Presentations

“Nature is not a place to visit, its home”

Gary Snyder

The following is a list of presentations and costs that are described in more detail by scrolling down below:

The Green Smear - Blaine’s rant against Sod
The Silent Majority - A Natural History of New Jersey’s Moths
Drop Out Zone - A presentation that celebrates New Jersey’s Avian Fauna and the many places they can be found.
Confessions of a Wildlife Photographer - Blaine confesses his sins to all about his sneaky techniques to capture unique wildlife images
New Jersey’s Best Kept Secret - Biodiversity. A visual panoply of New Jersey’s many special landscapes and geology that drive its incredible natural history.
Wild Bones - A natural history journey through the forensics of bones that can be found in the wilds of New Jersey.
Mountain Meadow Through the Seasons - This presentation looks at the success of ecologic restoration at the hands of one property owner, in one of the most beautiful areas of northwestern Warren County , New Jersey. The program is rife with amazing imagery taken all from one amazing 8-acre site.
Wetlands Demystified - This hour presentation introduces the audience to the science of wetlands, their functions and values, and how they are regulated in New Jersey and other areas around the country.
Winter Tree Identification - This is both a lecture and a field initiative to get anyone who wants to get a better handle on the identification of trees in winter to walk away with the “chops” to identify the most common trees encountered in our woodlands.
Bridge Watch - Troy Meadows Through the Seasons - this presentation is a visual journey through the seasons from the vantage point of a walking bridge that crosses the Troy Brook within the heart of the Troy Meadows Ecologic Complex.
Vernal Ponds - The Other Universe - A introspective of one of our most overlooked resources in our woodlands. A magical peek and natural history of these otherworldly wetlands.

The Green Smear

When conservation biologist Blaine Rothauser sees green, he sees red. That's because he's witnessed the loss of habitat and biodiversity in the face of the seeding and sodding of the American landscape. Are we all victims of "nature deficit disorder"? Conservation Biologist Blaine Rothauser is a Senior Natural Resource Specialist and Conservation Biologist with GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc., a nationally recognized environmental consulting firm. He is also a professional wildlife photographer whose images have graced the pages of natural history magazines, books, corporate reports and calendars. Blaine works extensively in New Jersey on conservation management planning and design, threatened and endangered (T&E) species analysis, regulatory permitting, bio-ecologic inventories, and environmental impact studies. In addition to 35 years as a professional ecologist, Blaine brings a passion for his home state’s iconic natural history which he readily shares in captivating and visually rich presentations to a variety of interested professional organizations and land trusts.

Presentation Duration: 1 hour Version

*You Tube TEDx is the 18-minute condensed version.

Cost: $1,500

Interested? Watch the Ted Talk excerpt now!

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The Silent Majority

When our day comes to a close and the evenings curtain rise it’s no longer our time. The earths engine doesn’t just come to a halt and take up where it left off at dawn. It’s when the night is so black that the darkness cooks that an entire workforce checks in to continue the monumental task of keeping the scales of nature in balance. Necessary work that moves energy from star to life in motion - this is the work of the “Silent Majority”.

In this one-hour program, Blaine Rothauser will marinade the visual cortex in all thing’s “moth”. After hundreds of nighttime surveys all aspects of their biology, roles, and functions will be revealed. This is a photographic journey that will guarantee a newfound appreciation for what most humans view as just those, “little brown jobs.”

Consider that moths are more abundant than their more notable counterparts, the butterflies, outnumbering them approximately 9 to 1, might stir your curiosity. Because, for the majority, they are nocturnal, and for that fact alone we don’t give them the recognition they deserve. This immensely diverse group involves itself in virtually every ecologic service required to keep a living planet healthy; from the breakdown of coarse organic material to pollination, to the energy transfer provided by their larvae through their ingestion into the gullets of countless, birds, mammals, herptiles, and other insects.

The attendee of this presentation will come away in awe of their sheer diversity and physical beauty. Aside from their mind-boggling beauty you’re guaranteed to come away with a better appreciation for their provisions within natural systems.

Presentation Duration: 1 hour
Cost: $400.00 for virtual program

* If presentation is in-house $40.00 for every 30 miles of travel will be added to base price.

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Follow-up Exhibition

Many past presentations of the “Silent Majority” are followed up by a nocturnal exhibition of moths lured into a 1,000-watt metal halide lamp and ultraviolet lights - setup in a predetermined spot near where the presentation takes place. This is a hands-on experience for those interested in learning more about macro-photography and the types of species that can be seen up close and personal in every backyard near you. This experience is always casual – bring refreshments and snacks and hang out and see which species of moth comes to the party next!

Cost: $300

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Drop Out Zone

The State of New Jersey is situated perfectly along the Atlantic Flyway – a pathway that hundreds of species of birds follow during both northward and southward journeys to and from their wintering and breeding grounds. New Jersey is blessed to be both centralized to this pathway while inherent with a broad array of geophysiology – a fancy way of saying landscape diversity. In combination, these two factors make the state a prime “stopover” area for birds to refuel their tanks during their long peregrinations.

All will be explained in this one-hour stunning visual presentation of Blaine’s bird photography as he takes you to remote barrier islands, muggy backwoods swamps, barrens of pineland, high Appalachian ridges, and coastal salt marshes.

You’ll learn the psychotic truth about New Jersey and explain why a state with the fourth smallest land area can be so attractive to such a large assortment of migratory birds. It really is crazy that in the same day you photograph a peregrine falcon from the vantage point of a sheer 800-foot diabase cliff along the Hudson River you can be in a deep wood swamp peering in on a Prothonotary warbler nesting in a deadwood cavity along the Passaic River.

Whether you enjoy the challenge of avian photography or just like watching birds, New Jersey is the “Drop Out Zone” for you.

So, sit back, relax, and get ready as Blaine attempts to blow you away in a panoply of avian delights.

Note: This presentation is designed for adult audiences that want to become more familiar with New Jersey’s many natural areas, avian biology and behavior and how a states geology can drive its natural heritage.

Cost: $350.00 for virtual program

* If presentation is in-house $40.00 for every 30 miles of travel will be added to base price.

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Confessions of a Wildlife Photographer

Have you ever perused a wildlife magazine and tripped on some amazing image of an animal doing something crazy, or posed in perfect light, or caught in the act of a bizarre behavior and wondered, “how’d that guy or gal get that shot?” Well, this one-hour program of my declaration of guilt will answer some questions as I go full disclosure. This program is meant to be fun, entertaining, insightful, and revealing of a trade I continue to try and hone. It’s by far my favorite presentation as I acknowledge my photographic sins and beg forgiveness. Maybe some of you will come clean and confess your own tricks of trade regardless how subversive. In the process we’ll all learn better when we learn together. Who knows, a communal confession might absolve us all of our misdeeds.

I’ll discuss the advantage of learning the latest technology and equipment, but more importantly I’ll be challenging us all to push limits and boundaries and think outside the box.

Come join me as I confess my deepest and darkness tricks of the trade. Although I might lose some respect, I guarantee you’ll come away with a few new techniques that will make you all better wildlife photographers.

Cost $500.00 - virtual program.

* If presentation is in-house $40.00 for every 30 miles of travel will be added to base price.

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New Jersey’s Best Kept Secret

“Biodiversity”

New Jersey is blessed with an endless array of natural delights regardless of what you may have heard. If you’re an ecologist with a propensity for rich natural history than I assert that the state of New Jersey is the most biologically diverse in the nation. I know, I know, that’s one hell of a bold statement. Most people that have never lived here think of it as the “oil-refinery-state”. Let them! That means more nature for me!

I grant you New Jersey is psychotic. It’s the most densely populated state with more people per square mile than China – however, almost half of the state is in preservation - one out of four acres is in some kind of preservation – but sssssshhhhhh, don’t tell anyone!

On top of this our incredibly rich geology (NJ has 5 geophysiographic provinces) underpins its biodiversity. Water on three sides, an interior laced with rivers and streams, wetlands of all variety – estuary, bay, swamps, bogs, fens, and sloughs. All this landscape diversity and you can bet your Aunt Connie’s socks it adds up to one giant nature cocktail and NJ’s best kept secret! So lets get bibulous together!

Come join me and let me prove it to you in this one-hour presentation New Jersey’s natural treasures held within the nooks and crannies of my Garden State. This exposé is a photographic journey from Highlands to Pinelands, straight through to Delaware Bay and everywhere in-between.

Cost: $500.00 for virtual program

* If presentation is in-house $40.00 for every 30 miles of travel will be added to base price.

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Wild Bones of New Jersey

This program is designed for the hardcore naturalist, the person who doesn’t mind getting his or her hands dirty while on long walks in wild places. The audience of this program will be provided with a visual tour of a large array of fauna revealed through the remnants of their former selves. Upon conclusion you’ll never walk through the woods again without searching for signs of death. With a little bit of wild bone forensic training, you’ll be able to quickly assess if an animal is a predator or prey, carnivore or omnivore, frugivore or insectivore or whether an animal makes its living in the sky or underground, in a meadow or a swamp - all you need is a little guidance and morbid curiosity.

Blaine will showcase his lifelong collection of bones and skulls found in the hills and dales of New Jersey and explain why function follows form as you go from the skeletal form to the living embodiment of the animal in question – wildlife images captured throughout New Jersey.

During the program you’ll learn how to macerate - break down and clean skulls for collection - safely and cleanly. Upon conclusion you’re sure to be a better natural scientist while gaining a new appreciation for the vast array of unique wildlife residing within the confines of the Garden State!

Cost $500.00 - virtual program.

* If presentation is in-house a $40.00 surcharge will be assessed for every 30 miles of travel - added to the basecost above.

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"The earth, like the sun, like the air, belongs to everyone-and to no one"

Edward Abbey.

Mountain Meadow Through the Seasons

There is a place, a special place, nestled within the northwestern corner of New Jersey that brings back visons of a better time, a time when people lived hardscrabble yet simpler, close to the land appreciative of its bounty, in wonder of its inner spirt. The properties owner is a land steward by trade, a restoration ecologist of the highest order. His name is Dennis Briede and through a lifelong academic career schooled at the University of the Wilderness, daily he applies the principals of ecology that keeps his piece of heaven at its bio-ecologic maximum.

This presentation is a journey through the seasons there, an eight-acre parcel of land, itself a part of a much broader and expansive geo-physiographic region known to New Jersians as the Ridge and Valley. It’s a celebration of land stewardship done right. A visual representation of how one person can heal a piece of the earths skin through implementing the basics principals of land restoration and the infinite gifts it gives back in return.

This one-hour visual exhibition, seen through the lens of professional wildlife photographer and natural scientist, Blaine Rothauser, will undoubtably change minds that image-conger a state paved into wasteland, cultivated, not by farms, but oil refineries, megamalls, and strip clubs. Blaine quickly dispels this notion as he takes you deep into every nook and cranny of “The Meadow”, rife with wildflowers, forested bottomlands, and steep escarpments. A slice of a much larger natural greenway that continues to support a huge cross section of wild, truly wild-deep-based nature.

Along the way you’ll learn the art of restoration ecology, what that term means in practice, and the tricks of the trade that Dennis implements to make his property worthy of the title “Mountain Meadow”.

Cost $500.00 - virtual program.

* If presentation is remote a $40.00 surcharge will be assessed for every 30 miles of travel - added to the cost above.

Ruby throated hummingbird male hummer feeders MM 3

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Wetlands Demystified

Have you ever walked through the woods and found yourself mucked and mired in the lower trough, surrounded by foreign plants, midges, gnats, mosquitos all abuzz up in your business? We’ll it doesn’t take a wetland scientist to tell you you’ve probably wandered into a wetland.

However, if you’d like the technical definition of a wetland here’s the Army Corp of Engineers definition:

“Wetlands are areas where water covers the soil or is present either at or near the surface of the soil all year or for varying periods of time during the year, including during the growing season. More specifically, wetlands are areas where the presence of water determines or influences most, if not all, of an area’s biochemistry.”

In this 1-hour presentation Blaine will “delineate” the three major metrics that wetland scientists use to determine the presence or absence of a wetland and show examples of these systems in images. In addition, the beauty of these mosaics will be on full display from bog, swamp, fen, and marsh throughout New Jersey and the life history of faunal associations tethered to them explained.

This presentation is for developers, consultants, preservationists, and environmental engineers that need to develop a basic understanding of what makes a wetland a wetland using the jurisdictional methods as outline US Army Corps of Engineers 1989 manual for delineating wetlands. When complete , the attendee will no longer believe that a wetland is simply the area demarcated by skunk cabbage!

Cost: $500.00

* If presentation is remote a $40.00 surcharge will be assessed for every 30 miles of travel - added to the cost above.

Winter

Tree Identification

This program consists of both a warm interior hour of visual learning with an outside invigorating walk in the natural setting of your choice where we put these skills to work. During the in-house seminar we provide the attendee with a primer on winter tree identification techniques for those trees most commonly encountered in the hills, dales, forests, swamps, and woodlands throughout the Northeast.

You’ll learn the basics of bark, twig and form identification of common oaks, maples, ash, beech, birch, popular , willows and shrubs. We’ll present a number of pertinent key images of tree conditions that expedite identification - i.e. ash bark damaged by the emerald ash borer, galls on pin oak, cankers on black cherry, twig buds, winter seed pods on catalpa - down and dirty clues to quickly identify your winter trees.

The second half of the class will take place outside where we can practice the skills we just learned inside.

This morning exhibition will guarantee the attendee will return home with the skills and clues to definitively identify at least a couple dozen of our most commonly encountered eastern trees and shrubs.

Cost $500.00

Includes both an interior presentation followed by a field identification walk

If presentation is remote a $40.00 surcharge will be assessed for every 30 miles of travel - added to the cost above.

Bridge Watch

“Troy Meadows Through the Seasons”

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Troy Meadows is a 2,600 acre ecologic paradise; what I like to call the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuges little sister. Draining from the same ancient glacier lake – Glacier Lake Passaic, Troy Meadows Natural Area boasts an endless litany of unique flora and fauna that would blush the likes of Henry David Thoreau and Edward O. Wilson.

Bridge Watch is a celebration of a resource nestled within the heart of Morris County. A natural land bastion, attended to by a vast array of biodiversity, surrounded by an ever changing human landscape.

I titled this presentation the “Bridge Watch” because it is here I’m seated by a walking bridge across the mighty Troy Brook, the artery of living water that traverse the preserve, a place where I’ve spent countless hours throughout the unwavering periods of the seasons; patient in anticipation for it to liberate itself of its secrets.

Like all hard-core ecologists, I’ve taken copious notes of natural events witnessed at this little slice of planet earth, corroborated by images that read like a fairytale novel - a documentation of a fraction of life imbued in “Deep Nature”.

Bridge Watch is a celebration of my awakening as an ecologist and a panegyric to all of Troy Meadows inhabitants. This hour program is for those who aspire to become an earth-watcher like myself.

So, sit back and relax while I take you on a journey through the seasons at the Bridge!

Blaine Rothauser

Cost $450.00

The “Bridge Watch” program was extraordinary!! So much beautiful imagery, astute observations, amusing anecdotes, and info that was well targeted to the audience but not overdone. Presentation was polished and hit every mark IMO. Outstanding work Blaine, I couldn’t even sleep last night, my brain was happily spinning!

Anita Shotwell - Executive Director - Wildlife Preserve, Inc.

If you’d like to learn more about the people who steward this land and more about Troy Meadows hit the link https://wildlifepreserves.org/

Vernal Ponds

"THE OTHER UNIVERSE”

Presentation Description

Vernal Ponds are ephemeral bodies of water scattered about our woodlands – the equivalent of a 60’s acid trip where spots appear before your eyes, fairy shrimp dance to the rhythms of the water, and frogs sing, and sing, and sing, until anuran love making becomes an unspeakable reality. All will be revealed in this one-hour presentation that explains the inner workings and natural history of our northeastern vernal ponds.

The hope is that when it’s over the program will leave you with a desire to roam your woodlands, honing your ears on the distant trills, croaks, and barks emanating from these magical places. Professional wildlife photographer and natural scientist, Blaine Rothauser will invite you into this secret world of natural wonders where his final words will be, “what happens at a vernal pond , stays at a vernal pond”.