Press Release

May 14, 2007

New Photography Exhibit Focuses on Rockies – A Troubled Mountain Ecosystem

Seattle—This summer, the Burke Museum partners with The Mountaineer Books to launch the first of three wildlife photography exhibits grappling with the greatest conservation issues of our time. Opening June 16, Yellowstone to Yukon: Freedom to Roam will feature 40 large format photographs by German-born Florian Schulz of the Rocky Mountains West documenting the ambitious effort to preserve wildlife corridors from Yellowstone National Park to Canada’s Yukon Territories. Such corridors would link existing parks and public lands to ensure the survival of one of the world’s last intact mountain ecosystems.

An award-winning nature photographer, Schulz has dedicated ten years of his life to documenting the drama and beauty of North America’s largest wildlife corridor: the Rocky Mountains. His photographs have captured the drama and beauty of this Western ecosystem and its diverse landscapes, wildlife, and people. Schulz has received honors from the BBC’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition and Nature’s Best International Photography Awards.

Schulz’s photography highlights the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, which protects the corridors of land that connect fragmented wild habitats. Wild populations require a range of continuous habitat in order to adapt to changes in weather, food availability, and other major influences. Wildlife corridors allow populations to move from habitat to habitat; without wildlife corridors, isolated populations are vulnerable to starvation, disease, inbreeding, and more. From Yellowstone National Park to the Yukon Territory, the Rocky Mountains constitute a major part of our continent's remaining natural heritage, representing the last best chance on Earth to maintain a fully functioning mountain ecosystem.

Yellowstone to Yukon: Freedom to Roam is organized by the Burke Museum in collaboration with The Mountaineers Books and the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative. Over the next three years, the Burke Museum is collaborating with The Mountaineers Books and other environmental organizations to produce and present three exhibitions of nature photography, each linked to a critical environmental issue, including corridor protection, biodiversity, and climate change. The exhibits will premiere at the Burke Museum and tour museums throughout the United States and Canada.

Support for this exhibit has been provided by The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, The Boeing Company, Tom and Sonya Campion, the Hugh and Jane Ferguson Foundation, The Norcliffe Foundation, the Peach Foundation, and the Wilburforce Foundation. Special thanks to the Burke’s community partners: Blue Earth Alliance, Conservation Northwest, Earth Justice, East Lake Washington Audubon, Environmental Education Association of Washington, Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs, North Cascades Grizzly Bear Outreach Project, Northwest Trek, Olympic Forest Coalition, Program on the Environment – UW, Sierra Club, Tacoma Photographic Society, The Mountaineers, Washington Alpine Club, Washington Trails Association, Washington Wilderness Coalition, Woodland Park Zoo, and Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative.

Sat., June 16, 2007
10 am – 5 pm
Opening Day: Yellowstone to Yukon: Freedom to Roam
Join the Burke Museum for the opening of its newest exhibit, Yellowstone to Yukon: Freedom to Roam. This exhibit combines stunning wildlife photography by Florian Schulz with a compelling environmental issue—the need to protect the natural corridors that give wildlife the freedom to move through their traditional ranges and maintain healthy populations. Opening day will feature exhibit tours with Florian Schulz, an update on the progress of the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative by US Regional Director Penelope Pierce, as well as presentations by Conservation Northwest, the I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition and others on the effort to preserve local wildlife habitat and corridors.

Tues., Oct. 23, 2007
7 pm
Seattle Town Hall, Grand Hall
Lecture: Wildlife Photographer Florian Schulz on Yellowstone to Yukon: Freedom to Roam

German-born wildlife photographer Florian Schulz discusses his experiences photographing the Yellowstone to Yukon mountain ecosystem over 10 years in this Seattle Town Hall lecture and slide show. Schulz’s photos, on display at the Burke Museum in Yellowstone to Yukon: Freedom to Roam, capture not only the beauty and drama of North America’s wild places, but also document the impact of human development on some of the last remaining continuous wild habitat on the continent. This talk is presented by the Burke Museum with support from The Mountaineer Books, Elliott Bay Book Company, and Seattle Town Hall. Upcoming ticket information can be found online at http://www.burkemuseum.org
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