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Their home has the jumbled look of a naturalist's study and artist's studio, with a treasure trove of images and artifacts packed into every corner.
Dale Paulson, 64, and his wife, Elva Hamerstrom Paulson, 60, have turned a love for wildlife into a post-retirement career that has attracted the interest of Oregon State University Press.
Dale is a retired U.S. Forest Service soils scientist who said he and Elva, an accomplished artist, arrived in Roseburg in 1979 and never wanted to move again. They liked the location and loved the natural surroundings and wealth of public lands. It also seemed like a great place to raise their now-34-year-old twin daughters Lita Judge of Temple, N.H., and Rebecca Bengtson of Seattle.
Today they have two grandchildren they love seeing, but it's a passion for watching wildlife and keeping track of their observations that sets them apart as something more than doting grandparents. They document the habits and habitat of everything from grizzly bears to waterfowl with help from high-power scopes, camera lenses and Elva's artistic eye.
"I think it was a love for nature that brought us together," Dale said. "I also had an interest in art at the time, but I didn't know she could draw or paint when we got married. Now I like the art aspect of photography."
They've been jotting notes, snapping photos and making sketches throughout their marriage. They put together their creative team in 1964 when they were "fresh out of college."
"There is a good chemistry going on with us," said Elva. "Dale loves to spend hours and hours photographing wildlife and I love to spend hours drawing it. We are both fascinated by their behavior. We've been doing this for a long time."
They recently returned to Roseburg with fresh inspiration after a February expedition to Yellowstone National Park. There they have documented the behavior of wolves, bears, bison, birds and other wildlife. They are also eager to talk about the illustrations they've created for a new publication, "Birds of Oregon: A General Reference."
The 704-page book by Oregon State University Press will include 100 pen-and-ink illustrations drawn by Elva Hamerstrom Paulson. Her work, she said, is based on hundreds of photographs the couple have taken and personal observations made in the field. The book, due to be released in May, will cost $65 and is touted by the publisher as a much-needed update. The last authoritative Oregon bird book was published in 1940.
The updated guide will include 485 species now known to occur in Oregon -- 150 more than in the 1940 publication. It represents the combined work of nearly 700 volunteers and contains 200 range maps.
On visits to Yellowstone National Park, Dale said, they have sometimes hobnobbed with accomplished wildlife and nature photographers such as Bob Landis, an Emmy Award-winning cinematographer. Landis has produced films for National Geographic and Nature.
Dale talked about one entertaining experience with a videographer in Yellowstone, near the banks of the Gibbon River.
While they were talking, an osprey plunged from the sky to take a large fish. Before the videographer could set up his camera, the osprey flew away with its fish without giving the professional a chance to immortalize the moment. Elva, meanwhile, had already completed an accurate and fairly detailed sketch of bird and prey in a few short minutes.
"He looked at Elva and said, 'Gee, I wish I could do that,'" Dale said, laughing. "She's done this a few times -- captured the image I couldn't get with a camera. A lot of the journal work she's done includes these rapid sketches that quickly get the essence of the animal's position."
Elva joked that even when high technology fails to keep up with her speed, it's nice to have her photographer husband on hand.
"He's a good art critic," she said. "He's helped keep me on the straight and narrow."
She gives credit for much of her interest in wildlife and her talent to parents, Frederick and Frances Hamerstrom.
"They were credited with saving the prairie chicken in Wisconsin through the management plan they developed," she said. "My mother was also an artistic woman and gifted writer."
Elva has painted wildlife and created a series of paintings featuring Indian themes and arrowheads for gallery exhibition and ran a home business making and selling note cards and bookmarks from 1980 until 1999.
She won a coveted space in 1979, 1980 and 1981 for her work in the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum's International Bird Art Show, held in Wasau, Wis. She also tied for sixth place in the Federal Duck Stamp Contest in 1985. Winning art at the competition is featured on waterfowl hunting stamps printed by the U.S. government.
"If I had won, it would have been worth a million dollars in print sales," she said. "Even so, that was a pretty big feather in my cap."
"Birds of Oregon" isn't the first book she has helped illustrate. Her art has been incorporated into volumes of poetry and a humorous "Wild Game Cookbook," filled with fantastic stories and strange recipes such as larded breast of crow and broiled porcupine.
As members of the Umpqua Valley Audubon Society, the Paulsons enjoy sharing their work and insights at group meetings and public speaking engagements. The couple also provide illustrations and photographs used by Wildlife Safari in Winston to promote wildlife education for schoolchildren and park visitors.
They hope their work of a lifetime -- getting to know the intimate details of life in the wild -- will help people learn to love and treasure the natural world.
Dale read a passage written by Chief Dan George, a Canadian author and Academy Award nominee for best supporting actor in the 1970 movie "Little Big Man," starring Dustin Hoffman. He said the passage explained why teaching and learning about the natural world is so important.
"If you talk to the animals they will talk with you and you will know each other," he read. "If you do not talk to them you will not know them, and what you do not know you will fear. What one fears one destroys."
* You can reach reporter Jeff Willis at 957-4218 or by e-mail at jwillis@newsreview.info.
Dale Paulson, 64, and his wife, Elva Hamerstrom Paulson, 60, have turned a love for wildlife into a post-retirement career that has attracted the interest of Oregon State University Press.
Dale is a retired U.S. Forest Service soils scientist who said he and Elva, an accomplished artist, arrived in Roseburg in 1979 and never wanted to move again. They liked the location and loved the natural surroundings and wealth of public lands. It also seemed like a great place to raise their now-34-year-old twin daughters Lita Judge of Temple, N.H., and Rebecca Bengtson of Seattle.
Today they have two grandchildren they love seeing, but it's a passion for watching wildlife and keeping track of their observations that sets them apart as something more than doting grandparents. They document the habits and habitat of everything from grizzly bears to waterfowl with help from high-power scopes, camera lenses and Elva's artistic eye.
"I think it was a love for nature that brought us together," Dale said. "I also had an interest in art at the time, but I didn't know she could draw or paint when we got married. Now I like the art aspect of photography."
They've been jotting notes, snapping photos and making sketches throughout their marriage. They put together their creative team in 1964 when they were "fresh out of college."
"There is a good chemistry going on with us," said Elva. "Dale loves to spend hours and hours photographing wildlife and I love to spend hours drawing it. We are both fascinated by their behavior. We've been doing this for a long time."
They recently returned to Roseburg with fresh inspiration after a February expedition to Yellowstone National Park. There they have documented the behavior of wolves, bears, bison, birds and other wildlife. They are also eager to talk about the illustrations they've created for a new publication, "Birds of Oregon: A General Reference."
The 704-page book by Oregon State University Press will include 100 pen-and-ink illustrations drawn by Elva Hamerstrom Paulson. Her work, she said, is based on hundreds of photographs the couple have taken and personal observations made in the field. The book, due to be released in May, will cost $65 and is touted by the publisher as a much-needed update. The last authoritative Oregon bird book was published in 1940.
The updated guide will include 485 species now known to occur in Oregon -- 150 more than in the 1940 publication. It represents the combined work of nearly 700 volunteers and contains 200 range maps.
On visits to Yellowstone National Park, Dale said, they have sometimes hobnobbed with accomplished wildlife and nature photographers such as Bob Landis, an Emmy Award-winning cinematographer. Landis has produced films for National Geographic and Nature.
Dale talked about one entertaining experience with a videographer in Yellowstone, near the banks of the Gibbon River.
While they were talking, an osprey plunged from the sky to take a large fish. Before the videographer could set up his camera, the osprey flew away with its fish without giving the professional a chance to immortalize the moment. Elva, meanwhile, had already completed an accurate and fairly detailed sketch of bird and prey in a few short minutes.
"He looked at Elva and said, 'Gee, I wish I could do that,'" Dale said, laughing. "She's done this a few times -- captured the image I couldn't get with a camera. A lot of the journal work she's done includes these rapid sketches that quickly get the essence of the animal's position."
Elva joked that even when high technology fails to keep up with her speed, it's nice to have her photographer husband on hand.
"He's a good art critic," she said. "He's helped keep me on the straight and narrow."
She gives credit for much of her interest in wildlife and her talent to parents, Frederick and Frances Hamerstrom.
"They were credited with saving the prairie chicken in Wisconsin through the management plan they developed," she said. "My mother was also an artistic woman and gifted writer."
Elva has painted wildlife and created a series of paintings featuring Indian themes and arrowheads for gallery exhibition and ran a home business making and selling note cards and bookmarks from 1980 until 1999.
She won a coveted space in 1979, 1980 and 1981 for her work in the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum's International Bird Art Show, held in Wasau, Wis. She also tied for sixth place in the Federal Duck Stamp Contest in 1985. Winning art at the competition is featured on waterfowl hunting stamps printed by the U.S. government.
"If I had won, it would have been worth a million dollars in print sales," she said. "Even so, that was a pretty big feather in my cap."
"Birds of Oregon" isn't the first book she has helped illustrate. Her art has been incorporated into volumes of poetry and a humorous "Wild Game Cookbook," filled with fantastic stories and strange recipes such as larded breast of crow and broiled porcupine.
As members of the Umpqua Valley Audubon Society, the Paulsons enjoy sharing their work and insights at group meetings and public speaking engagements. The couple also provide illustrations and photographs used by Wildlife Safari in Winston to promote wildlife education for schoolchildren and park visitors.
They hope their work of a lifetime -- getting to know the intimate details of life in the wild -- will help people learn to love and treasure the natural world.
Dale read a passage written by Chief Dan George, a Canadian author and Academy Award nominee for best supporting actor in the 1970 movie "Little Big Man," starring Dustin Hoffman. He said the passage explained why teaching and learning about the natural world is so important.
"If you talk to the animals they will talk with you and you will know each other," he read. "If you do not talk to them you will not know them, and what you do not know you will fear. What one fears one destroys."
* You can reach reporter Jeff Willis at 957-4218 or by e-mail at jwillis@newsreview.info.
