Photography Now & Then #74
It’s been over 23 years since I worked any fires as a volunteer fire fighter. Out here in rural Arkansas, many of the fires the volunteers deal with are wild land fires, also called brush fires or grass. Often, the departments will request assistance from the Arkansas Forestry Commission fire plow. A plow can rapidly construct a 6 to 8 foot wide fireline in almost all fuel situations as long as the terrain is not steep or excessively rocky.
Now: Plow – Arkansas Forestry Commission fire plow heading to a brush fire, west-central Arkansas, March 15, 2018 (Pentax K-3 II)
For many years, including while I was a volunteer, a neighbor, Ed Jones, was the Forestry Commission plow operator for this area, the plow and truck kept in an old WWII vintage Quonset hut next to his farm house. In a memorable July 1986 fire, I walked the fireline behind Ed’s plow, down off our ridge into a valley, up Buck Mountain and back, knocking down spot fires that had crossed the line.
I was in a lot better shape back then – and a lot younger.
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We happened to spot this mink while taking a walk on the breakwater at Lake Dardanelle State Park when our grandson was visiting in 2013.
Then: Mink, Lake Dardanelle State Park, Arkansas, July 20, 2013 (Pentax K-r)
The American mink (Neovison vison) is a semiaquatic species of mustelid native to North America, though human intervention has expanded its range to many parts of Europe and South America. Because of range expansion, the American mink is classed as a least-concern species by the IUCN. It is a carnivore that feeds on rodents, fish, crustaceans, frogs, and birds. The American mink is the animal most frequently farmed for its fur, exceeding the silver fox, sable, marten, and skunk in economic importance.
Photography Now & Then Notes:
- Series Photos
- The Now photo is one that is almost always taken the day of the blog post. In some instances, posts may be backdated if internet access is not available on the day of the photo or other reasons prevent posting Photography Now and Then.
- The Then photo is usually a randomly selected older photograph from a batch of photos specifically “curated” for Photography Now and Then.
- Each photo in this series is an “original work” – a copyright term – of Michael Goad.
- Reference links were accessed on the date the blog post was published, unless otherwise stated.
- The title convention for Photography Now & Then blog posts evolved early on from one word related to each photo separated by “&” to usually being the first word in the caption description for each photo.
