It was one year ago today that Joe Wilson, Olivia Carril and I published our paper that explores how shrinking and carving up the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument might impact the incredible bee communities that live there. The issues raised in the paper are what took us back to the monument this past summer to continue studying the bees and create our documentary film. Give it a read when you have the chance, it’s open access.
(The Bees of GSENM project) Back in July, ioby – the not-for-profit crowdfunding team and platform we used for our project – chose to showcase The Bees of Grand Staircase-Escalante as an “Awesome Project”. They spent quite a bit of time talking with me, asking questions, and crafting a really solid piece explaining both the how and the why of the project. If you haven’t yet read ioby’s showcase of our project, please do.
(The Bees of GSENM project) After a two-month break from this project (spent catching up on other projects, taking a little vacation time, and marrying the most amazing woman in the world), I’ve once again thrown open the treasure chest of footage, images and sound from our fieldwork in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and begun sorting through all the jewels we gathered. Because it’s time to start sharing this incredible adventure with all of you!
(The Bees of GSENM project) A week of fieldwork and filming the bees of Grand-Staircase Escalante is complete. There is truly nothing better than working with amazing people in one of the most beautiful and rugged places on Earth. Now, on to the next steps: analyzing our collection of bees and shaping the raw footage of our adventure into an outstanding film to share with all of you. More to come, my friends!
(The Bees of GSENM project) First day of fieldwork and filming complete! Office space was excellent. Successfully navigated a few unforeseen obstacles.
(The Bees of GSENM project) It’s been a couple weeks since the end of our ioby crowdfunding campaign for the Bees of Grand Staircase-Escalante project, and I have some truly exciting news to share with you: we raised over $28,000! This means we are fully funded to get our team of four back on the ground to study and film this exquisitely beautiful little world of bees in one of the most amazing places on Earth. Thank you, one and all, for your support! We would not be doing this without you.