Over the coming weeks and months the Foundations very special guest contributor Lee Hiller, will share her rekindled love of all that makes our fight on Terra so essential that we win for future generations. The fragility of this ecosystem she is privileged to roam and share will inspire many. Thank you Lee!

When Bob Williamson asked me to write for his very popular Greenhouse Neutral Foundation online publication, I was both thrilled and surprised.  Although I had always been what I would call environmentally aware, it was only recently that I had begun to voice my opinion in a very public way.  I had never considered myself to be a warrior in the battle to protect our planet earth.   That changed as I began hiking nearly every day in Hot Springs National Park, taking photographs and blogging about my experiences. 

Growing up in the suburbs outside Portland, in the State of Oregon, in the USA; I was no stranger to environmental issues. When I was growing up Tom McCall, the last Republican Environmentalist was Governor of Oregon and signed into law Oregon’s 1971 bill, the first such legislation passed in the United States. The Governor and other community leaders established SOLV (originally called Stop Oregon Litter and Vandalism) in 1969. Like many Oregonians starting in the early 80s I participated in the biannual clean up of the state, by hiking the beaches and waterways picking up trash. I never considered participating recycling and picking up litter as anything special, it was part of being an Oregonian.

Thirty years later I have worked and lived in many parts of the world working as an Information and Technology (IT) Specialist.  Computers became my focus and exploring the great outdoors as I once enjoyed doing with my Father fell by the wayside.  I had become a tech driven gadget loving couch potato, rarely spending anytime outside and totally disconnected from Nature.

In 2009 I met my fiancé’ Cartoonist Rick London and one of the first things he said to me was “I live across the street from a national park; you are going to love my mountain”.  What I discovered when I arrived in Hot Springs was our home is surrounded by Hot Springs National Park and there are five different mountains to love.   My new home is America’s oldest and only urban national park in the United States.

A month after my arrival in November of 2009 I began hiking in the park once or twice a week for recreation and to take photographs.  Everything changed in January 2010, I became aware of the subtle elements that made up the various eco-systems within the park and began blogging about them. What began as a hike a couple times a week has grown to a near daily hike to see what the park would reveal.  Each blog entry became evidence to support the changes that are needed to ensure the park and the wildlife that calls it home more than survive, but thrive.

My photographs are a look at the lives of the park inhabitants, climate variations and the external forces that impact their lives.  The “who and what” that affects the park, this includes the presence of dogs, litter, traffic and vandalism.  Each day I am compelled to learn more about the animals, plants and micro climates on each of the trails.  I realize this park is under siege from the very urban environment that makes its access so unique. There appears to be little or no local voices advocating for the changes needed to ensure the park will be conserved for future generations as per the National Park Service mission statement.

 I have become an “Eco-Angel”, not the fluffy winged harp playing version, but a warrior in the mold of the arch-angel Michael; my purpose, defending the rights of the park and its inhabitance.  If I at least in some small way help to preserve and restore this one park, then I can be proud of my life on this planet we call Earth. As my 53^rd birthday draws closer I believe this is what I was meant to be doing and I am on the right path.

Visit Lee and say hello at her inspiring blog Hike Our Planet: Hot Springs National Park

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