Aptitude Outdoors Photography Featured in Wild Sheep Foundation Conservation Impact Study

Aptitude Outdoors was honored to have our photography included in the Conservation Impact Study produced by the Wild Sheep Foundation. The images appeared alongside the writing of Chester Moore, whose words helped bring the depth and impact of the work to life. The assignment sent me to Arizona’s remote Harkuvar Mountains to document construction of the Rinehart-Newlon water catchment.

What I witnessed on the mountain was conservation in its truest form. Volunteers, donors, and partners worked together to create a year-round water source in one of the harshest desert environments in the Southwest. The project, led by the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society and supported through Wild Sheep Foundation grant funding, established a nearly 17,000-gallon guzzler designed to reconnect habitat and help desert bighorn sheep expand across a critical corridor between herds.

The scale of the effort was remarkable. Terrain had to be carved from solid mountain, materials moved across punishing roads, and at times helicopters were required to finish the job. Yet the common thread among everyone involved was simple: find a way to make it happen for wildlife.

Being trusted to document work of this magnitude is not something we take lightly. At Aptitude Outdoors, our mission is to tell real stories of boots-on-the-ground conservation, and this project represents exactly that—private landowners, state professionals, and nonprofit partners uniting behind a shared vision.

We’re grateful to the Wild Sheep Foundation for recognizing the importance of this effort and for including our imagery in a publication that showcases how hunters and conservationists continue to deliver tangible results for wild sheep.

If you have a conservation effort that could benefit from thoughtful visual storytelling, we would welcome the opportunity to work together and help share that impact.