Three former National Geographic Bee champions were present at today’s championship round in Washington, D.C: David Stillman (1991 champion), Anders Knospe (1994), and Seyi Fayanju (1996). They all agreed to do brief video interviews about what they are doing now, how geography has been useful to them, and how well they thought they could have competed in the Bee won today by Sathwik Karnik of Massachusetts.

David Stillman, Computer Programmer

Anders Knospe, Nuclear Physicist

Seyi Fayanju, Graduate Student

According to the statement released yesterday, BioBlitz highlights included:

• More than 3,000 people, including more than 1,500 schoolchildren, participated in the BioBlitz and the concurrent Biodiversity Festival.
• The initial scientific species count as of the 4:30 p.m. closing ceremony Saturday was 458, with well over 1,500 observations made over the two days. Organizers expect the number to increase significantly over the next few months as state-of-the-art testing of the collected samples continues.
• During the two-day, 24-hour (noon-to-noon) inventory, the Louisiana State University arthropod team processed more than 400 distinct insect species. Many are known to the park, but never documented. Several new invasive insects were also among the finds.
• A rare Louisiana milk snake was discovered, and possibly one new fish, Fundulus herteroclitus (mud minnow), will be added to the park’s species roster.
• The festival grounds were brightened by dozens of flags created by students at area schools that featured local species like alligators, snapping turtles, ducks and dragonflies.
• The Biodiversity Festival included a wide variety of music, nature-inspired activities, talks, art, live animal demonstrations and hands-on science activities. The festival emphasized biodiversity and encouraged the public to do its part to protect the environment. Many visitors interacted with representatives of science, nature and environmental organizations at more than 40 booths.

Photograph by David Braun

Photograph by David Braun

“The BioBlitz was part scientific endeavor, part festival and part outdoor classroom,” said NPS and NGS. “Participants combed the park, observing and recording as many plant and animal species as possible in 24 hours. Activities included counting alligators, catching insects, spotting birds, exploring and examining aquatic invertebrates and using technology to better understand the diverse ecosystems of this unique park.”

“This is the first time anyone has done this level of work on a bottomland, hardwood, freshwater system like this,” said Victoria Bayless, curator at the Louisiana State Arthropod Museum. “Everything we can document and share is really important right now.”

Photograph by David Braun

Photograph by David Braun

“This was a fantastic opportunity for the public to meet and work with scientists and to understand and appreciate what makes Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve’s Barataria Preserve such a special and biologically rich place,” said Lance Hatten, acting superintendent of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve and New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park. “For many people, especially schoolchildren, this was their first visit to the park, and it was exciting to have them experience it with amazing scientists and naturalists as their guides.”

“Watching scientists, students and the general public in the field exploring and making discoveries put a smile on my face,” said John Francis, National Geographic’s vice president for Research, Conservation and Exploration. “Scientists joined students and residents from the surrounding communities and celebrated their unique roles as members of the natural systems where they live. It was also exciting to see new technology and smartphone apps being used in the field to document and identify species finds.”

Photograph by David Braun

Great Nature Project

In his closing remarks, Francis invited all to join the National Geographic Society’s Great Nature Project. The project encourages people from around the globe to go outside, explore, document plants and animals with cameras, and upload them to share, using the hashtag #GreatNature. The goal is the largest photo album of plants and animals, capturing the rich biodiversity of Earth and raising awareness about protecting the planet. The weeklong quest will take place Sept. 21-29, 2013, and is part of the National Geographic Society’s 125^th anniversary yearlong celebration. Learn more at greatnatureproject.org.

Photograph by David Braun

Photograph by David Braun

BioBlitz 2014: Golden Gate

Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve BioBlitz was the seventh in a series of 10 annual BioBlitzes to be hosted by National Geographic and the National Park Service leading up to the National Park Service centennial in 2016. During closing ceremonies the BioBlitz flag was passed to Aaron Roth, deputy superintendent of Golden Gate National Recreation Area, where the eighth BioBlitz will take place March 28-29, 2014.

The first BioBlitz was held at Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C., in 2007; the second took place at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in California in 2008. Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was the site of the third BioBlitz in 2009; Biscayne National Park, outside Miami, was the 2010 site; Saguaro National Park in Tucson hosted the 2011 BioBlitz; and Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado was the 2012 host park.

Photograph by David Braun

Photograph by David Braun

The Jean Lafitte BioBlitz was made possible through the support of corporations, foundations and state and local agencies. Corporate support came from Southwest Airlines. Foundation support was from the Harold M. and Adeline S. Morrison Family Foundation, the National Park Foundation and the National Park Trust. The Louisiana Office of State Parks and Jefferson Parish also provided support.

National Geographic has had a close relationship with the National Park Service since the Service’s inception; the Society helped draft legislation to establish the Service in 1916. National Geographic has given grants to establish or sustain national parks and has extensively covered the parks in its media for nearly a century.

Photograph by David Braun

Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique – Sitting on the dusty floor of a makeshift laboratory tent Harith Farooq carefully folded a piece of fine, steel mesh into a foot-long cylinder, then weaved in a stretch of a thick wire along its edge, and finally carefully attached a neck of an empty water bottle to one of the ends. He looked at the contraption in his hands with deep concentration. “Something is still missing”, you could almost hear him think, “but what? A battery? A fork? Some gasoline, perhaps?” His gaze shifted to a stack of paper mousetraps covered with thick, sticky glue, the kind that was meant to immobilize any animal unlucky enough to step onto it. “Bingo!” – Harith picked one up and squeezed it into the tubular apparatus. “The perfect leezard trap”, he announced proudly.

For the last few days Harith, a Mozambican scientist from the University of Lúrio in Pemba and his colleague MO Roedel from Berlin, two herpetologists participating in a biodiversity survey of the Cheringoma Plateau in Gorongosa, had been trying to catch some of the many lizards found in the Nhagutua Gorge, the site of our first camp. Alas, the sneaky reptiles proved to be extremely difficult to catch by hand, which prompted Harith to come up with an alternative solution. As the survey progressed his traps kept growing larger and more complex, combining both natural materials (rocks, sticks, bark) and man-­made objects – a plastic sheet, twine, wire and, of course, steadily increasing amounts of glue. The one thing that they all had in common was their total inability to capture even a single reptile.

The strangest part was that Harith was incredibly good at catching reptiles, or any other organisms, without the need for additional accessories. I had never seen anybody catching, with their bare hands, a giant centipede, a solifugid, or a deadly spitting cobra, but Harith caught them all, while carrying a casual conversation. In the end, during the Cheringoma survey he and MO collected 47 species of lizards and snakes, effectively quadrupling the number of reptiles known from Gorongosa National Park.

Swynnerton’s amphisbaenian (Chrindia swynnertoni), a subterranean blind lizard, found only in Gorongosa and a small surrounding area. (by Piotr Nascrecki)

Within a three-week period in Gorongosa our team of biologists was able to document the presence of all nine families of lizards that occur in southern Africa. Among them were some real gems, including an entirely blind, subterranean lizard, the Swynnerton’s amphisbaenian (Chrindia swynnertoni). These tiny reptiles, known only from a handful of specimens recorded around Gorongosa, spend their entire life underground, leading a lifestyle remarkably similar to that of earthworms, and feeding on termites and ant larvae.

On the opposite end of the lizard spectrum, two species of giant monitors (Varanus) turned out to be quite common on the Cheringoma Plateau. One day Harith walked into the camp carrying a live Rock monitor (V. albigularis) the size of a goat, which he had captured by throwing himself on top of the gargantuan animal, barely overpowering it with the help of two other people. The reptile’s snout was still covered with blood of the last victim, probably a bird or a small child, by the looks of it, and gazing into the monitor’s eyes made me realize how grateful I was that our species appeared long after the era of dinosaurs had passed. We released the beautiful creature after examining it for the presence of external parasites, which the lizard had none, proving its excellent health condition.

Flap-necked chameleons (Chamaeleo dilepis) are common in the savanna
woodlands of the Cheringoma Plateau (by Piotr Naskrecki)

Almost every day our herpetological team, which also included a Mozambican student Francisco Domingos, recorded something new and exciting. Often it was a tiny brown frog that differed from all other frogs by the presence of a slightly enlarged corner of the left supraocular cuticular fold, which was enough to make our herpetologists prance and giggle with excitement like little girls. But at other times it was a vine snake that could kill you with a half a drop of its venom, or a spiny rock lizard that defends itself by squeezing into rock crevices and inflating its body like a balloon. The survey found charismatic chameleons, among them the famed pygmy chameleon of Mount Gorongosa, unquestionably the cutest lizard in Mozambique, and blindingly fast lacertid lizards with flame orange tails, which looked like tiny thunderbolts zipping across the ground.

Thunderbolt lizard (Nucras sp.), one of the fastest animals found in Gorongosa. (by Piotr Naskrecki)

The survey officially ended yesterday, and Harith is on the way back to Pemba. Data collected by him and the rest of the herpetological team will be added to the ever-growing Gorongosa biodiversity database, a powerful tool that helps manage the restoration efforts in the park. I was sorry to see the members of the team depart, but having witnessed Harith handle cobras and puff adders as if they were harmless puppies I was relieved to see him leave the park, still alive and well. All things considered, a gash in his finger, courtesy of a pouched rat, followed by a nip from a giant scorpion hardly count as injuries.

Plated lizard (Gherrosaurus major) was one of the most exciting finds of the survey. (by Piotr Naskrecki)

The male of the Gorongosa girdled lizard (Cordylus mossambicus) looks like an
alligator wearing an orange T-shirt. These spectacular lizards are found only in a
small area around Gorongosa and the neighboring Chimanimani Mountains of
Zimbabwe, and are threatened by habitat loss and overcollecting for pet trade. (by Piotr Naskrecki)

Piotr (Peter) Naskrecki is a Polish-born entomologist, photographer and author, currently at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, USA.). He received his M. Sc. degree in Zoology from the A. Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland (1990), and a Ph.D. in Entomology from the University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT (2000). Between 2002 and 2009 Piotr served as Director of the Invertebrate Diversity Initiative at the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science at Conservation International, Washington, D.C. His research focuses on the evolution of katydids and related insects, and the theory and practice of nature conservation. Visit his website for more information.

As with the preceding six BioBlitzes, this year’s inventory of species is in a national park adjacent to a major urban area. Jean Lafitte is a composite of cultural and wilderness areas in and around the greater New Orleans area. Earlier BioBlitzes in the series were in or near Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Tucson, and Denver. Parks alongside major cities are selected so as to give urban children the opportunity to be introduced to the natural environment in their backyard. In many instances, the BioBlitz has been the first time some of the students have ever visited a national park.

Students, teachers, and other members of the public are now fanning out across Jean Lafitte to look for aquatic and terrestrial species of every kind. There are also talks and demonstrations by experts, while local artists and musicians are taking part in a festival to celebrate culture and biodiversity.

The BioBlitz also yields valuable scientific research for local scientists and administrators of the National Park Service. At almost every preceding BioBlitz at least one species new to a park has been discovered. A preliminary count of species for Jean Lafitte will be announced at noon tomorrow, but the final official count may take months or even years to establish as scientists pore over specimens and data gathered from the field.

News Watch interviewed Lois Morrison about her passion for both nature and education, and why she sees the BioBlitz as a special opportunity to reinforce our connection with the natural world.

This is the fifth year the Morrison Family Foundation is sponsoring the BioBlitz in a national park. How does this event give expression to the goals and aspirations of the foundation?

The mission of our foundation is to promote environmental education opportunities for children and families in underserved communities. The BioBlitz, by choosing to highlight national parks close to urban areas, dovetails nicely with everything we are working towards as a foundation.

Tell us a little about the family behind the establishment of the foundation, and the family’s connection to the environment.

The Harold M. and Adeline S. Morrison Family Foundation was formed almost 20 years ago. We have always supported environmental organizations though our grant-making, but it wasn’t until we went through a year-long strategic planning process about five years ago that we decided to focus and work to make a difference through investing in and partnering with organizations that connect kids to nature. Although our board represents a diversity of professions, every member of the board has personal stories and experiences that passionately commits them to our mission.

What is your personal connection to the natural environment, and the national parks in particular?

A love for nature and the outdoors has always been central to who I am. My college essay was about meeting John Muir, and my master’s thesis from Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies was on the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Needless to say, I have always been in love with, and in awe of, our national parks. Before taking on the executive director role at the foundation, I worked for a number of conservation-related agencies and organizations including the President’s Council on Sustainable Development and The Nature Conservancy. Both my education and my career path have given me the luxury of being connected to our country’s iconic national parks.

What I love about the National Geographic and National Park Service partnership is that each BioBlitz is about our national parks, but they are also about fostering awareness and excitement about the natural treasures right in our own back yards.

Addie Daab at the 2013 BioBlitz. Photo courtesy of Justin Daab.

Josie Daab watches a local painter at work. An important part of the BioBlitz is a celebration of the environment through art and culture. Photo courtesy of Justin Daab.

The BioBlitz and your foundation are all about connecting kids to nature. You have brought your family to participate in the bioblitzes. How have you seen younger people, including your children, relating to nature? What does the natural world mean to them?

I have observed hundreds of school kids at each BioBlitz, and see the same excitement in them that I see in my daughters, nieces and nephews. My daughters love coming to the BioBlitz. They can’t wait to explore the science exhibits and earn their diplomas from the Biodiversity University. They enjoy learning about species in their native habitat, and they even remember the names of many of the scientists they have met. The BioBlitz scientists have provided an introduction to whole new professional disciplines they never knew existed.

My favorite example of this is Ian, my high school soccer star nephew, who, when taken out of his element, started balking at his every step into a wetlands habitat at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. “What could we possibly be collecting samples of,” he complained as he timidly worked his way waist-deep into what he declared was just “muck.” The scientist persevered with just the right touch, and soon a whole new reality of the world opened to Ian. When Ian looked at his samples through a microscope, he discovered thousands of living organisms! His whole demeanor changed. Later that day he declared he was going to become an aquatic ecologist!!

What other projects does your foundation support to advance environmental education?

Our foundation supports a number of national and international efforts to inspire conservation action, but the bulk of our work is focused in northeastern Illinois, and specifically the Lake County area. We support education programs in cities like North Chicago and Waukegan that focus on connecting kids with the nature that is right outside their windows. Some of these programs teach kids how to farm. Others teach them about the complex ecosystems that are found within their community. And others are simply about getting out to enjoy unstructured playtime in nature.

What are the threats and opportunities for coming generations in the evolving relationship between humans and nature?

The threats we face are many, including increased time spent indoors and behind some sort of electronic screen, and decreased freedom for kids to roam and experience unstructured time in nature. The concern is that this leads to a society disconnected from where our food comes from, from where our water comes from, and from being able to name the plants, animals and insects in our backyards.

The underlying belief in all our work is that by getting kids out into nature, they will learn to love and appreciate it, and over time they will become stewards and advocates in protecting it. The BioBlitz plays an important role in addressing these threats by building the foundation of the next generation of stewards of the natural environment, including our national parks.

You have supported environmental education to foster the bonds between people and planet. In this regard, what do you hope your legacy will be for future generations?

We hope our legacy will be, in part, one of consciousness — inspiring a sense of pride in our natural communities. We also hope our legacy will be the actions taken by those we’ve helped connect with the environment to secure, protect, and expand our National Park treasures, but also our local watersheds, our county forest preserves, and our public and private nature preserves.

We are an urban family, and we have seen the hands-on BioBlitz experience really strengthen our family’s connection with the natural world in a way no classroom or museum ever could. The sense of wonder kids experience at the BioBlitz carries over – they are no longer afraid of insects, or getting dirty, or exploring what’s under a rock or up in a tree. They really see the natural environment as something exciting to explore, important to study and understand, and critical to protect. We are hopeful that this is the experience of every participant in the BioBlitz. And we hope this will be part of our legacy.

Addie and Josie Daab at the 2013 BioBlitz. Photo courtesy of Justin Daab.

The Cheringoma Plateau on the eastern side of Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique is a truly breathtaking place. The plateau represents the end of the eastern side of the African Rift Valley, a giant geological fault running all the way north to the Red Sea. The Cheringoma Plateau itself has been sliced open in a few places by the dull but relentless blades of time and water. In places, these gorges are 70 meters deep: dramatic depressions bursting with emergent trees and sparkling crystal pools. All that’s missing are pterodactyls gliding above the treetops and the roar of a T-Rex on the gorge floor below.

Limestone gorge in Gorongosa’s Cheringoma Plateau (by James Byrne)

Over a dozen scientists have come here to poke around in the grass, bushes, trees and streams looking for species that are either new to science or previously un-described in Mozambique. The leader of this band of merry experts is Piotr Naskrecki, a Polish-born entomologist (insect-expert) now working at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology. But Naskrecki isn’t just a scientist. He’s a world-class photographer (especially of insects and species from ‘The Smaller Majority’ as he likes to call them) and a superb science writer. For many years, he organized similar scientific trips in the middle-of-nowhere for Conservation International. This one is a little bit special, however.

The scientists set up a primitive “lab” on site (by James Byrne)

“It’s the largest all-taxa survey of a complete ecosystem in Africa,” Naskrecki states. That means, there are scientists covering all the major groups of life. So, when they’re finished, they’ll have a very wide portrait of this part of Gorongosa. They’re optimistic. Other surveys in Gorongosa have yielded surprising results. “Gorongosa is a very, very bio-diverse place,” Naskrecki says. “We’re finding a lot of things we didn’t expect to find and there’s a high rate of endemism, creatures that live here and nowhere else on Earth. It’s a very special place and that’s why so many scientists were keen to come here and explore it.”

Naskrecki has hand-picked a team of Mozambican and international experts for the three-week expedition. There are experts in plant, insects, frogs and reptiles, mammals, birds and team of students and helpers. There’s even a crew from PBS, North America’s public television network, following everybody and sticking cameras on their heads. Every one of these scientists can rattle off the scientific names of thousands of obscure things with a scary command of order, genus, and species. It’s easy to feel like a lower form of intelligence around these people. (Sometimes I have to think twice about my age or what year it is.)

Ricardo Jose Gauta is one of the many Mozambicans involved in the survey (by James Byrne)

These people are smart but they’re also tough. If you think all scientists are delicate flowers that just sit in their ivory towers writing articles for obscure academic journals that nobody actually reads, think again. Here, they must endure Dickensian gruel for about three weeks: a corn mash that, on good days, is made slightly more palatable with some kind of mystery meat sauce. Toss in a couple hundred cans of powdered milk, sardines and tuna over 3 weeks and you get the picture. The rations and menu options are comparable to a restaurant in a post-apocalyptic world. The characters in the zombie-survivalist series “The Walking Dead” eat exactly the same stuff.

Any food is appetizing when you’re working hard in the bush (by James Byrne)

After a morning of hunting and gathering, swishing nets through tall grass or wading through pools, the scientists gather in a big, communal tent, filled with thirsty tsetse flies, to identify their treasures. Vials of drowned ants line the table and Ziploc bags full of beetles and frogs hang from the roof. The whole vaguely ghoulish scene is like the inside of a Victorian curiosity shop. It’s painstaking work. Scientists must think: it’s possible that someone in 200 years will be looking at this specimen, trying to figure out why it has no tonsils or something, so the work has to be rigorous. No sloppiness allowed. Some grad student in 2242 on Grekon-5 might curse their bad handwriting so many scientists write with an impeccable cursive script. Apart from the presence of digital cameras and ironic entomology t-shirts, this could be a scene from the early 19^th Century.

Plant specimens are pressed and dried for preservation (by James Byrne)

Truthfully, a lot of the creatures they collect are small and not that immediately impressive to the layman fed on an African diet of elephants and lions. But once the scientist has explained what’s amazing about its anatomy or behavior, how it lures its mate or catches its prey, your respect for the little creatures increases immeasurably. There are amazing things right under our noses and often the only people that appreciate them are these experts. Nobody seems to have the time for a deep understanding of nature these days. We’d rather buy a Frog App for $1.99 from the Apple Store than actually go out, get our feet wet and catch one, stick it in a Mason jar and stare at it dreamily.

Beetles are collected and will be preserved for the Gorongosa collection (by James Byrne)

Every now and then though, something truly big and jaw dropping shows up in camp.  While I was there, Harith Morgandinho Farooq, a reptile expert from the University of Lúrio, Pemba in Mozambique, strode into camp holding a huge Rock Monitor Lizard, well over a meter long, powerful and beautiful. The lizard was a scaly emissary from the gorge floor below. Doubtless, this was his first experience with humans and it’s hard to say what he thought of us. We gathered around him like an Italian family at a baptism, snapping photos, touching his whip-like tail, gasping and cooing in awe and delight. After about 5,000 photos, Harith returned him to the exact spot he found him (these lizards are very attuned to their territories) and presumably ‘the encounter with the humans’ will fade from his memory like a feverish nightmare half-forgotten by dawn.

A behemoth Rock Monitor Lizard makes an appearance in camp (by James Byrne)

I think it’s teasing us! (by James Byrne)

To my surprise, the monitor lizard proved to be the warm-up act. The climax of the day came as Greg Carr, President of the Gorongosa Restoration Project and a member of the Oversight Committee of Gorongosa National Park, gamely donned a hard hat, climbing harness and rappelled off the top of the gorge and descended 70 meters to the primeval-looking gorge floor. Greg smiled in disbelief – “I’ve talked about this for a year but I didn’t think we’d do it and I certainly didn’t wake up this morning thinking I was going to do it today!”

Greg Carr, president of the Gorongosa Restoration Project, holds the Rock Monitor Lizard. (by James Byrne)

In 2008, Greg signed a deal with the Government of Mozambique to co-manage and fund the restoration of Gorongosa. Everyone on the cliff above agreed he heartily deserved the honor of descending into the gorge. In just 5 years, Gorongosa has been transformed, one of the greatest conversation success stories in Africa, and that success is, in large part, due to Greg’s vision, energy and unwavering commitment. He spends half the year here, although his workdays are not always as thrilling.

Greg’s explorations were rewarded by a massive, seemingly unknown, cave system scooped out of the soft limestone cliffs below. It was a very special moment for Carr. “You know, I have been here for 9 years and I have never seen this place. And it could be the most beautiful place in the whole park.”

Exploring the cave system in Gorongosa (by Paul Kerrison)

Minutes later, Jen Guyton, an American, Princeton-based, scientist looking for bats, lowered herself down after him. “As far as I know this is the first time I’ve ever been the first explorer of someplace,” she said. “It’s kind of exciting.” Once down, she unclasped herself, looked around, and called back up to her team. “It’s huge. It’s dark. There’s lot of bat guano so that’s a good sign. I’m going in…”

Her voice echoed for a while and then silence returned to the ancient gorge, like the sound in a great, deep, green well after a child has dropped a penny to the bottom.

James Byrne

James Byrne is from Ireland originally but moved to the U.S. in 1995. He worked at National Geographic Television for 12 years until 2012 when he left to join the Gorongosa National Park team. While he was at National Geographic, he produced a film about Gorongosa called “Africa’s Lost Eden”. As media director for Gorongosa, Byrne develops and produces long and short-form films about the park with the goals of increasing awareness, support and tourism for Gorongosa, and using the park as a model, teaches the importance of conservation and biodiversity preservation. He also works on the Gorongosa website and social media. 

“I love that my work is part of a very important mission: to protect one of the most special places in the world. I love that I can produce media that will generate tourism,” Byrne writes on the Gorongosa website. “Tourism is the principle source of revenue for the park. Money spent by tourists goes directly back into conservation programs. By making films that convince tourists to come visit, I help protect the Park and give it a sustainable future. That makes all the hard work worthwhile.” 

Photo of Chris Johns courtesy of ASME.

The National Geographic Society’s flagship journal won awards for General Excellence, Print (October, November and December issues), Photography (August, September and December), Tablet Magazine (May, November and December iPad Editions), and Multimedia (“Cheetahs on the Edge,” November iPad Edition).

New York was named Magazine of the Year. The Atlantic, New York and Texas Monthly each won two awards. Two digital-only publications also won awards: Pitchfork for General Excellence, Digital Media, and Slate for Columns and Commentary.

“We should all celebrate our four National Magazine Awards received last night,” said Chris Johns, National Geographic Editor in Chief. “This accomplishment speaks to the talent we draw on across the Society and shows how working together can achieve great success. Congratulations!”

Power of Magazine Media

“Tonight showed the growing power of Magazine Media not only in print but online and on tablets,” said Sid Holt, chief executive of the American Society of Magazine Editors, in a news statement released by ASME. “Whether it was Pamela Colloff’s extraordinary article ‘The Innocent Man’ for Texas Monthly or the election-changing video ‘Full Secret Video of Private Romney Fundraiser’ for Mother Jones, these are the kinds of stories only magazines can tell.”

Known as the Ellies–for the Alexander Calder stabile “Elephant” given to each award winner–the National Magazine Awards honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy journalistic enterprise and imaginative art direction. The awards are sponsored by the ASME in association with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and are administered by ASME.

Nearly 260 publications entered the National Magazine Awards this year, submitting 1,636 entries. The judges, which included 330 magazine editors, art directors and photography editors as well as journalism educators, nominated 62  publications in 23 categories. Twenty-six magazines received multiple nominations, led by National Geographic with seven, followed by Bon Appétit and New York, both with six. GQ and The New Yorker both received five nominations; Esquire, Harper’s Magazine, Mother Jones and Texas Monthly all received four.

NATIONAL MAGAZINE AWARDS 2013 WINNERS

18 Magazines Received “Ellies”

Magazine of the Year

New York
Adam Moss, Editor in Chief
Ben Williams, Online Editorial Director
May 28, October 22 and November 12 Print and iPad Editions
nymag.com

General Excellence, Print

News, Sports and Entertainment Magazines
National Geographic
Chris Johns, Editor in Chief
October, November and December

Click the covers to see the award-winning content. 

Service and Fashion Magazines

Vogue
Anna Wintour, Editor in Chief
March, September and December

Lifestyle Magazines
Martha Stewart Living
Martha Stewart, Founder
Gael Towey, Chief Creative and Editorial Director
Pilar Guzmán, Editor in Chief
April

Martha Stewart, Founder and Chief Creative Officer
Pilar Guzmán, Editor in Chief
May and November

Special-Interest Magazines
Outside
Lawrence J. Burke, Chairman and Editor in Chief
Christopher Keyes, Vice President and Editor
March, October and November

Literary, Political and Professional Magazines
The Paris Review
Lorin Stein, Editor
Spring, Fall and Winter

General Excellence, Digital Media

Pitchfork
Mark Richardson, Editor in Chief

Design
TIME
Rick Stengel, Managing Editor
July 30, November 19 and December 31, 2012/January 7, 2013

Photography
National Geographic
Chris Johns, Editor in Chief
August, September and December

Click the covers to see the award-winning photography.

Feature Photography

W
Stefano Tonchi, Editor in Chief
“Good Kate, Bad Kate,” by Will Self; photographs by Steven Klein
March

Single-Topic Issue
Saveur
James Oseland, Editor in Chief
“The Mexico Issue”
August/September

Magazine Section
New York
Adam Moss, Editor in Chief
“Strategist”
May 28, October 8 and October 22

Personal Service
Los Angeles
Mary Melton, Editor in Chief
“The New Face and Body of Plastic Surgery in L.A.”
October

Leisure Interests
Wired
Chris Anderson, Editor in Chief
“How to Be a Geek Dad”
June

Website
The Atlantic
James Bennet, Editor in Chief
Bob Cohn, Editor, Atlantic Digital

Tablet Magazine
National Geographic
Chris Johns, Editor in Chief
Lisa Lytton, Director, Digital Editions
May, November and December iPad Editions

Multimedia
National Geographic
Chris Johns, Editor in Chief
“Cheetahs on the Edge,” November iPad Edition

Multimedia for the 2013 National Magazine Award for this National Geographic ipad edition included videos, stills, and an interactive graphic to illustrate the feature “Cheetahs on the Edge.” Watch the video “The Science of Speed.”

Video
Mother Jones
Monika Bauerlein and Clara Jeffery, Editors
David Corn, Washington Bureau Chief
James West, Producer
“Full Secret Video of Private Romney Fundraiser,” September 18

Public Interest
Texas Monthly
Jake Silverstein, Editor in Chief
“Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, Wives,” by Mimi Swartz
August

Reporting
GQ
Jim Nelson, Editor in Chief
“18 Tigers, 17 Lions, 8 Bears, 3 Cougars, 2 Wolves, 1 Baboon, 1 Macaque and 1 Man Dead in Ohio,” by Chris Heath
March

Feature Writing Incorporating Profile Writing
Texas Monthly
Jake Silverstein, Editor in Chief
“The Innocent Man: Part I,” November, and “The Innocent Man: Part II,” December, by Pamela Colloff

Essays and Criticism
The Atlantic
James Bennet, Editor in Chief
Scott Stossel, Editor
“Fear of a Black President,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates
September

Columns and Commentary
Slate
David Plotz, Editor in Chief
Three columns by Dahlia Lithwick: “It’s Not About the Law, Stupid,” March 22; “The Supreme Court’s Dark Vision of Freedom,” March 27; and “Where Is the Liberal Outrage?” July 6

Fiction
Harper’s Magazine
Ellen Rosenbush, Editor
“Batman and Robin Have an Altercation,” by Stephen King
September
All publication dates 2012 unless otherwise indicated.

The Associated Press also won three awards. Other news organizations winning awards included The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, CNN, Harper’s, CBS News, WGBH, WBEZ, Bloomberg News and Agence France-Presse.

“Covering the world has never been more dangerous and that is reflected in the stories that were prominent in the awards this year,” said OPC President Michael Serrill, in an OPC news release. “We pay tribute to the men and women at the forefront of covering news around the world.”

National Geographic journalists were honored with these prizes:

The Ed Cunningham Award

Best magazine reporting from abroad

Johnson Photography
Photographer Lynn Johnson’s images illuminate the spoken word of three imperiled native languages. Click image to see the photos.

Recipient:  Russ Rymer with photographer Lynn Johnson

Honored Work:  Vanishing Languages

Citation: “When small communities abandon their languages and switch to English or Spanish, there is a massive disruption in the transfer of traditional knowledge across generations,” writes Russ Rymer in this subtle and moving investigation of the centuries-long decimation of tribal languages. From the 2,000 speakers of the Aka language in India to the Seri speakers of Mexico’s Sonoran Desert, who are bringing the language back after it dwindled to 1,000 speakers, to the growing number of Tuvan speakers in Siberia, Rymer’s report gives us a broad look across multiple cultures about the ongoing rescue of the world’s dying languages.

Read “Vanishing Languages” >>

The Madeline Dane Ross Award: 

Best international reporting in the print medium or online showing a concern for the human condition

Johnson Photography
Photographer Lynn Johnson provides a personal look at those healing from the scourge of land mines in Cambodia. Click image to see the photos.

Recipient:  Mark Jenkins with photographer Lynn Johnson

Honored Work:  The Healing Fields

Citation: Mark Jenkins has captured the breadth of human emotions, motivations, and coping mechanisms in his examination of how one country, Cambodia, has moved forward from the lingering horror of land mines. Many will think they already know this topic well, but Jenkins’ deeply researched and accessibly written report made the subject matter fresh and compelling.

Read “The Healing Fields” >>

 The Whitman Bassow Award

Best reporting in any medium on international environmental issues

Stirton Photography
Poachers want its horn—and kill to get it. In this gallery, photographer Brent Stirton is at the center of the bloody rhino wars. Click image to see the photos.

Recipient:  Peter Gwin with photographer Brent Stirton

Honored Work:  Rhino Wars

Citation: We chose to honor the powerful National Geographic piece, Rhino Wars by Peter Gwin, with amazing photographs by Brent Stirton. The topic was enterprising and fresh (of the 3 submissions on African animals killed for horns, it was the earliest piece by quite a few months, with other media following suit). Finally, from an impact point of view, it helped lead to some of the worst South African rhino killers facing long jail terms, one rhino poaching kingpin getting 40 years.

Read “Rhino Wars” >>

Read the full list of OPC 2012 awards >>

The Overseas Press Club of America was founded in 1939 in New York by a group of foreign correspondents. “The OPC seeks to maintain an international association of journalists working in the United States and abroad; to encourage the highest standards of professional integrity and skill in the reporting of news; to help educate a new generation of journalists; to contribute to the freedom and independence of journalists and the press throughout the world, and to work toward better communication and understanding among people,” OPC says on its website.

On Friday, April 19, I stood in Makadara Court in downtown Nairobi waiting to hear the case of a Vietnamese man arrested in transit at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on April 7 for smuggling 488 pieces of ivory.

When I’d arrived, at 9:00 a.m., for the first of two ivory cases, scheduled for ten o’clock, court room six was already filled to capacity. Throngs of people were lined up outside, so I squeezed through and found a place to stand.

Nicholle Myles was already there, so tall and distinctive with her Oriental-African features. I felt proud for having enlisted her help.

An official with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) had called me days earlier in desperation: Unless an interpreter could be found, the court would have to throw out the case against a Vietnamese ivory smuggler.

Twitter had come to the rescue. My appeal went viral, and a phone number was sent to me. I called, and Nicholle said she could do it. Nicholle Myles may be the only Vietnamese speaker in all of Nairobi!

I Tweeted my gratitude to all who had helped and promised that this criminal would be going to jail.

New Resolve to Stop Ivory Criminals

Everything seemed to have been going our way lately. On February 1, the government’s highest advisory body, the National Social and Economic Council, had come up with clear resolutions to end the crisis facing elephants and rhinos by committing to use “the full force of the law.”

“Elephants and rhinos,” the council acknowledged, “are Kenya’s national treasures and must be protected in their own right and also to secure economic potential of tourism in Vision 2030.

The illegal killing of these and other species,” the council asserted, “should be viewed…as an economic sabotage since this poses a grave threat to Kenya’s indigenous resources wherein the tourism sector is a major contributor to the country’s economy.”

In the same vein, President Uhuru Kenyatta surprised Kenyans at his inauguration by stating: “My fellow Kenyans, poaching and the destruction of our environment has no future in this country. The responsibility to protect our environment belongs not just to the government but to each and every one of us.”

At the opening of parliament on April 16, the president went further: “We are stewards of our environment, holding in trust this Earth for future generations of Kenyans. We have a sacred duty to protect it, our wildlife and our landscape. That is why I will propose legislation to strengthen the protection of the environment.”

Immediately people reacted. On April 2, I sent a letter, co-signed by more than 60 conservationists and tourism operators, to the Chief Justice, asking him to implement actions to elevate the seriousness with which wildlife crimes are handled in Kenyan courts and to review cases where justice had clearly not been served.

These two fresh cases against a Chinese and a Vietnamese ivory trafficker were a perfect test for the nation’s newly articulated resolve—that from now on in Kenya, wildlife really would matter.

The KWS prosecutor, Didi Wamukoya, was sitting in the dock. Beside her was Ondicho Shem Nyakenyanya, the lawyer for the accused Vietnamese, Nguyen Viet Truong Phong.

Mrs. Nyongesa, the magistrate—petite and smartly dressed—arrived late. We all rose as she apologized for the delay and got straight to work.

The First Ivory Case

After wading through a long docket of other offenses—assaults, family problems, business frauds, robberies, and other crimes—Magistrate Nyongesa opened a bright yellow file, the first of the two ivory cases. I couldn’t help but feel excited.

It was now 11 a.m. A name was called, Zhou Jinkui. A police officer opened the door to the holding cells, and a Chinese man appeared as the acrid smell of urine wafted into the already stuffy court room.

Through his interpreter, Zhou pleaded guilty to charges of having ivory bracelets, a string of 13 ivory beads, and an ivory pendant.

Wamukoya asked that the items be taken to the National Museums of Kenya to confirm that they were ivory, unless Zhou didn’t dispute the fact.

Zhou said he didn’t know, and the magistrate instructed that the pieces be sent for testing. She adjourned the case for one week, and Zhou was taken back into one of the stinking holding cells.

I was pleased with how this was going. This magistrate seemed to be on our side.

Next Up

The Vietnamese smuggler, Nguyen Viet Truong Phong, was next. I couldn’t wait to see how long he’d be jailed for.

On April 7, he had arrived in Nairobi from Benin in transit to Bankok on a Kenya Airways (KQ) flight. Airport security personnel had stopped him at gate 12 after his luggage was screened and found to contain suspicious items. The officers opened the baggage and noted that he was carrying 488 worked ivory bangles.

The airport police arrested him and called KWS officers. Sniffer dogs were brought in and confirmed that the pieces were indeed ivory.

To show the court the evidence, a young police officer pulled two hard-backed suitcases—one black, one blood red—from the wall in front of me. He lay them down, unzipped them, and flipped open the lids.

Wamukoya described the haul: “The ivory weighed 33.6 kilograms [74 pounds] and KWS assessed it to be worth 5.7 million Kenyan Shillings [$68,000].”

A gasp erupted from the room as everyone craned their necks to see inside the suitcases. Each suitcase perhaps 20 boxes about a foot long and five inches wide and deep. On their tops were pictures of a red, yellow, and orange vase with blue flowers, with the words “Flower Vase” inscribed in curly script.

The officer pulled out one of the “vases”—red, yellow, and orange painted ivory bangles stacked to form a tubular vase-like object. An ingenious way to conceal illegal ivory.

Nicholle Myles, the interpreter, stood up and walked over to the accused, who was standing in the dock. He had a vacant look—confusion, perhaps?

Handed a piece of paper by the magistrate’s assistant, Myles read out the charges. The man nodded at each, muttering incomprehensibly.

Magistrate Nyongesa asked what he was saying. “He says he bought the ivory but did not sell the items in the Nairobi airport,” Myles replied. “He bought them in a shop in Benin and was taking them to Vietnam.” He hadn’t known that any kind of paper work was required, Myles added.

Like many other ivory smugglers caught in Kenya before him, Truong simply accepted the charges. Since he had no previous convictions, he was treated as a first offender.

KWS asked for a stiff penalty because of the quantity of ivory involved. Truong’s lawyer, Ondicho Nyakenyanya, responded by appealing for leniency on the grounds that the accused was a tourist who was just buying trinkets with spare cash.

“He did not know it was illegal in Kenya,” Nyakenyanya argued, adding that the situation was confusing for travelers because some countries in the region, such as Tanzania and South Africa, allow trade in wildlife objects, even though elephant poaching is an offense in countries across Africa.

“The origin of the trophies are [sic] not known,” Nyakenyanya said. “The elephants might have died of natural causes, perhaps of old age. Some may have been domesticated and died of natural causes.”

Nyakenyanya argued that the Wildlife Act of 1989 does not anticipate or account for the origin of the ivory confiscated in transit.

“The accused was on KQ,” Nyakenyanya said. “KQ has a responsibility for informing their passengers that such trophies could be confiscated. There is no clear information saying you can or cannot carry this.”

By now the accused was beginning to look like the innocent victim of poor policies and lack of information in Africa.

Nyakenyanya also noted that Truong was from a very different country, with a different language, which made it difficult for him to understand that he was carrying illegal ivory.

Things weren’t going well for the prosecution.

Magistrate Nyongesa gave no indication that she recognized the seriousness of the crime and its impact on elephants. She wondered if the ivory had been purchased in Benin rather than Kenya, giving the impression that she thought it a lesser crime if the ivory was bought elsewhere.

Didi Wamukoya noted that neither the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) nor Kenyan law takes into account the origin of the ivory.

Clearly, the CITES regulations, and Kenya’s responsibilities, as a signatory, to comply with them were as alien to this court as the Vietnamese man’s incomprehensible speech.

Magistrate Nyongesa sought extra time to research the law, reconvening the court at 3:00 p.m.

After we’d gathered again in room six, the magistrate wasted no time in convicting Truong, because he’d admitted to the charges. She fined him a total of 40,000 Kenyan Shillings (less than $500).

The ivory he was trafficking was worth more than a hundred times that.

Magistrate Nyongesa’s ruling flew in the face of recent pronouncements at the highest levels of government—the promise to use the full force of the law to stop poaching and illegal dealing in wildlife products.

Disbelief at the Decision

I drove home in a state of shock, devastated.

No matter how many poachers, dealers, and traffickers we arrest, it makes no difference. The courts let them off so lightly.

The outcome of this case feels like a slap in the face—another painful reminder that Kenya has lost credibility as a global leader in conservation. The words of our president are completely at odds with the actions of the courts.

How did we fall down so far? Traditionally, Kenya has been on the front line in combating elephant poaching in Africa and a leading voice for elephant conservation through CITES, the Convention on Biodiversity, the Convention on Migratory species, among others.

We have branded ourselves “Magical Kenya”—the country that has hosted so many documentaries celebrating our wildlife, especially elephants, which are a major tourism attraction. Tourism contributes 12 percent of the nation’s GDP.

Our wildlife enforcement agency, the Kenya Wildlife Service, is recognized as one of the most effective in the world.

The 1989 ivory burning by Kenya, which led to the successful international ivory trade ban, is indisputably the most powerful conservation symbol the world has ever seen.

Yet the killing of elephants has now reached a 20-year high. Ivory smuggling through Kenya has reached an all-time high, and Kenya is now the second-largest African transit country for illegal ivory, after Tanzania.

Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda today account for nearly 70 percent of the illegal ivory flowing out of Africa.

At the CITES conference last month, Kenya and seven other principal nations were identified as complicit in the ivory trade: Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and China.

The ivory crisis we’re facing is unparalleled. We have fewer elephants than ever before. There is unprecedented and rapidly escalating international demand for ivory, and highly sophisticated criminal networks are feeding that appetite.

It’s going to take more than speeches by His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta to turn this situation around.

Immediate Measures Needed

I believe that once again Kenya stands at the crossroads of turning things around for elephants. This can be achieved if we rediscover our courage and take some bold steps:

– Recognize that poaching and ivory trafficking are serious crimes and immediately elevate penalties for wildlife crimes.

– Put a specialized team of prosecutors in place to ensure that ivory traffickers and other wildlife criminals are dealt with as aggressively as the law allows.

–Empower a law enforcement task force to address poaching and ivory trafficking. The task force should include the KWS, national and local police, national intelligence and customs officials, and international agencies and organizations such as Interpol.

–Hire more rangers to patrol parks and reserves.

–Routinely use ivory sniffer dogs and scanners in transit areas of airports and seaports.

–Establish a wildlife crime hotline.

–Create an ivory crisis outreach campaign to educate a broad range of stakeholders including African customs officials, transporters, the judiciary, travelers through air and seaports, targeted Asian communities in Kenya, and the public at large.

Unless demand for ivory is confronted, the cost of protecting elephants in Africa will continue to rise.

This is why we call upon President Kenyatta to take the lead in international diplomatic discussions with the premiers of key ivory-demand countries: China, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

Photograph courtesy of Paula Kahumbu

Paula Kahumbu is the Executive Director of WildlifeDirect, a conservation organization that is campaigning to save Kenya’s elephants. She is spearheading conservation efforts to achieve law reform in wildlife and environmental matters in Kenya. Kahumbu is also an Emerging Explorer of the National Geographic Society.

Live from the nation’s capital: Recently hatched bald eagles nesting high in a tree on the grounds of the Metropolitan Police Academy in Southwest Washington can be viewed right now on the National Geographic website.

A webcam provided by the National Geographic Society is recording live the activities of the two eagle chicks and their parents, who are feeding them fish from the Anacostia River, National Geographic said in a statement released to the media today. “The nest, about five feet wide and made mostly of sticks, sits about 80 feet up in a tree. John Mein of the Metropolitan Police Department installed the camera in a nearby tree.”

Male bald eagle in a tree on the grounds of the Metropolitan Police Academy in Southeast Washington. The eagle and his mate are raising a family in a nest on the academy grounds. Photo by Craig Koppie, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Washington’s Chief of Police Cathy L. Lanier came up with the idea to set up the cam. “It is fitting and exciting that our national bird has made a home on the Metropolitan Police Department’s Academy grounds,” said Lanier, who has long been interested in the eagle pair that chose the site for its home. “We look forward to viewing the eagles in their habitat.”

The nest is one of two bald eagle nests in Washington: A webcam on the second nest will go live later this spring.

“It’s amazing to see these eagles so at home in an urban environment,” said Jonathan Alderfer, editor of National Geographic’s bird guides. “You can actually watch these eagles at night because there is so much city light on them. I watched late last night and saw the babies moving around,” Alderfer told News Watch. Does the city light harm the birds? “I doubt it,” Alderfer said, “particularly as these birds have had a successful nest on this site before.”

Follow Jonathan Alderfer’s tweets about the eagle webcam @NatGeoBirder. Readers can ask Jonathan questions about the eagles through the commenting section below this post. He will post responses on News Watch.

 

The bald eagle parents of a family of eaglets, nesting on the grounds of the Metropolitan Police Academy in Southeast Washington. Photo by Craig Koppie, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The eagles are thought to be the same pair that has nested in the area for several years, said Craig Koppie, raptor biologist at the Fish & Wildlife Service’s Chesapeake Bay field office in Annapolis, Maryland, who is advising the project.

“A bald eagle nest usually contains one to three dull-white eggs, which the parents take turns incubating. Eggs hatch in about five weeks, and the eaglets start their flying lessons around the 8^th week. Generally the female stays on the nest while the father’s job is to bring in the food,” Koppie said.

“I’m looking forward to watching the eaglets building their strength to fly,” Alderfer said. “They have to work those muscles, so you will be seeing them flapping their wings quite a bit before they make the leap,” he said.

Bald Eagles Are Eating Anacostia River Fish

Food for this pair of eagles is generally fish — catfish, shad or perch — plucked from the Anacostia, according to the National Geographic release.

But are the fish from the notoriously polluted river harmful to the eagles and their young? “That’s a good question,” said bird expert Alderfer. “It would have to be researched. Chemicals can build up in a top predator of a food chain. There might be some warnings for human consumption of fish from the Anacostia River, so it’s possible that there could be long-term effects on eagles eating fish from the river. But the damage wouldn’t be done right away. It’s a long-term rather than a short-term problem,” he said.

Alderfer said he particularly looked forward to watching when a fish is brought in to the nest, to see how delicately the parent bird plucks and feeds it piece by piece to the young birds. “It is also interesting to watch how the chicks compete, to see if one takes more food than the other,” he said.

Bald Eagles Rebounding in Anacostia Region

“When America adopted the bald eagle as the national symbol in 1782, the country may have had as many as 100,000 nesting eagles. The first major decline of the species probably began in the mid to late 1800s, largely due to loss of habitat. Believed to be killers of livestock, the large raptors also were frequently shot,” National Geographic said in its statement.

“Later, the pesticide DDT decimated the birds by destroying the females’ ability to create strong eggshells. By 1963, with only 487 nesting pairs of bald eagles remaining, the species was in danger of extinction. The bald eagle was one of the first animals to be placed on the Endangered Species List when it was created in 1973.

“A 1972 ban on DDT and other conservation efforts gradually reversed the eagles’ fate, and the bald eagle was removed from the list in 2007. Since then, birds have multiplied in the Chesapeake Bay area, steadily moving into habitats closer to humans than their ancestors would have tolerated. They remain protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

“In 1996 youths from the Earth Conservation Corps, under a permit from the Fish and Wildlife Service, began releasing young bald eagles from Wisconsin at the National Arboretum in Washington in an attempt to restore the birds to the Anacostia region. At that time the Anacostia was one of the nation’s most polluted rivers, and the communities along the river some of its most violent. In subsequent years, several pairs of eagles have built nests along the river, and the river is rebounding.”

The live-streaming website launches “Wired Washington,” a multi-species, multi-partner, citizen-science effort led by the police and two local youth groups — Earth Conservation Corps and Wings Over America, National Geographic’s statement said.

Earth Conservation Corps graduate Robert West holds a bald eagle named Challenger, alongside Washington Chief of Police Cathy L. Lanier. The Earth Conservation Corps has led a program to restore the bald eagle to the Anacostia River region. Photo by Robert H. Nixon

Citizen Observations

“The youths’ mission is to use habitat mapping and public awareness to protect wildlife in city neighborhoods. Some of the youths leading the research effort are part of the District of Columba’s Department of Youth Rehabilitation Service, the juvenile justice agency responsible for providing safe and stable residential and community-based programs to youth who have been committed to its care,” according to the National Geographic release.

“Citizens are encouraged to log observations made while watching the webcams on the Earth Conservation Corps site at www.earthconservationcorps.org. Schoolchildren who are part of the TAGS DC program also will observe and document the eagles’ activity from boats on the Anacostia River. Wired Washington collaborators include the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the D.C. Department of the Environment, Pepco and Rob Bierregaard of the Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University. All digital streams and satellite tracks will be stored on hard drives as part of research on raptors in an urban environment.”