The Beczak Environmental Education Center is a Yonkers-based organization which believes that appreciation of our environment is best learned by experiencing it first hand. They teach by getting children and adults into and onto the Hudson River, seine netting for fish and other creatures and getting people into canoes for a paddle. To gain visibility and expand their educational program beyond the center itself, its board decided to publish a booklet about the Palisades, the cliffs directly across the Hudson from their riverfront home. For almost two years on a volunteer basis, I hiked on and paddled under these rock faces, often with the booklet's writer, Jim Capossela, photographing in all seasons and at all hours. The result was a 24-page booklet titled The Palisades - A Surprising Wilderness, covering the geology, history, plants, animals and recreational opportunities of this nearby treasure. The printing was funded with a grant, and the booklet is being sold through the Beczak Center, in the Hudson River Museum, the Palisades Interstate Parks Commission shops and headquarters, and in selected bookstores in the rivertowns of Westchester and New Jersey. Proceeds will fund the second booklet in what is to be an educational series called Presenting the Hudson River.

All images © Toby McAfee Photography