U.S. Department of Interior Museum to Exhibit UW Student's Photography |  
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Feb. 12, 2007 -- Joe Riis, a fourth-year student at the University of Wyoming from Pierre, S.D., will have his conservation photographs on display at the United Sates Department of the Interior's museum in Washington, D.C.
The exhibition, which depicts the landscape, environmental impacts, and wildlife of the Missouri River, will be displayed from October to December.
Riis credits his studies at UW as a wildlife biology and environment and natural resource major with re-inspiring his love of the Missouri River. Students enrolled in UW's Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) work in teams to resolve complex environmental policy and management problems and then complete an internship to supplement their academic training with practical experience.
With a $1,000 grant from the Haub School, Riis began his internship last May on the documentary photography project he calls "Missouri River EXPOSED." By August, he had kayaked 500 miles on the Missouri River in Montana and the Dakotas, met with fish biologists specializing in species native to the river, and documented their research and status of endangered species on the river.
Riis launched a traveling photo exhibition of riverscapes, wildlife images and descriptions of environmental issues in South Dakota last fall. Lawmakers in his home state learned about the project, and Riis says Sen. John Thune worked to secure the exhibition's placement at the U.S. Department of the Interior.
The exhibition also will appear at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Training Center in Shepherdstown, W.Va., Feb. 1-28; the UW ASUW Gallery, Feb. 19-March 8; and the Sioux Empire Arts Council Horse Barn Arts Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., April 2-29.
"Joe is exposing a wide audience to the beauty of the river and the need to protect it," says Harold Bergman, a UW professor of zoology and physiology and director of the William D. Ruckelshaus Institute and the Haub School for Environmental and Natural Resources. "For many people, Joe's wonderful photographs draw their interest to the river much more than a newspaper article or complex technical report can."
Riis counts Bergman, who taught the first ENR class, as a mentor.
"Harold goes out of his way to become friends with all the students. The whole program is really rich and everyone is enthusiastic. That's where I get my core belief in wanting to make a change."
Riis plans to continue his project by kayaking remote areas of the Missouri River in Montana and South Dakota, where it still looks the way Lewis and Clark found it, he says. Following graduation in 2008, Riis intends to kayak the entire length of the river.
Riis's images can be viewed at his Web site at www.joeriis.com.
Photo
Conservation Photographer-- A pelican soaring over the Missouri River is among the photographs from University of Wyoming student Joe Riis that will be included in a documentary exhibition this fall at the United Sates Department of the Interior's museum in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Joe Riis)
Posted on Monday, February 12, 2007
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