Meadows Center photography contest to chronicle San Marcos wildlife
Posted by Jayme Blaschke
University News Service
February 5, 2015
The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University is hosting the Explore Spring Lake Wildlife Photography Contest Feb. 20-March 10 in an effort to document the diverse wildlife that inhabits Spring Lake.
The photography contest is free to enter and open to the general public. Prizes include a GoPro Hero 3, a Kindle Fire, tickets to Fiesta Texas, tickets to Wimberley Zipline Adventure, an ENO Singlenest Hammock and more.
As stewards of Spring Lake, The Meadows Center is dedicated to understanding, protecting and sharing it with the community. All submitted photos will be used in conjunction with the online wildlife database, Project Noah (www.projectnoah.org), to document all of Spring Lake’s organisms, collect important ecological data and help preserve global biodiversity. The Meadows Center hopes the contest will draw interest from students and community alike, and compel them to visit Spring Lake and appreciate San Marcos’ wildlife.
"Spring Lake has a lot to offer in terms of natural beauty and wild life diversity," says Leon Motley, ProjectNoah biodiversity coordinator for The Meadows Center. "I think university students and the San Marcos community would really benefit from coming out here and exploring Spring Lake, a picturesque area that lays in the heart of San Marcos."
Project Noah is a user-supported online database that documents wildlife from all over the globe. Project Noah features photographs and species information posted to various "missions," or pages dedicated to chronicling plant and animal species in a set geographical areas. The Meadows Center has created its own "mission" to chronicle the wide variety of Spring Lake’s wildlife inhabitants titled "Spring Lake Biodiversity" (www.projectnoah.org/missions/817496003). To enter, contestants will take a picture of a plant or animal species on Spring Lake with their smart phone or camera and upload it to Project Noah and assign it to the Spring Lake Biodiversity page.
On March 11, once the contest ends, the top three photos, as determined by Meadows Center staff, will be featured in week-long Facebook poll to determine a contest winner. Prizes will then be awarded to the entrant with the highest-rated photo and the two runner-ups. Other prizes will also be raffled off at the end of the contest. Entries into the raffle will be based off of how many different species a contestant uploads to the Spring Lake Biodiversity Project Noah Page. For example, a contestant entering images of a great blue heron, a green tree frog and a western honey bee would be entered into the drawing three times.
The Meadows Center is able to offer the prizes because of a grant awarded by Texas State’s Environmental Service Committee. The committee awarded the grant to The Meadows Center in the hopes of fostering environmental education amongst Texas State students and the San Marcos community.
For more information on the Explore Spring Lake Wildlife Photography contest, visit www.meadowscenter.txstate.edu/photocontest.html or contact Leon Motley at ljm101@txstate.edu.
About The Meadows Center
The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment was named following a generous gift from The Meadows Foundation in August 2012. The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment is dedicated to environmental research, stewardship, education and service. It is run by renowned conservationist Andrew Sansom.
For the latest updates on The Explore Spring Lake Wildlife Photography Contest, please “like” The Meadows Center on Facebook or follow on Twitter (@MeadowsC4Water).