Nature photographers from around the globe will participate in a “RAVE” this month to bring attention to the Upper Green River Valley.

Following its annual meeting from May 17-18, members of the International League of Conservation Photographers will take their cameras and packs on a three-day expedition called a Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition. The groups said it sets up RAVEs to address the challenge of modern conservation, which often needs an immediate supply of images, words and research to answer threats.  

This year’s RAVE will focus on the Upper Green River basin, home to some of the most intensive gas development in the United States.

“Although this expanding development has now diminished air and water resources, wildlife and the very health of local citizens,” a statement from the International League of Conservation Photographers said, “the landscape still contains areas of high scenic and ecological value such as the Wyoming Range, which the public is trying to safeguard from future development.”

For 72 hours from May 19-21, photographers will scour the focus area by air and by ground, capturing images that tell the story of the landscape. The RAVE culminates May 23 in a public exhibit of photographic prints to be introduced at the National Museum of Wildlife Art. The exhibit, sponsored by Earthjustice, will be from 4-6 p.m., and photographers will be present.

Participating photographers include Tom Mangelsen, Jack Dykinga, Balan Madhavan, Robert Glenn Ketchum, Wendy Shatill, Cristina Mittermeier, James Balog and Matthias Breiter.

“The strength and prestige of the peer group that has been born through the ILCP is nothing short of amazing,” said Mittermeier, the executive director of the International League of Conservation Photographers. “I am both humbled and inspired every day. Our combined achievements and the tireless efforts of my colleagues give me reason to hope that things will get better for our beautiful planet ... one image at a time.”