What if you could follow a drop of water from the top of the Platte River Basin in the Colorado Rockies through Wyoming and into Nebraska, where it reaches the confluence with the Missouri River?
The Platte Basin Timelapse project has turned that possibility into a reality by placing timelapse cameras at strategic locations throughout the watershed to help tell the amazing and complex story of the Platte River.
Mike Forsberg and Mike Farrell, assistant professors of practice at UNL and co-founders of the Platte Basin Timelapse project, will present “Platte Basin Timelapse: Seeing a Watershed in Motion” at 7 p.m., Dec. 3 in the Hardin Hall auditorium. The seminar is free and open to the public, with limited seating available. Free parking is offered in the lots adjacent to Hardin Hall.
The Platte Basin Timelapse seminar is the final of three fall 2013 outreach seminars hosted by UNL’s School of Natural Resources.
Forsberg and Farrell will discuss their years of experience in working with the project and what they’ve learned from the images they capture.
“Our presentation style is casual and image-driven,” Forsberg said. “It’s always enjoyable to share with audiences both old and new what our cameras are capturing and what we are learning on this project that is now in its third year.”
Seminar attendees can expect a crash course in the history of the Platte River and how it shapes modern-day life in the basin.
“We cover a lot of history in a short period of time to create context for today’s reality in the basin,” Farrell said.
During the seminar, people will see a diverse arrangement of still images, time-lapse videos and multimedia.
“We hope through these visual tools people can see that a watershed is a living, breathing thing, and gain a greater appreciation for the Platte River,” Forsberg said.
Forsberg has been a professional photographer for more than 20 years, specializing in wildlife and conservation stories of the Great Plains. His most recent project was the book “Great Plains: America’s Lingering Wild” and the PBS documentary of the same title. Farrell currently serves as the special projects manager for NET, Nebraska’s statewide public broadcasting organization. His areas of specialization include history and humanities documentaries – two of his most well-known, award-winning productions include “In Search of the Oregon Trail” and “The Platte River Road.”
