7 image Panorama of the Gunnison River in the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area photo by Richard Durnan

In the Spring of 2010 I was contracted by the Western Rivers Conservancy (WRC) to photograph some private land parcels along Colorado’s Lower Gunnison River. The 396 acres of private land they had me photograph is outstanding river frontage adjacent to the newly designated Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area.

Access to this remote land necessitates floating the Gunnison river. This made it the perfect assignment for me because of my years of rafting and kayaking experience. Serving as the River Ranger for Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from 1997 to 2001 on this section of river also gave me an intimate knowledge of the area.

The video below is a behind the scenes video journal style look look at how I did the shoot.

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Since I did this shoot, the WRC purchased this land and conveyed it to the BLM as part of the newly formed Dominguez-Escalante NCA (see my earlier posts on the NCA here and here). This helps to ensure the survival of four species of endangered warmwater fish: Colorado pike minnow, humpback chub, bonytail chub and razorback sucker and protects habitat for wildlife and rare desert plants. This acquisition also enhances recreational access to backcountry trails and beautiful red rock canyons. Additionally the WRC purchased and conveyed 214 acres of private land further down stream in the Bangs Canyon Special Recreation Management Area (SRMA), just outside of Grand Junction.

In June of 2011, I again was hired to float the Gunnison River through the NCA for the WRC. My assignment documenting recreational activities on the Gunnison River and in-land called for models that could raft, canoe, hike and camp.  My good friends Sophie Binder, Marion and August Frebourg met the prerequisites and were more than willing to take on the job with me.

Here are more of the photos from that shoot.

Read the Western Rivers Conservancy press release here.