Film fest spotlights work of UI student

One of the short videos included in the University of Idaho’s coming Fish and Wildlife Film Festival features a doctoral student at the school and is centered on a successful river restoration project in Western Washington that could have implications for the Snake River.

The film “Renewal: Think Like A Scientist,” by Jessica Plumb, highlights emerging scientist Cameron Macias of Port Angeles, Wash., a member of the Lower Elwha Tribe. Plumb and her film crew followed Macias and her mentor Kim Sager-Fradkin, wildlife program manager for the tribe, as they worked to document wildlife recolonization of former reservoirs on the Olympic Peninsula’s Elwha River following the removal of two dams there.

The university’s Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences will hold its long-delayed film festival starting next week. Originally planned for the spring, the festival was postponed until fall because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizers had hoped the delay would allow them to screen the films on the UI campus and at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre in downtown Moscow. However, with the pandemic still persisting, the event will be held virtually, in what amounts to giant webinars. Featuring 29 short films, it will be shown in two parts — the first will air from 6-8 p.m. next Friday, and the second will be shown from 6-8 p.m. Nov. 13.

There is no cost for school-children or university students, but organizers are asking adults to donate $7.

“The festival itself is designed to excite and inspire people about wild species, wild places and the scientists who are doing this research,” said Lisette Waits, head of the Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences. “We really hope it inspires students to think about a career focused on fish and wildlife biology and management. We think these films have incredible stories to tell about the efforts people are making to study and conserve different types of wildlife and different types of ecosystems.”

Macias is one of those people. The young woman is pursuing a doctoral degree at the school and working to wrap up a three-year project that will estimate the cougar and bobcat populations on the Olympic Peninsula.

She began her higher education with the goal of becoming a marine biologist but later switched to wildlife and landed an internship with Sager-Fradkin. The two women worked together on a Columbia blacktail deer study and another looking at how a variety of animals were using the areas formerly inundated by the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams. Plumb, who documented the dam removal project in her 2014 film “Return of the River,” revisited the area in 2017 and focused on Macias in particular as part of the “Think Like a Scientist” film series.

“It wasn’t until after I finished making ‘Renewal,’ that I realized it is the first film (in the series) to feature two females and an indiginous voice. I am really thrilled to be able to share those perspectives,” she said. “I love watching how Cameron’s trajectory has continued, how she has gone on to deepen her education and broaden her experience, and her work with Kim has grown into something that is going to be a wonderful career.”

The obsolete dams were removed in 2012 and 2014 to restore not only chinook salmon but the entire Elwha ecosystem. It is the largest dam removal project in the U.S. and, although the two dams are very different from the four lower Snake River dams in eastern Washington, many salmon advocates see parallels. Following dam removal, chinook salmon and steelhead have recolonized the part of the Elwha that was blocked for about 100 years. Many scientists and advocates believe breaching the Snake River dams, an idea rejected by the federal government, would dramatically increase the abundance of salmon and steelhead in Idaho, southweastern Washington and northeastern Oregon.

“I feel like, while every river is different, the Elwah has shown what is possible,” Plumb said.

Macias, who is also working with the big cat conservation organization Panthera, said participating in the film was a great experience.

“It was a lot of fun. We basically just brought them out to our study area and showed them where we worked,” she said. “It was great to be able to share our story.”

The festival, which includes films from all over the world, also features another from the Northwest. “Helping 6 Species Adapt to Climate Change” highlights the restoration of 250 acres on the Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s Boundary-Smith Creek Wildlife Management Area in the Panhandle Region. More information about the festival and the films that will be screened is available at bit.ly/3kOQmhK.

Those interested in the event next Friday can register at bit.ly/35KLF2r. Registration for the Nov. 13 screening is available at bit.ly/3e3eBGF.

Waits said holding the festival virtually has some advantages. Following the films, viewers will be able to vote electronically on their favorites. It also allowed the university to invite its far-flung alumni and fish and wildlife students from universities around the country to tune in.

“Just like everything in this time right now, we are finding silver linings and thinking about new ways to do things,” Waits said. “I’m really excited to be able to share the festival in a virtual format for people anywhere.”

Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.

“The festival itself is designed to excite and inspire people about wild species, wild places and the scientists who are doing this research. We really hope it inspires students to think about a career focused on fish and wild biology and management. We think these films have incredible stories to tell about the efforts people are making to study and conserve different types of wildlife and different types of ecosystems.”

Lisette Waits, head of UI’s Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences