BY KAREN BOSSICK
In 1960 Wallace Stegner wrote a “Letter to Congress,” advocating for the preservation of the wilderness that then remained.
“Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed,” he said.
Last year Christopher Newman took that short, lyrical poem and set it to a 3-minute film showcasing man’s place in the wilderness.
It will be one of several films that will be shown during the Wild and Scenic Film Festival tonight.
Idaho Rivers United and the Bureau of Land Management will present the Wild and Scenic Film Festival from 6 to 9 p.m. tonight--Thursday, Oct. 25--at the Limelight Hotel.
The films will explore such issues as energy, biodiversity, climate change and efforts to protect rivers and wild and scenic areas. There also will be raffles and guest speakers.
Among the films is “Shred for the South Fork,” which looks at the highly technical South Fork of the Salmon near Yellow Pine, Idaho. It’s considered a gem in the whitewater culture of Idaho.
Other films are:
- “Protected: A Wild and Scenic River Portrait,” which follows author and paddler Tim Palmer through the Oregon’s Wild Rivers Coast, which has the highest concentration of National Wild & Scenic Rivers in the United States.
- “Every Bend,” which offers a glimpse into the lives of three Montanans who have been enriched by their free-flowing local rivers.
- “Return from Desolation,” a short film about a war-veteran-turned-river guide who fights for redemption in Utah’s Desolation Canyon.
- “Wild Olympics,” focuses on the campaign to protect the ancient forests and wild rivers of the Olympic Peninsula.
- “Avanyu,” which highlights what New Mexico’s wild and scenic Rio Grande means to one Tesque Pueblo family.
- “The Shape of a River,” which looks at the mighty Yellowstone River.
- “The Super Salmon,” which follows a salmon on an unlikely journey on Alaska’s threatened Susitna River, which has been dubbed “the Mount Everest of rivers.”
- “The Wild President,” which portrays Jimmy Carter as an unsung environmental hero who first understood the power of a wild river when he paddled the Chattooga River’s Bull Sluice.
Tickets are $15, with discounts for Idaho Rivers United members. Visit www.idahorivers.org for more information.