Five Question Friday: Ed Pembleton

Five Question Friday: Ed Pembleton

Five Question Friday with Ed Pembleton. Pembleton is the director of the Leopold Education Project, PF's education division.

PF: People say you look like __________?

EP: Actually, I can not remember any comparisons lately. Perhaps that's a benefit of not having much of a short term memory—or long term for that matter.

PF: The movie you could watch over and over again is ____________?

EP: I tend to watch a movie once and move on to the next task, but the movie that I have watched over and over again is "Aldo Leopold: A Prophet for All Seasons," which we use with the Leopold Education Project. Not as good as the book, but lots of interesting interviews with people who are no longer around to reflect.

PF: You're an avid photographer. Through your years of capturing the outdoors through a lens, what one photo sticks out in your mind?

EP: There are so many, that picking just one photo would be impossible. There are many photos that I consider outstanding because they bring back a whole series of memories about time spent outdoors with my wife and friends. A second set of photos come to mind because I was fortunate to capture an image that had a special composition, subject or setting and their technical and emotional values are memorable. For example, an image of a single dandelion seed with the sun in the background created in the 1970s had such an effect on me, and I recalled that picture a few months ago when something was needed for an article in Upland Tales.

PF: What's the rarest bird you've seen, and where did you see it?

EP: Whooping cranes are among the rarest birds on Earth and I was fortunate to first see them in Texas at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Then three months later my wife and I saw two of them arrive and land along the Platte River on the Lillian Annette Rowe Sanctuary near Kearney, Nebraska. That was very satisfying because they chose the kind of habitat that we (I was an Audubon employee at the time) had been working to restore for more than a decade. The work to restore and protect the Platte River is still going on and the importance of the habitat work between Kearney and Grand Island is also critical for the half-million sand hill cranes that use the area from February to May each year. The really good news is that prairie restoration along the Platte has produced great pheasant habitat!

PF: The path to enlightenment is found _____________?

EP: Right behind the flashlight!

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