A very special project that Darrin Gunkel and I spent over a year working on was a celebration video for the 40th anniversary of Cowiche Canyon Conservancy. A non-profit land trust based in Yakima, WA, the conservancy is the result of handful of residents protecting an amazing canyon just west of the city, connecting people with the shrubsteppe ecology through a system of trails and public outreach. The conservancy is lead by the fabulous Celisa Hopkins and the fantastic staff who put blood, sweat and tears into this community jewel, which is also important habitat connecting shrubsteppe with the dry side forests and higher elevation Cascade Mountains that include Mount Rainier. Celisa asked for a poetic take on telling this story and we were happy to oblige. Dave Gross also did an exceptional job by doing his magic in the audio post-production process.
The video had its debut at the conservancy’s Spring auction event. Celisa reported not only many heartfelt comments from people that it touched, but also an uptick in the charitable contributions they received.
Thank you Celisa for giving us the opportunity to work with you on this project!
One of the more inspiring and creative projects in recent times was creating a video about ranching using new virtual fencing technology. That’s right, it’s the same concept as an electric fence for keeping your dog in your yard without a physical fence, but at an industrial and landscape scale. This is a win for everyone: replacing deadly barbed-wire fencing to help wildlife, and reducing cost and labor for rural ranchers who are forward thinking in ways that they steward the land.
This video was commissioned by Conservation Northwest, with a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and created with Darrin Gunkel, Tyler Ung, Jay Kehne and Dave Gross.
I’m grateful to the ranchers and farmers of Douglas County, WA, who always impress me and teach me something new that I’ve never considered. One of the many joys of doing the work I do, meeting people and always learning.
Check it out!
It was such a pleasure to be a guest on the podcast In Tune To Nature, hosted by Carrie Freeman, along with Frances Figart. In Tune to Nature is an eco & animal protection weekly radio show broadcast from Atlanta on Radio Free Georgia Wednesdays from 6:30-7pm EST on wrfg.org and 89.3FM. Carrie led a discussion with Frances and I about using creative ways to support wildlife safe road passages. You can listen to our episode here.
Some positive feedback from The Crossing event in Asheville, NC, this autumn, as shared in the Safe Passages I-40 newsletter. Both Cascade Crossroads and Critter Crossings in the Cascades were publicly screened.
“My favorite aspect of the film was how encouraging it was! The collaboration between multiple stakeholders in finding safe paths for the animals to cross felt so good. Our country has been so divided on many issues, particularly in recent years. Learning about the success of this project and how the governmental and state agencies continued to reach out to the film director for more of his work after the original film was proof that they, too, were inspired!”
— Robin D.
It gives me great pleasure to share with you a new film, created with Darrin Gunkel, called Wild Ways: Why Keeping Washington’s Habitat Connected Matters. Produced by Scott Downes and Elizabeth Torrey of Washington Dept. of Fish & Wildlife and Andrea Wolf-Buck of Conservation Northwest, our mission was to create an introduction to the concept of wildlife connectivity to a general audience. What does that mean? What is wildlife connectivity? See for yourself…
What an amazing night it was in Asheville! The Crossing was a hit, and a sold out event showing my films along with other local films, music and culture. I was proud to represent the home team in testifying about the success of wildlife crossings and the positive impact they have on the ecology on the highways where they are implemented.
And here’s some good news: thanks to the efforts of the Safe Passages Fund Coalition, the North Carolina legislature has allocated $2 million toward construction of wildlife crossings in the Great Smoky Mountains! Read more here.
Very grateful for the hospitality from Frances Figart, Jeff Hunter, Ben Prater, and Elly Wells.
Photos courtesy Debbie Russell and Elly Wells, Inc
Frances Figart, the Creative Servies Director for the Great Smoky Mountains Association, interviewed me in advance of The Crossing event for the Asheville Citizen Times. You can read the interview here.
When asked where he thinks the U.S. is headed in the future in terms of road ecology, he smiles. “People love animals, people love wildlife, and people love good news about people doing good things. It’s a counterpoint to all the bad news we are bombarded with about how people are doing things detrimental to our natural world,” he says. “The success of it all is quantifiable and undeniable. I hope it leads to a greater awareness of the natural world around us and our effect on it, and I hope it leads to accommodating wildlife becoming part of the vocabulary of all infrastructure in the United States.”
It will be such a treat to go back to the Great Smoky Mountains, where I haven’t been since I was a kid!
Thank you Frances!
As with everyone else watching the horrors unfold in Ukraine, I have been appalled by the sheer brutality, destruction and evil of an unjustified war. Working with Cilista Eberle and Michael Murphy of Michael Murphy Productions, I was humbled to have the opportunity to contribute to an effort to help the Ukrainian people, Call 4 Freedom. We worked together to create a music video that has versions sung in English, Ukrainian, Georgian, Spanish, Russian and Portuguese. I invite you to browse the website and contribute to this effort.
