Organic Media Growth for Park Management Organizations

2 Introduction : As someone who has traveled to parks throughout California, New Jersey, Quebec, Tennessee, and Illinois, I value urban forestry and ecological conservation, not only for its value to the health of the community and ecosystem at large, but also because preserved areas offer an accessible setting for creative work, a factor of housing which often goes overlooked. As part of IMSA’s Evolution, Biodiversity, and Ecology class, I have designed this strategic proposal to increase creative usage of parks in northern Illinois by means of a scalable photographic competition and recognition program. By encouraging local landscape and portrait photographers to utilize rural/suburban forest preserves, wildlife sanctuaries, and nature centers as the subjects of photography which they could submit for review and possible online usage, I believe organizations like the Forest Preserve District of Kane County could engage more impactfully with the community while receiving free, high-quality media assets. Portfolio A curated set of photos from my experience shooting landscape over the past three years can be found here: