and Northern Pass is denied.
A day in Casco Bay.................................................................................................. 6-7
An excursion to islands conserved by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust.
Conservation in New York’s Adirondack Mountains...........................................8-9
A winter trip to some wild parcels conserved by Open Space Institute.
Farms as open space.......................................................................................... 10-11
New Hampshire land trusts work to conserve area farms.
From the Mountain to the Sea........................................................................... 12-13
Land trusts band together to conserve a diverse greenway in southern Maine.
Landscapes......................................................................................................... 14-17
Maine Woods Adventure.................................................................................... 18-21
A spring visit to the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Maine Wilderness Camps.
Merrimack............................................................................................................... 22
Work begins on a new film exploring one of America’s endangered rivers.
On the Cover: The Katahdin Iron Works road at sunrise in Maine’s remote 100 Mile Wilderness
P.O. Box 424, Portsmouth, New Hampshire 03802
p. 888-705-8274
m. 603-498-1140
e. jerry@ecophotography.com
www.ecophotography.com
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Announcements
A new book and a new award!
In September, my wife Marcy and I released a revised edition of our book,
Colors of Fall: Road Trip Guide, a guidebook to enjoying New England’s most
colorful season. I’ll admit that this one was fun to research.
In November we received word that our book, Outdoor Adventures: Acadia
National Park, received a National Outdoor Book Award(our second) in the
adventure guide category. Super honored to receive that news!
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IN A PLACE WHERE THE STATE MOTTO IS “LIVE FREE OR DIE”
PEOPLE DON’T GIVE UP TRADITION OR THEIR LAND WITHOUT A FIGHT.
Northern Pass is denied!
The view is worth it.
A DOCUMENTARY FILM BY JERRY MONKMAN
ECOPHOTOGRAPHY.COM/THE-POWER-OF-PLACE
SPONSORED BY: ART/SET LLC
AND APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN CLUB
My 2015 documentary, The Power of Place, looked at the negative impacts
of Northern Pass (a proposed electricity transmission line) on the New
Hampshire landscape, its residents and economy. In February, the state
of New Hampshire’s Site Evaluation Committee voted 7-0 to deny a permit
to Northern Pass, effectively killing the project (pending appeals by the
project sponsor, Eversource Energy.) This was a long hard-fought victory for
conservation interests in the region and I’m proud to have contributed this
film to the fight.
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A day in Casco Bay
Recreation
MAINE
An excursion to two islands conserved by the Maine Coast
Heritage Trust.
In August I spent a day with the Maine Coast Heritage
Trust photographing the recreation that they encourage
on two of their protected islands (East Gosling and
Lane’s Island) in Casco Bay near the Maine towns of
Harpswell and Yarmouth. By motor boat and canoe,
MCHT Communications Director Rich Knox and I made
our way out to the islands to meet a pair of families
enjoying quintessential Maine coast scenery. Maine
Coast Heritage Trust now has more than 100 preserves,
conserving more than 150,000 acres. Many of their
preserves are on remote coastal islands, only accessible
by boat, and providing the opportunity for camping in
some of the states most scenic locations.
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Above Left: Saying goodbye to The
Goslings.
Above Right: Taking in a Casco Bay
sunrise with some camp coffee on
Lane’s Island.
Lower Right: A family of five enjoys a
driftwood fire on one of The Goslings.
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Conservation in
New York’s Adirondack
Mountains
Conservation
NEW YORK
A winter trip to some wild parcels conserved by the Open
Space Institute.
A February trip to New York’s Adirondack Mountains
opened my eyes to some great work being done there
by the Open Space Institute. While fighting mediocre
light for much of the three days I had to shoot, I was
nonetheless impressed by the beauty of the landscape
on their Tahawus and Huckleberry Mountain tracts
(and the few moments of sunshine I did encounter
proved fruitful.) It was a strange winter in the northeast
with long stretches of really cold weather and strecthes
of unseasonably warm weather. Snow came and went
for the most part without consistent conditions. When
I arrived in Tahawus, it was in the 40’s with just enough
snow to wear snowshoes on the trails that serve as the
southern access to the Adirondack’s highest peaks.
The trees were bare until the morning of my departure
when a fresh couple of inches coated the trees, adding
beauty to the above scene of the Hudson River about 8
miles south of New York’s tallest peak, Mount Marcy.
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Above left: The Hudson River near
its source in the High Peaks of the
Adirondacks.
Above right: Two teenagers snowshoe
across Henderson Lake on the
Tahawus Tract.
Below right: A couple and their
daughter on a footbridge over the
Hudson River on the Open Space
Institute’s Upper Works Trail.
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Farms
as Open
Space
Conservation
NEW HAMPSHIRE
New Hampshire land trusts work to conserve area farms.
Southern New Hampshire (which I call home) is one
of the fastest growing regions in New England with
rising real estate prices luring many farmers to sell
their land, which is then used for other purposes.
Land trusts throughout New England are working
to conserve farmland, insuring it will be available to
future generations for food production. Working on
recent projects with the Southeast Land Trust of New
Hampshire and the Society for the Protection of New
Hampshire Forests was particularly rewarding because
the farms I photographed were places I’ve bought
produce from for more than 20 years.
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Above left: A young woman works as
a seasonal farmhand at Barker’s Farm
in Stratham, NH.
Above right: Emery Farm in Durham,
NH is an iconic farm on US Route 4.
Below right: A seasonal farmhand
from Jamaica harvests eggplants at
Barker’s Farm.
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From the Mountain
to the Sea
Conservation
MAINE
Land trusts band together to conserve a diverse greenway in
southern Maine.
In southeastern Maine, Mount Agamenticus serves as
the center of conservation efforts in a rapidly growing
region of the state. “Mount A” and it’s surroundings
harbor a diverse collection of flora and fauna in habitats
ranging from sandy beaches and rocky shorelines to salt
marshes and tidal creeks to deep forests and freshwater
wetlands. For the past few years, I’ve had the opportunity
to photograph the region for the Mount Agamenticus to
the Sea Conservation Initiative, a unique coalition of
land trusts and government entities working together
to conserve the most important habitats in the region
for wildlife and people. To date, more than 13,000 acres
have been conserved. My photo shoots for the initiative
have focused on human-powered recreation in the
region - hiking, biking, paddling, and wildlife-watching.
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Above left: Seapoint Beach in Kittery
after sunset.
Above right: A pair of birdwatchers
at Seapoint Beach.
Below right: A young explorer in the
Orris Falls Preserve in South Berwick.
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Landscapes
Alpenglow on the Presidential Range in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.
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Landscapes
A throwback to my first assignment for The Nature Conservancy back in 2000. Shot on film with a 6 x 7 cm medium format
camera, this image captured the high elevation beauty of the Bunnel Tract in New Hampshire’s Northern Forest. At the
time, it was one of the largest private conservation projects in state history (10,000+ acres). Ironically, a decade later, this
landscape was briefly threatened by the proposed Northern Pass project mentioned on page 5.
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Maine Woods Adventure
Recreation
MAINE
A spring visit to the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Maine
Wilderness Camps.
In June, I made a return visit to the Appalachian
Mountain Club’s Wilderness Camps in Maine’s 100 Mile
Wilderness. It was only my second visit to the camps
when there wasn’t 3 feet of snow on the ground, and it
was a joy to paddle the nearby ponds and photograph
the beautiful area landscape and camp life. The beauty
present in the photos belies the pain suffered by my
companions at the mouths of relentless biting black
flies!
AMC has now purchased and conserved more than
70,000 acres of forest in this area, built 120 miles of
recreation trails, and with their three lodges they
make it easy to have a comfortable experience
while enjoying some of the best wilderness Maine
has to offer.
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Above left: An after dinner paddle on
Long Pond.
Above right: An aerial view of Long
Pond and Gorman Chairback Lodge.
Below right: Fly-fishing on the nearby
Pleasant River.
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The sun sets behind Baker Mountain
and Little Lyford Pond near the AMC’s
Little Lyford Pond Camps.
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A little ‘glamping’ on the porch of a new cabin at the AMC’s Gorman Chairback Lodge.
Beginning a hike in the 100-Mile Wilderness from the cabins at Little Lyford Pond Camps.
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4358 acres of forest around Silver Lake and the west branch of the Pleasant River near Gorman Chairback Lodge
were purchased for conservation in 2016 by the Maine Forest Society, the Open Space Institute, and the Appalachian
Mountain Club.
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Film
NH & MA
Merrimack
Work begins on a new film exploring one of America’s most
endangered rivers.
The second half of 2017 saw work ramping up for
my next feature-length documentary film project,
Merrimack. In 2016, the 117-mile long Merrimack
River in New Hampshire and Massachusetts was listed
as one of America’s 10 most endangered rivers by
American Rivers. The river is the birthplace of America’s
industrial revolution and powered the textile mills of
cities like Lowell, Lawrence, and Manchester. Terribly
polluted by the 1950’s, the health of the river rebounded
after passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, but the
Merrimack is once again experiencing a decline in water
quality due to accelerating development in the region.
I am very excited to be partnering on this film with The
Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests,
and last year we spent 8 days filming a portion of the
film that is now being edited into a fundraising trailer
(to be released soon.)
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P.O. Box 59
Portsmouth, New Hampshire 03802
603-498-1140
jerry@ecophotography.com
www.ecophotography.com