One book. Ten chapters. One hundred and seventy photographs. Carpinteria-based journalist Chuck Graham had oodles of his own photos—taken at Channel Islands National Park over the span of multiple years—to choose from while developing his latest opus.
“It’s arguably the toughest decision,” Graham said about “whittling down” the photos included in his new book, Paddling into a Natural Balance: Stories of Kayaking & Conservation Around Channel Islands National Park.
“I hope folks understand that to create a book like this, I had to put myself in uncomfortable situations to get photos of conservation success stories,” said Graham, who plans to recount some of his most “harrowing kayaking stories” during rough sea conditions to the attendees of his lecture on Jan. 26 at the California Nature Art Museum (formerly the Wildling Museum) in Solvang.
Graham’s new book will also be available for sale during the event, and he’ll be signing copies on-site. Later in the spring, Graham has additional book signing engagements lined up around the Central Coast.
While available to order online, his new book is also currently in supply at The Book Loft in Solvang, Coalesce Bookstore in Morro Bay, Volumes of Pleasure Bookshoppe in Los Osos, and other local spots.
Paddling into a Natural Balance marks Graham’s third book, as the author also wrote Carrizo Plain: Where the Mountains Meet the Grasslands and shares a byline with John McKinney on Hike the Channel Islands.
“As a freelance writer and photographer, I’ve always searched for stories that no one else was really going after,” Graham said about what brought him to focus his latest book on conservation projects at Channel Islands National Park, told through the lens of someone who’s kayaked the area for decades.
“[I] realized that kayaking was the best way to immerse yourself in that national park. There’s so many places you can’t get to on foot or even in a boat,” Graham said. “I first paddled to the islands from the mainland in 1999.”
Graham was familiar with the park before his initial kayaking trip there, as he’d first visited the islands in 1987.
Aside from his writing and photography work—published in National Geographic,
BBC Wildlife magazine, and other publications over the years—Graham’s career milestones include his 30-year stint as a beach lifeguard in Carpinteria and his ongoing role leading kayak tours around the Channel Islands.
One of Graham’s favorite things about exploring the area on a frequent basis is observing the wildlife.
“If you know me, you know I spend a lot of time with island foxes. And with six different species of pinnipeds, it’s never boring out there,” said Graham, whose new book highlights conservation efforts involving several kinds of animals that inhabit the islands, including bald eagles.
“The bald eagle chapter is arguably the most important because that raptor is the keystone species of the islands,” Graham said. “They were missing from the chain from 1952-2002, so it was vital to reestablish their presence on all the islands.”
There’s one bald eagle in particular, known as A-03, that helped spark Graham’s epiphany to develop Paddling into a Natural Balance.
Graham explained that during the pandemic, more bald eagles than usual made the islands their home “when no one was around” with few people visiting the park. Some of those eagles left by early 2021, but not A-03.
“Now that visitors were returning, I thought [A-03] would move on, but [A-03] stayed,” Graham said. “When I started getting images that I liked of him from the cliffs and my kayak, it felt like a good sign that I finally had everything visually for this book of kayaking and conservation.”
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood awaits the arrival of the Easter Eagle. Send punny Peanuts references to cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 25 – Feb 4, 2024.
