I. Special Section: Point Reyes Turns 50

The July-Sept 2012 issue will include a special 16-page insert celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Point Reyes National Seashore, one of the Bay Area's most popular, and most significant, parks. The insert consists primarily of essays that explore five of the major habitats of the Point Reyes peninsula, each written by a different author who has a special connection to that habitat.

1. Estuaries, by Jules Evens

Jules focuses mostly on Drakes Estero, so for this essay we will be looking for images of and from that body of water. In particular, we would be interested in landscape-level, panoramic images from Drakes Head and Sunset Beach, looking out over the Estero, out to Drakes Bay, etc. We would be particularly interested in views that show some of the abundant wildlife there. And we're always open to views that include humans enjoying the beautiful landscape. Aerial images of the Estero, showing its five "finger" bays, would also be of interest.

We are also interested in wildlife images from Drakes Estero, particularly shots of:

• Harbor seals (both in the water and hauled out on sandbars in the Estero)
• Bat rays
• Brants (particularly feeding in eelgrass beds)
• American white pelicans (would be particularly interested in shot of pelicans resting on sandbar with harbor seals)
• Eelgrass

2. Ocean Shore, by Claire Peaslee

Claire looks at both the dramatic rocky cliffs and headlands from Tomales Point south to McClure's Beach and around the Point itself (Point Reyes/Chimney Rock), as well as the sandy beaches of Abbotts Lagoon and Drakes Bay and Limantour. She also explores the tidepools at McClure's at extreme low tide.

So we will be looking for landscape shots of these particular and spectacular places where the Pacific meets the land, as well as images of the following species and scenes:

• Invertebrates in the McClure's beach tidepools (tunicates anyone?), as well as kelp on rocks
• A black oystercatcher feeding on the rocks at McClure's (or elsewhere at Point Reyes)
• Nesting snowy plovers on one of the beaches of the Point
• Elephants seals on the beach at Drakes Bay
• Seabirds resting on the sea stacks off Tomales Point and McClure's Beach
• Dramatic waves crashing on the beach or the rocks
• Mole crab(s) along the waterline on the beach

3. Bishop Pine Forest, by David Rains Wallace

David looks at the Point's bishop pine forest, describing it both before and after the 1995 Vision Fire that devastated – and renewed – this very particular habitat on the slopes of Inverness Ridge.

We would be very interested in any before and after comparison shots of the bishop pine area on the west side of Inverness Ridge that was burned in the fire, as well as of the pines as they resprouted and responded in the years following the fire.

We'll also be looking for shots of:

• A single, mature bishop pine, showing the arrangement/attachment of the cones on the trunk and branches
• Shots of bishop pines burning in the fire
• Shots of burned "skeletons" of bishop pines after the fire
• Shots of blue-blossom ceanothus responding after the fire
• Ditto for Mount Vision ceanothus (a rare endemic)
• Any shots of mountain beavers

4. Grasslands, by Greg Sarris

This story focuses on the grassland area on Tomales Bluff/Tomales Point. We would be interested in panoramic shots of

• the top of the broad grassland ridge of Tomales Point
• Tomales Point looking west from across Tomales Bay
• from the top of the ridge looking back east acorss the Bay (toward Marshall)
• aerial shot (oblique) looking north along the spine of Tomales Point, showing the bay on one side and the ocean on the other.

It would also be great to have a medium shot showing wildflowers here from a good flower year.

The essay also briefly discusses the elk herd on Tomales Point, so we'll be looking for a shot of those megafauna out there. And we'll definitely want at least one scenic shot of cows on one of the Point's dairy farms – as scenic and pastoral as possible. (i.e., not a close up of a single cow).

5. Coastal Scrub, by Judith Lowry

Don't yet have the draft for this essay, so rather than guessing, we plan to send out a supplemental call next week. However, if you come across any great shots of coastal scrub habitat and its wildlife residents when you're going through your photo archives of Point Reyes, go ahead and set them aside!

6. Introductory Essay, by Jules Evens

Don't have this draft yet, but this will be the place for any gorgeous, spectacular, iconic shots from Point Reyes, that show off its multiple and various charms, as is appropriate for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the protection of this remarkable place so near the urban core of the Bay Area. .

**NOTE: Please send your Point Reyes images to David Loeb (david@baynature.org). Images for all other stories should go to Dan Rademacher, as usual.

II. East Bay Parks: Fire Ecology and Management

Veteran journalist and Oakland hills dweller Wendy Tokuda tells the story of the East Bay Regional Park District's efforts to manage for fire and fuel loads in the Berkeley-Oakland Hills.

We're working with a photographer who did some shooting during recent controlled burns, but we'd also like a few key shots you might have in your files.

• A couple of landmark shots of the 1991 East Bay hills fire, preferably dramatic overviews of a whole burned area vs. close ups of burned houses
• Aerial of some segment of the East Bay Hills showing parks and homes intermixed.
• Eucalyptus removal in process over the last several years from either EBRPD or UC lands
• Close-ups of Oakland star tulip (Calochortus umbellatus) and pallid manzanita (Arctostaphylos pallida)
• Hillside of French broom in bloom from Redwood, Sibley, Chabot, Tilden, or Wildcat Regional Parks. If eucalyptus show in the frame somewhere, all the better.

III. On the Trail: Bohemia Ranch

This remarkable property in western Sonoma County is only minimally open to the public (on guided outings by new owner LandPaths), but some of it has been open to the public in the past, including the waterfall, and some of you have undoubtedly been out there shooting in the past. We'd love to see what you've got! Especially shots of the waterfall and creeks, wildflowers on the serpentine outcrops, and any charismatic wildlife (owls, bobcats, coyotes, etc.) from this location. We'd also like overview shots of the area, showing the park's mix of coniferous forests and serpentine grasslands. And, as always, people on location would be great. We'll look to LandPaths for stewardship shots, but if you have been out on any LandPaths workdays and have photos, let me know.

LandPaths is hosting an "Open Meadows" at the Bohemia Preserve on Sunday, May 6, right before the deadline; might be a great opportunity to see the place if you haven't been before, and get shots of people enjoying it. Info: http://landpaths.org/eventdetails.aspx?EventId=2958.

IV. Climate Change: Mount Hamilton

Supplemental photo call will go out the week of April 23.

V. Short Departments

Our "Signs of the Season" this quarter is about cuckoo wasps, brilliantly colored, metallic wasps that lay their eggs in the nests of other insects. This is a short article and there are 166 species in CA (including 17 endemics!), so we'll just be looking for one or two shots of really beautiful specimens found in the Bay Area.

VI. Magazine Cover

All stories I through IV are candidates for cover treatment, though our preference would be to feature Point Reyes. As always, cover candidates need to have a portrait orientation, with room at the top of the image (about 1.5" to 2") to put the "BAY NATURE". The resolution has to be high enough to withstand blowing up to 8 1/2 x 11 inches (and remember, in blowing up a 35mm slide to 8.5 x 11, we have to lose image from the top and/or bottom to get the width to fill the frame). Of course, there should be good color and contrast and depth.

VII. Deadlines, Formats, Shipping, etc.

We will be starting layout in the second week of May, so I would like to receive submissions by the end of the day on Monday, May 7. After that date, check to see if we are still accepting submissions.

Format: All electronic submissions should be low-resolution JPEGs (1 MB or less per file), sent to me at dan@baynature.org. Except: Images for the Point Reyes stories should be submitted to David Loeb at david@baynature.org.

Links to online image galleries are also perfectly fine; ideally online galleries should allow download of a low-res comp (640 by 480 pixels or larger). All slides and transparencies should be sent to: Attn: Dan Rademacher, Bay Nature, 1328 - 6th Street, #2, Berkeley, CA 94710. Please do not send slides or CDs via FedEx using our account number without first getting our permission to do so! If possible, label all slides with your name and a brief caption.

If your image is selected for publication, we will need to get either an original slide or a high resolution scan (300-350 dpi at full size). We'll want to receive final slides or high-res files by the end of the day on Wednesday, May 29, at the latest. (Issue publication date will be July 1, 2012.)

Payment: For those of you new to submitting to us, I like to say from the get-go that our art use rates are not high -- from $50 for one-time inside use at a quarter page or less, up to $300 for the cover. The inside rates are negotiable for a photo that we really need with an article, but I always have to balance subject matter and image quality against cost. If that changes your feelings about submitting to us, I certainly understand. If not, I'll be excited to see your work!

Shipment: A note on sending original artwork and transparencies: We do our utmost to secure all original artwork sent to us, and we are careful to send all such artwork by trackable FedEx or UPS. However, if such a trackable shipment should be lost or seriously damaged through no fault of ours -- as has happened just once since we began publishing in 2001 -- we cannot be held liable beyond any agreed-upon permission fee and the physical value of the media, or an additional amount agreed upon in advance. In certain cases, that may affect our ability to accept submissions.

Some photographers send us First Class postage-paid envelopes with submissions of original transparencies. We certainly appreciate the consideration and will use that postage if it is included. However, we don't have the capacity to add insurance/trackability to stamped USPS mail. So such art will be returned via the supplied postage, without tracking. For all other submissions, we ship via trackable UPS Ground.

We know you put a lot of work into selecting images for the magazine and we really appreciate your willingness to do that; it is such an important part of the overall quality of Bay Nature. So thanks in advance for your submissions. I look forward to seeing them!