I was fortunate enough to have all three photographs accepted for the Orange County Fair this year.  And I was very surprised to learn that all three had won awards.  To today I finally made it out to the fair and sure enough they all had ribbons.

Death Valley Reflections had an Honorable Mention ribbon.

Bristlecone Moon also had an Honorable Mention ribbon.

And Virgin River and the Watchman had a 2nd Place ribbon.

You can see more of my work at http://RalphNordstromPhotography.com

The second entry into the Orange County Fair this year is one that I planned for well over a year – Bristlecone Moon.  The bristlecone pine are the oldest living trees on the planet.  The oldest of these is over 4,800 years old.  Imagine, not only will it outlive you and I, not only has it outlived our ancestors, but it has outlived whole civilizations.

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Here are more developments in the Schulman Grove Visitor Center file.

http://www.inyoregister.com/content/view/119017/27/

http://www.ksrw.sierrawave.net/site/content/view/1346/48/

The Schulman Grove Visitor Center in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine forest was destroyed by fire on Sept 4th of this year.

Previous posts

http://ralphnordstromphotography.com/wordpress/2008/09/19/even-more-on-it-just-takes-one/

http://ralphnordstromphotography.com/wordpress/2008/09/11/still-more-on-it-takes-just-one/

http://ralphnordstromphotography.com/wordpress/2008/09/11/more-on-it-just-takes-one-2/

http://ralphnordstromphotography.com/wordpress/2008/09/09/more-on-it-just-takes-one/

http://ralphnordstromphotography.com/wordpress/2008/09/08/it-just-takes-one/

The investigation of the Shulman Grove Visitor Center fire is complete but the results have not yet been released.  Here’s a recent post.  http://www.ksrw.sierrawave.net/site/content/view/1304/48/

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest.  The celebration in the Schulman Grove will continue as planned on September 20.  Also, the Methuselah Trail that was closed for a while after the fire has been reopened.  The Methuselah Trail winds its way through the oldest trees in the forest including the Methuselah tree whose age is determined to be 4,700 years old.  However, the tree is not identified.  Here’s the post from the Inyo National Forest regarding the celebration.  http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/recreation/bristlecone/index.shtml

Other postings announcing the celebration include:

http://www.inyoregister.com/content/view/117328/27/

http://yubanet.com/california/Celebration-of-50th-Anniversary-of-Ancient-Bristlecone-Pine-Forest-September-20th_printer.php

Following the John Christiana angle of the story, Christiana pleaded not guilty to felony charges of auto theft, grand theft and receiving stolen property.  Sheriff’s investigators have enough hard evidence to link him to the rash of vandalisms that occurred in recent weeks in the Big Pine Creek and Bishop Creek areas.  The Inyo Register reports the following…

http://www.inyoregister.com/content/view/116920/27/