A place we watch

Permian Basin Federal Lands

Timing

Nothing is open on this one today. It is a place the Corps keeps an eye on, so we see the paperwork the day it lands.

What is worth photographing here

After dark, from a public road pullout on the BLM land, shoot the same stretch of horizon each visit and count the burning flares in frame. Daytime, photograph any salty white kill-zone where produced water has spilled.

Why we watch it

The most productive oilfield in the Western Hemisphere has turned southeastern New Mexico into a sacrifice zone. Communities downwind live with flaring that lights up the night sky, methane leaks, and produced water spills that poison their groundwater. This is what "energy dominance" looks like on the ground.

How to record it so it counts

01Go to the place. Photograph it so someone who has never been there can see what you mean.
02Write the paragraph only you can write: what it is, how you know, how long you’ve known it, and what the project would do to it.
03If it’s a sensitive site (a nest, a den, a cultural site, a rare plant), say so and it goes into the sealed record.

What would count

A thing the agency can’t have answered yet, because nobody told it. This is often the strongest item in a record.
Your years, in your words, under your name.

All of it, with the phone settings, in the field guide

Nothing to answer yet

Nobody is asking you to go here today. We watch this place so that the day a decision opens on it, the people who already know it hear the same week. If you are out here anyway, what you photograph now is worth more later than anything taken after the paperwork lands.

Before you go

Public land only. Plenty of land inside a national forest or park boundary is privately owned, and that is not yours to walk on. A gate or a closure sign means stop. Check the rules for the specific place you are going, because they differ.
Don’t touch survey stakes, flagging, equipment or anything a crew left. Photograph it; leave it.
Don’t approach crews, contractors or agency staff about the project. Don’t interfere with any operation.
Wildlife at a distance. No drones in wilderness or anywhere they’re prohibited. Stay off closed roads and trails.
If you’re not sure, don’t. Weather, terrain, water, fire and people are your call, and yours alone.

More Than Just Parks doesn’t direct where you go or what you do. Terms.