Photographers, Authors and Collaborators
About the Photographers/Activists
Internationally acclaimed, award-winning photographers Rob Badger and Nita Winter have been life partners, activists and creative collaborators for over three decades. In 1992, they discovered and fell in love with California's spectacular wildflower blooms in the Mojave Desert's Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve. This inspired their twenty-seven-year journey photographing wildflowers throughout the West, and, in 2011, their documentary art project, Beauty and the Beast: Wildflowers and Climate Change, a project sponsored by Blue Earth Alliance. In 2016, they created their first joint exhibit on California's wildflowers. This beautiful book they created is a companion to the traveling exhibit and was brought to you by WinterBadger Press.
Rob's first conservation work was photographing the Owens Valley (California) Aquifer water project for Inyo County in 1980. He later focused on the devastating impact of logging and mining on our public lands. Rob has also photographed more than thirty projects, as far away as Siberia, for various land conservation groups.
Nita discovered her talent for photographing people nearly forty years ago while documenting her work fighting wildfires in Northern California. In 1986, her first major exhibit, The Children of the Tenderloin, in San Francisco was followed by six noted public art projects celebrating diversity.
Nita and Rob's work has been featured in NBC-TV’s Open Road, Time, Mother Jones, and Sierra magazines, and the New York Times, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times. Their fine art prints and architectural installations have been commissioned by Kaiser Permanente, Sutter Health, San Francisco Arts Commission, Alameda County Arts Commission, and the James Irvine Foundation. Learn more at WWW.WINTERBADGER.COM
About Our Co-publisher the California Native Plant Society (CNPS)
If you want to save the world, start with plants. The native plants of your local ecosystems form the foundation of life-for pollinators, for birds, and for people. That's why, for more than fifty years, the nonprofit California Native Plant Society (CNPS) has been a leading voice in native plant science, conservation, and gardening. Today, CNPS is one of the foremost native plant organizations in the world, mentoring the next generation of plant scientists, influencing state and national law, and fighting plant extinction. CNPS is based in California's state capital, serving more than thirty-five chapters statewide and in Baja California. Learn how you can get involved at WWW.CNPS.ORG.
About Our Passionate Authors
We are truly grateful to all our passionate and talented authors for sharing their stories about wildflowers, land conservation and climate change.
Ileene Anderson, senior scientist at Center for Biological Diversity
Genevieve Arnold, seed program manager at Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants
Ryan Burnett, Sierra Nevada director with Point Blue Conservation Science
Kitty Connolly, director of Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants
José González, founder and director emeritus of Latino Outdoors
Mary Ellen Hannibal, author of 5 books and many articles focused on nature and conservation
Kenna Kuhn, student of environmental science and sustainability at the University of Denver
Margaret Leinen, director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Gordon Leppig, senior environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Amber Pairis, director of the Climate Science Alliance and Climate Kids
Peter L. Raven, author, world renowned botanist, president emeritus of the Missouri Botanical Gardens
Will Rogers, former president and CEO of the Trust for Public Lands
Erin Schrode, activist, social entrepreneur, and innovative community organizer.
Wendy Tokuda, retired award-winning journalist, environmental restoration volunteer
Susan J. Tweit, author of numerous books and articles focused on nature and conservation
Robin Wall Kimmerer, mother, writer, scientist, distinguished professor and founding director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment
About Our Other Important Collaborators
The following organizations have assisted with promotion, funding, book content and/or making our traveling exhibit possible.
Exhibit Envoy, manages our traveling exhibit, "Beauty and the Beast: California Wildflowers and Climate Change," seen by over 45,000 throughout California.
Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, location of our first "Beauty and the Beast: California Wildflowers and Climate Change"exhibition in 2016.
National Wildlife Federation (book content)
Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy
California State Parks Foundation
Bioneers (endorsement)
Blue Earth Alliance (former fiscal agent)
MarinLink (current fiscal agent) Contact us about upcoming projects and donation needs.