Justin Haag, Nebraskaland Magazine

10/19/2026

Autumn leaves flank an old road in the Pine Ridge.

📍 Chadron Creek Ranch Wildlife Management Area

10/17/2026

It's an especially nice time of year to catch a creekside sunrise. Check out that tough old box elder tree. The leaves surrounding the morning sun grew from something that otherwise appears to have died long ago. You've gotta admire such stubbornness.

📍 Bordeaux Wildlife Management Area

10/16/2026

A touch of frost among the goldenrod and guttation droplets.

📍 Bordeaux Wildlife Management Area

09/29/2026

Photography contests are always subjective, but maybe it says something that two of the top three scenic photos in a national contest this summer came from beautiful western Nebraska.

“Electricity at the Nature Preserve” got first place while “Burst of Spring at Soldier Creek” was third in the same “scenic” category for the Association for Conservation Information’s annual contest.

Among the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s eight other placewinners in the ACI contest was my magazine story about the Cowboy Recreation and Nature Trail. It received second place in the “destination, historical or cultural article” category.

Just an example of all the great subjects I have to photograph and write about in this magnificent region.

09/27/2026

I've surely had many more failures than successes in wildlife photography. As I often say, I miss a lot more than I get.

That’s certainly the case with camera trapping. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve put in considerable effort to set up the camera and have the attempt foiled by one of countless variables: weather, uncooperative animals, equipment malfunction, damage from rodents, and, yes, even the occasional user error. Once, a rock slide blanketed most of my equipment.

These images were captured 10 years ago this week when I was just starting camera trapping. A patient wildlife biologist helped identify a prime location and push, pull and drag the equipment over downed timber to set it up.

It was so exciting to discover that the cougar — tagged and collared for research — visited one night in the rain, then returned the next night for a better session.

A decade later, I know that the work is certainly not always easy and smooth. The occasional win makes it worth doing, though.

09/25/2026

"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." -- Arthur Carlson

If you don't know that quote, watch the classic 1978 Thanksgiving episode of the sitcom "WKRP in Cincinnati."

Flying might not be turkeys' strong suit, but Carlson certainly wasn't wrong. I think of that quote every time I see wild turkeys flying to and from the tops of tall roost trees. That's what this one was doing earlier this week.

Most wild turkey flights are shorter than 100 yards. In addition to roosting, they go airborne when crossing fences and other obstacles, or fleeing danger. They can go much farther -- reportedly a mile or more -- when gliding from high to low elevations.

As WKRP showed us, however, turkeys' aeronautical capabilities are greatly diminished after they have been dropped from a helicopter.

09/24/2026

Soapweed (Yucca glauca) gets the attention of me and my camera when it blooms in May, June and July. I was surprised when the opportunity presented itself this week, surely the latest I've ever noticed a bloom.

This particular plant is one of the many yuccas that have been eking out a living in the burn scar of June's South Fork Fire at Fort Robinson State Park. Plants will sometimes bloom late if they're under stress. Stress? If these yuccas could talk they might seek counseling after enduring both wildfire and extreme drought this summer.

Soapweeds are a model of perseverance on the High Plains, though. With a taproot as deep as 20 feet, the tough perennial reproduces both from seeds and from the offshoot "pups" that grow from its roots. Such attributes make them capable to handle most of whatever Mother Nature throws at them in this unpredictable region.

I noticed only one plant with blooms this week, but, despite their charred, rugged appearance, most had a "litter of pups" coming of age.

09/23/2026

Sunlight breaks through the clouds to form crepuscular rays over the Pine Ridge.

09/22/2026

I got my shoes muddy while hiking on the South Fork Fire's burn scar and didn't mind a bit. It was a beautiful spring-like morning on this first day of fall.

08/26/2026

Ever wonder how Nebraskaland Magazine got its name? Check out this story from our 100th anniversary special issue.

Nebraskaland -- the name has become so familiar to Nebraskans that most don’t even ponder how it came to be.