Click the Photo to see a short movie about the Red Desert
Hi All,
Some of you may know that I’ve spent the last nine months, researching and photographing Wyoming’s Red Desert, a 6 million acre high, cold desert, that for all appearances transports the steppes of Mongolia into America’s West. This little known desert has been called the “Serengeti” of North America, with more than 50,000 desert pronghorn antelope roaming across seas of sagebrush and the United States’ largest active sand dune system.
But this specialized ecosystem is filling up as the new oil and gas boom sweeps across the West. A network of roadways and drill sites already crisscross the land, and more is expected as the BLM continues to offer new leases to the petroleum companies who seek them.
I figure now is as good a time as any to get some of this info off of the notepads and out to all of you. Over the coming months I will be bringing you updates from the field, as well as notes from my archives, photos, slideshows and other news about the Red Desert. I hope you enjoy learning about this rare and endangered place. It is my pleasure to bring you these notes from the Big Empty.
Morgan E. Heim
P.S. – The aerial photography in this piece was made possible by the gracious help of LightHawk.
Notes from the Big Empty 