Stronger coast, stronger partners: Ayla Fox
Since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and partners began to rebuild the Atlantic Coast after Hurricane Sandy, it’s been impossible for any one group to stand alone. Agencies partnered to bring relief to stricken areas, communities came together to share and pool resources, and many, many organizations dedicated themselves to repairing the coast — and preparing it for the future.
Over the last six years, using funding for Hurricane Sandy resilience projects, we’ve worked with dozens of partners across the Northeast to fortify the coast against future storms. Their expertise, community relationships, funding, and other support have taken these projects off the page and into the world.
In this miniseries, we recognize a few of those partners.
Ayla Fox, photographer/videographer | Multiple projects
There are always elements of conservation that words and numbers can’t capture — aspects of building a stronger coast that are hard to express. It’s often hard to take science, data, and projects and turn them into something relatable. We try to describe these events and projects in stories, but when words fall flat, we turn to someone like Ayla Fox to capture the moment in images.
“When you look at something and there are no words, it allows your mind to roam free,” said Fox. “Images guide you on an emotional experience.”
Chances are, if you follow conservation, you’ve seen some of Fox’s work. She’s known for her stunning photos and videos of environmental and conservation projects, images full of vibrant color and contrast that paint the picture scientists store in data. Her work has covered a number of Sandy-funded dam removals (including some in the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed), and some marsh restorations as well.
This wasn’t always her path. Fox was interested in wildlife from a young age and thought she might one day study the science of conservation and work directly with animals.
“Growing up I always thought I’d be in the sciences,” she said. “For the longest time I wanted to be a dolphin trainer.”
But it wasn’t to be. Fox expressed admiration for those who can work in the sciences and do the hard data collection and testing it involves. But her eye was drawn to another aspect of conservation.
“I enjoyed the stories coming out of the sciences more than the data crunching,” she said. “My focus is where the two worlds meet.”
It’s a truth that is always present but rarely expressed: that as important as the work of scientists is, it is also crucial to be able to explain that work and why it matters. People are most interested in science they can see and understand — and that’s where Fox and her camera come in.
Through her lens, a wider world of conservation and wildlife is opened to the rest of us, momentarily breaking through the four walls where we spend so much of our time. In her own way, Fox is trying to liven up the science world, and to use her images to promote understanding outside the science community.
“A lot of times the science world pile drives the facts without being entertaining,” she said. “It’s really important, and it’s on us to reach out and explain why conservation is important.”
She’s right: some of the projects she’s photographed — dam removals and the like — are not good-looking job sites. There’s dust and debris, rivers being diverted, and the grinding din of heavy machinery fills the air. It’s not an attractive process. And yet, there’s still beauty in that process, and even more when the project is done and nature and wildlife return in force. Seeing that transformation can explain the whole reason for a project — without writing one word.
“I think seeing is believing,” Fox said. “It’s detail and emotion — people lean in for images.”
This year’s severe storms underscore the power of nature and the vulnerability of our coasts. While nature can destroy, it can also defend. Supported by federal funding for Hurricane Sandy recovery, we’re working with partners to restore and strengthen natural systems that provide not only habitat for wildlife, but also protection against rising seas and storm surge. This miniseries is part of a larger series of stories highlighting results of our ongoing efforts to build a stronger coast.
