{"id":530,"date":"2017-07-01T15:45:19","date_gmt":"2017-07-01T20:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rootriverphotography.com\/news\/?p=530"},"modified":"2018-01-02T17:42:21","modified_gmt":"2018-01-02T23:42:21","slug":"who-speaks-for-wolf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rootriverphotography.com\/news\/?p=530","title":{"rendered":"Who Speaks for Wolf"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year I was chosen for the annual \u201cWho Speaks for Wolf\u201d award by the International Wolf Center<\/a>. It is given to someone who has made exceptional contributions to wolf education, by teaching people how the wolf lives and by placing the wolf in the broader context of humankind\u2019s relationship to nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a quite an honor to be included in a group of past recipients I have long admired for their dedication. The presentation took place in the Arctic Wolf Exhibition, and Judy Hunter made some great images for me to treasure!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Following the presentation, I was interviewed by IWC staff member, David Kline who put together this press release:<\/p>\n

For all she knew, Heidi Pinkerton\u2019s role was a simple one at the International Wolf Center in Ely on a recent Friday. She\u2019d been asked to come by the Center to take some updated photographs of the non-profit\u2019s board of directors at their meeting. What Pinkerton didn\u2019t know was that the board had a big surprise up its sleeve. As the group was preparing to leave an exhibit area at the interpretive center, board member Nancy Gibson spoke up. She started reading from some notes and Pinkerton\u2019s name kept coming up. It was at that point Pinkerton realized she was in for a big shock. She was being presented with the organization\u2019s Who Speaks for Wolf award for her tireless work over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeidi\u2019s passion for wolves, wild places and education was a perfect fit for the Center,\u201d executive director Rob Schultz said. \u201cShe enthusiastically shares her wildlife experiences through social media, popular photography classes and her travels. You can often find Heidi in front of the wolf window patiently answering the visitors\u2019 myriad questions about the wolves, while her eyes are focused on her camera capturing their behavior. She readily promotes all aspects of the Center with her photos, classes, promotions and presentations.\u201d Pinkerton was taken by surprise when presented with the award. \u201cI\u2019ve been watching people get it over the years,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen Nancy started giving her speech, I was really surprised. How they did it was kind of sneaky.\u201d
\nWith a beautiful collection of Pinkerton\u2019s images serving as the backdrop, Gibson spoke about why Pinkerton was chosen as the 2017 recipient.
\n\u201cThat was the neatest part,\u201d Pinkerton said. \u201cI was recognized for not only my love of the wolves, but for how I can help educate people through my photography. I think that when you educate people about wildlife, they\u2019ll have a greater respect for it. \u201cThey\u2019ll want to live in this natural world with them. That goes for all wildlife, but especially the apex predators. They\u2019re so misunderstood.\u201d<\/p>\n

In May, Pinkerton\u2019s photos of last year\u2019s pups (Axel and Grayson) were installed in the interpretive center\u2019s seasonal gallery. Those images will be up in the gallery until April 2018. Pinkerton played a key role in documenting the arrival of Axel and Grayson at the Center, as well as their first year in Ely.
\n\u201cShe was the steady hand, photographing and recording important behavioral patterns of the 2016 arctic wolves, which enhanced the Center\u2019s presentations about their development,\u201d Schultz said. \u201cWith her eager smile, Heidi volunteers her time, donates her art and has enhanced the Center store and walls with her gifted photography. We are so grateful that she was lured by the wildlands of Ely.\u201d
\nPinkerton grew up in southeastern Wisconsin and moved to Babbitt in 2009 with her husband, Tom. They had been living in Woodbury, but wanted to get closer to nature.<\/p>\n

She visited the Center several times over the years and took a real liking to one of the wolves there, Maya. Tragically, Maya died in 2011. Pinkerton read the sad news on Facebook and decided that night to have some time to herself. She had heard that the forecast looked good for the Northern Lights to make an appearance, so she went to Moose Lake and walked onto the surface of the frozen lake under a canopy of dancing multi-colored lights in the sky.
\nIn the distance, Pinkerton heard a lone wolf howling, something that stopped her in her tracks.
\nThe scene and the sounds left a lasting mark on Pinkerton.<\/p>\n

She taught herself that night how to photograph the Northern Lights and ended up making several outstanding images during the show. One of them she titled \u201cHowling from the Heavens.\u201d That print was donated to the Center in memory of Maya and from there, her involvement in the center quickly grew.
\nNowadays, her photos are everywhere in the interpretive center. She has the temporary exhibit space to display her photos of Axel and Grayson. In addition, several of her Northern Lights images are on display. Her photos are up on signs in the Center and have been used in the Center\u2019s quarterly magazine for members, International Wolf.<\/p>\n

She has wholeheartedly embraced the Center\u2019s mission, which is to advance the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wild lands and the human role in their future. \u201cI believe that everybody should work on educating themselves with the facts,\u201d she said. \u201cThese animals are here and they\u2019re hopefully not going away. I really believe they create a balance in our ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year I was chosen for the annual \u201cWho Speaks for Wolf\u201d award by the International Wolf Center. It is given to someone who has made exceptional contributions to wolf education, by teaching people how the wolf lives and by placing the wolf in the broader context of humankind\u2019s relationship to nature. This is a quite an honor to be…<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international-wolf-center","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rootriverphotography.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rootriverphotography.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rootriverphotography.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rootriverphotography.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rootriverphotography.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rootriverphotography.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":548,"href":"https:\/\/www.rootriverphotography.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530\/revisions\/548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rootriverphotography.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rootriverphotography.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rootriverphotography.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}