Environmental issues winner

ENDANGERED SPECIES WINNER: Golden Snub-nosed Monkey

Photographer: Jeremy woodhouse

Location: Qinling Mountains, China

Narrative:

Found only in remote areas of central China, golden snub-nosed monkeys are listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as "endangered" because their population has declined more than 540 percent in the last 40 years. Their tenuous grip on survival is constantly threatened by loss of habitat and illegal hunting for their fur and for human consumption. To help preserve and foster a regeneration of this gregarious primate, the Chinese government has enacted a number of protective laws, established reserves, and made the golden snub-nosed monkey a conservation priority.

"My photos of the endangered monkeys are the result of persistence and determination to fulfill a vision I developed over the course of two trips to a research site in the Qinling Mountains. In order to photograph there, I first obtained permission from university researchers in Xian, the capital of Shaanxi Province. My accommodations there were rustic, the winters were harsh, and my camera bags still smell of smoke from the single potbellied stove used to heat the dormitory. I had a daily four-mile roundtrip hike along a river and up a slippery, rocky trail that consisted of about 800 steps, all the while carrying my tripod and camera gear-it was quite strenuous! Yet, in spite of the biting cold, I was able to capture this creature during a brief flurry of snow and came away with this composition that I liked."

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES WINNER: Reclaimed Mountain Top

Photographer: Cameron Davidson

Location: Near Logan County, West Virginia, USA

Narrative:

Mountaintop removal, a major form of coal mining in Appalachia since the early 1990s, has been a cheap way to satisfy the growing national demand for energy, but its negative effects on the environment are incalculable. Entire mountain summits are blasted away so miners may scrape out exposed coal seams. Excess debris is often dumped into the surrounding valleys, affecting the entire watershed area-all the way to the Chesapeake Bay. Hundreds of square miles of Appalachia have been leveled, leaving polluted rivers and destroyed wildlife habitat. Some companies terrace the slopes and cover them with topsoil to prevent rainwater from washing down the hillsides and to promote new growth.

"This scene of a 'reclaimed' mountain fringed by morning clouds is part of a long-term personal project on southern West Virginia and the impact of this type of coal mining on watersheds. Wanting to document the devastation of the once-thickly forested areas up close, I explored Appalachia with an experienced helicopter pilot. We flew from northeastern Tennessee across the southwestern tip of Virginia and deep into the coal country of southern West Virginia. Skimming 100 feet above the ground just after sunrise, I photographed the geometrical scars of this mined ridge that has been terraced and replanted in an effort to reduce erosion and flooding."