Ed Schell, a resident of Johnson City, is the winner of the 1990 Ansel Adams Award for outstanding conservation photography. Schell's photographs complemented Wilma Dykeman's text in the award-winning book Tennessee in 1979. He is active in the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy, Roan Mountain Naturalists' rallies, the Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association and several hiking clubs. He has photographed the Roan since he
moved to the area in the 1970's.