2007 "Share the Experience" Federal Recreation Lands Photo Contest

The 2007 Share the Experience Photo Contest runs from May 26, 2007 through December 31, 2007. Individuals can enter and view official rules at www.sharetheexperience.org. The public can also visit the site to view a gallery of current entrants. All entrants have the opportunity to win one of fourteen prize packages. The Grand Prize package includes a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid and the international honor of having the winning image on the cover of the 2009 "Federal Recreation Lands Pass,” an annual lands pass priced at $80 that provides access to all participating Federal Land Management Agency sites where entrance and standard amenity fees are charged.   Sponsored by the Ford Motor Company and the National Park Foundation in partnership with the BLM, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service, the “Share the Experience” Photo Contest showcases the more than 500 million acres of Federal Lands and draws entries from all across the United States.    For more information on how to submit entries, select this link.

As part of the official launching of the 2007 "Share the  Experience" Photo Contest, Acting BLM Director Jim Hughes on May 26 unveiled the winning photo from last year's contest, a photo of the BLM Alabama Hills recreation area near Mount Whitney in California. The photo will be featured on the 2008 Federal Lands Pass, an annnual pass that provides access to all participating Federal Land Management Agency sites where entrance and standard amenity fees are charged. Participating agencies include the BLM, the Bureau of Reclamation, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Forest Service.

A weathered granite arch frames a view of Lone Pine Peak in the winning photo of California's Alabama Hills Recreation Area, 30,000 acres of public land west of Lone Pine, California. Photo by Terry Worstall.

  

Photographer Terry Worstell of Naperville, IL, took the photo on a trip in 2005. For his efforts, he won a 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid SUV, a 5-day trip to a federal recreation land, a CASIO camera, and a one-year Federal Recreational Lands Pass. A lifelong outdoor enthusiast, Worstell, age 64, has made exploring America’s protected lands an annual tradition. Every year, he spends a week or more visiting one of our nation’s public lands, often focusing his travels on some of the more remote areas for exploration and discovery.  “I first saw Alabama Hills on the cover of a local travel book,” he said. “Even though it was quite off the beaten path, I knew it was one of those special places in America where the experience is well worth the hike!” Two other photos of BLM sites won "Honorable Mention" in the 2006 contest, both taken of the popular Paria Canyon area in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness of Arizona.   For more information about the Alabama Hills Recreation area, managed by BLM's Bishop, California, Field office, select this link.   For more information about the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, managed by the BLM's Arizona Strip Field Office, select this link.

   

Honorable Mention winners included Scott Cooper of Irvington, New York, for his photo (above) of "The Wave" at Paria Canyon in Arizona; and Gary Sis of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, for his photo (right) of the Buckskin Gulch area of Paria Canyon.