Colorblind viewfinders in Virginia parks allow guests to experience fall foliage in full color

The beautiful array of changing colors is one of the unmistakable first signs of fall.

“A feast for the eyes,” calls it Virginia state park ranger Ethan Howes, who has dedicated his career to protecting and sharing these iconic views. 

But that seasonal rainbow drawing tourists to parks across the country is something Howes hadn’t actually seen for himself, until recently.  

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“Looking out, it’s just kind of mundane, I guess, kind of bland,” said Howes, when looking at the expansive view of Natural Tunnel State Park, Virginia.

Howes is colorblind, meaning that for him the varied reds, greens and yellows of fall leaves appear all one color.

Roughly 4.5% of the world’s population is color blind, according to EnChroma, a company that manufactures color corrective lenses, impacting 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women.

Virginia State Park.NBC News

Colorblindness can occur in some cases when cones, the nerve cells in eyes that perceive color, are missing or not working properly. 

Howes has the most common type, red-green colorblindness, making it extremely difficult to distinguish between those hues. 

That is, until he discovered the existence of viewfinders with special lenses that allow people like him to experience the full color spectrum. 

“It was really cool to be able to have things more defined,” said Howes. “You don’t realize how many different shades of green there are out there, or how many shades of red.”

Howes quickly worked to get the viewfinders installed at his home base in Natural Tunnel State Park. He said that looking through the viewfinder for the first time was an emotional milestone, not only for himself but his loved ones.

Virginia state park ranger Ethan Howes.NBC News

“When I first told [my mom] that I looked through it, she started crying, and she probably wept for three or four minutes,” said Howes. “I’m tearing up myself just recalling that. I never realized how much it impacted other people that I couldn’t see it, because I don’t really think about it. So that was a really cool experience just getting that reaction from them.”

Howes said he was eager to share this life-changing experience with others, so he helped expand the program, making Virginia the first park system in the nation to have these adapted viewfinders at every location.

Virginia State Parks hosted an unveiling event earlier this year, inviting people who are colorblind to experience the viewfinders firsthand. 

“You don’t see this every day, huh?” said Bryan Wagner, a colorblind Virginia resident looking through the viewfinder for the first time. “Everything’s not the same green, and it’s more vibrant.”

Virginia State Park.NBC News

“Oh wow, it’s a lot of different colors I didn’t even recognize,” said Robert Purinton, who’s also colorblind. “That’s really incredible.”

Howes said that sharing this technology with other colorblind people has been very rewarding.

“I never thought that I would have a large impact the way this has in my career,” he said.

“It was one of the best days of my career,” said Melissa Baker, the director of Virginia State Parks.

“I think theoretically, we knew that the impact was going to be big. We knew that it was going to be important, but when we saw people actually have that experience of seeing something that they’ve never seen before, and especially these things that we value so much, our state parks, it was really meaningful.”

EnChroma is the company behind the technology in these viewfinders. 

Melissa Baker, the director of Virginia State Parks, said it was one of the best days of her career.NBC News

“What we thought is that getting it out there in the parks, into nature, having people try it in the setting that it was designed for would be a much better way to introduce people to the product,” said Tony Dykes, co-founder of Enchroma.

Natural Tunnel State Park also has Enchroma lenses on hand for people to use in their programs, like guided hikes and kayaking, so all parkgoers can witness the beauty.

“Parks belong to people,” said Baker. “Many of us have been able to get out on the trails and see all the colors and do all the things, but it’s important for us to find opportunities for people who haven’t always had that ability to do that.”