Background Photo Credit: Michael Forsberg

Platte Basin Time Lapse Project

Platte Basin Time Lapse Project

Imagine seeing snow piling up during the winter on the Continental Divide in North Park, Colorado and then watching it melt into Lake Agnes and on down into the North Platte River over the summer. Or observing the North Platte in Wyoming fluctuating dramatically below Pathfinder Dam through the summer from power and irrigation demands. Or seeing a complete growing season in the Nebraska’s Platte Valley as the river pulses through a series of irrigation canals and laterals watering fields of sugar beets, corn, and beans. Or the thrill of the annual Sandhill crane migration each spring in the central Platte Valley. And all of these compressed into just a few, short minutes.

What could we learn about the nature of the Platte River if it could be seen it in its entirety?   That question is the spark behind the Platte Basin Time Lapse Project. Photographer Michael Forsberg and cinematographer Mike Farrell conceived the project in 2010, to document the Platte River through time lapse photography. They are deploying forty-five cameras along the river, each in a unique environment, making a picture every daylight hour of every day. That visual data allows an understanding of the river system in ways never before experienced, and promises insights into all aspects of the Platte Basin, from agriculture to geological processes, from ecology to municipal water supplies, from wildlife conservation to outdoor recreation.

The Cooper Foundation has made two grants Nebraska Educational Telecommunications (NET) for this project, the first in 2010 to jump start the acquisition of Nikon cameras and the second in 2011 for equipment and development of the website documenting the project: http://plattebasintimelapse.com/.

PBTL has also received major support from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program. Project partners are NET, Michael Forsberg Photography, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Institute for Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Nikon Corporation.

Images and video courtesy of Michael Forsberg and the Platte Basin Time Lapse Project.

Platte Basin Timelapse Project from Michael FORSBERG on Vimeo.

Sean Lee


 

Sean William Lee, 43, of Lincoln, died on April 5th, 2012, from complications following heart surgery. Sean was born in Winona, Minn. on May 30, 1968. Sean moved to Front Royal, Va. and attended Warren County Middle & High Schools from 1981-1985. He returned to Winona and graduated from Winona Senior High School in 1986. He worked at a number of Renaissance Faires around the country where he made great life-long friends, meeting Vicky Kovar at the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Wisconsin in 1993. They were married in 1995 in Lincoln.

Sean worked at Duncan Aviation as a CNC Specialist in the upholstery department. He enjoyed his work and his coworkers and was proud to be a Duncan employee. He loved vintage records, old movies, and new technology. Sean adored animals, especially his dogs Bella and Jack and was preceded in death by his cat Mouser and dog Joe. We will miss his sense of humor, his ability to fix everything, including all of the computers in the house, his patience, and his presence.

He is survived by his wife, Victoria Kovar; daughter, Allora Kovar and partner Ian Sheehan; grandson, Mason Sheehan; parents, mother, Leilani (Lonnie) Monahan, of Front Royal, Va., stepmother Cleone Lee of Winona, Minn.; preceded in death by his father, Brendan (Ben) Lee, of Winona, Minn.; sisters, Kelly Ash, and nieces Taylor and MacKenzie, of Cascade, Md.; Colleen and her husband Jeff Coleman, niece and nephew Aidan and Ian, of Yorktown, Va.; Carrie Lee, of Norfolk, Va.; uncle and aunt Michael & Dawn Lambrect, of Winona, Minn. and cousins, David, Laura, Cassandra and Tony.

Memorial service: 10 a.m. Sunday, April 22nd, at Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center, 11700 Southwest 100th Street, Denton. In lieu of flowers, memorials to Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center or Hearts United for Animals in Box 286 Auburn, NE 68305. Arrangements by Wyuka Funeral Home.

Rushworth M. Kidder, 1944-2012

Rushworth M. Kidder, 1944 - 2012

Rush Kidder, journalist, ethicist, author and founder of the Institute for Global Ethics died March 5, 2012 at a nursing home in Davie, Fla.  He was 67.  Mr. Kidder was one of two people to have spoken twice at the E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  In November of 1988, while still a columnist for The Christian Science Monitor¸ his topic was: An Agenda for the 21st Century.  In 1994, shortly after he founded the Institute for Global Ethics he spoke about Shared Values, Troubled Times: Global Ethics for the 21st Century.

 

New book from Nebraska native and former E.N. Thompson speaker


 

The Unquiet American, by Derek Chollet and Samantha Power, surveys the work of U.S. diplomat Richard Holbrooke, over four decades. Holbrooke, who died in 2010, served under three presidents.  He was special envoy for Iraq and Afghanistan under President Barack Obama, assistant secretary of state for both Asia and Europe and ambassador to Germany and to the United Nations under President Clinton, and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs under President Carter.

Chollet, a Lincoln, Nebraska native, currently serves in the Obama administration and was a member of Secretary Clinton's staff as well as President Clinton's administration.

Power, a Special Assistant to President Obama, runs the Office of Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights as Senior Director of Multilateral Affairs on the Staff of the National Security Council. Previously, she was a foreign policy fellow in then Senator Obama’s office.  Power is a scholar on foreign policy who delivered an E.N. Thompson Forum lecture during the 2004-2005 season. 

Read a New York Times review of this book

 

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