Nature Done Wright

Ever since I worked for the former Meadowlands Commission, I’ve flown with LightHawk’s amazing group of volunteer pilots who donate their time and aircraft to enable environmental groups and government agencies to take aerial photos of key projects and holdings.

For the past dozen years, I’ve teamed with LightHawk and The Nature Conservancy in New Jersey to photograph the Garden State’s natural wonders, from Cape May to High Mountain and far beyond.

I recently took bird’s-eye-view photos for an urban LightHawk/TNC collaboration, with the help of LightHawk’s Jonathan Milne, ace volunteer pilot Mike McNamara, and Johnny Quispe, director of TNC’s cities program.

Johnny explains:

“The recent Lighthawk flyover provided The Nature Conservancy and its partners with a unique, landscape‑scale perspective to identify strategic opportunities for open-space creation and the implementation of nature‑based solutions along the Passaic River and within the City of Paterson and more broadly across the lower Passaic River watershed.

“With the support from Jim Wright of TNC’s Conservancy Council, we were able to capture high‑resolution, real‑time views of land-use patterns, impervious cover, riparian conditions, and existing natural assets.

“The flyover will assist in finding areas for tree-canopy expansion, floodplain restoration, green stormwater infrastructure, and reconnecting communities to the river. These insights will directly inform collaborative planning efforts, strengthen data‑driven decision‑making, and support coordinated investments that advance climate resilience, urban heat mitigation, and equitable access to nature at both the local and regional scale.”