During my first kayaking trip in 1999 across the SB Channel to Santa Cruz Island, I certainly didn’t foresee a book about my kayaking trips melding into conservation success stories across the Channel Islands NP.

However, in February 2021, after getting great looks and photographing bald eagle known as A-03 from my kayak and on the sheer cliffs surrounding Scorpion Anchorage on Santa Cruz Island, that keystone species inspired me to move forward with what has become “Paddling into a Natural Balance, Stories of Kayaking and Conservation around Channel Islands National Park.”

Ten chapters and 170 photographs vividly describes conservation efforts observed from my kayak, and from someone who has written about and photographed most of those conservation stories across the chain since the late 1990s.

- Chuck Graham
 

In 2006, during my first trip to the Carrizo Plain National Monument, I didn't envision a photo book of these stunning grasslands 15 years later. I now have a collection of images from the last of California's grasslands, time spent in the field chasing light, patiently waiting for wildlife to emerge and anticipating the next Super Bloom. My book coincides with the 20-year anniversary of the National Monument in January 2021.

It was difficult squeezing 15 years of images into 116 pages, but what I hope is the viewer will get a glimpse of what makes the Carrizo Plain one of the most unique and last great wildernesses in the Golden State. A place to continue to protect, especially considering our Public Lands are under threat across North America.

- Chuck Graham