VISION

“Our vision is creating distributed infrastructures of well being, knowledge, people, communities, tools, expert accountability, and compliance for in-situ waste stream cleanup. We work at the intersection of biology and technology. We build bio-technical cleanup and monitoring solutions.

We contribute to the restoration of healthy communities and marine ecosystems.”



 
The Personal is the Planet

Robert Lundahl Producer Statement:

For several weeks, I have been conducting interviews with other filmmakers, scientists, and experts familiar with Climate Change. I have also been attending online ZOOM meetings with members from an organization called the Greenbelt Society-made up of “a diverse group of professionals, faculty, alumni and students affiliated with the Department of Geography and Environmental Science at Hunter College in New York City.”



Robert Lundahl | Emmy Award winning Filmmaker, Journalist, Writer — Technology, Culture, Environment

It’s probably more true than not that from a certain perspective, creating a Re-Brand, and/or launching campaigns requires an inordinate amount of time on the “front end”, from research to launch.

It’s the rare corporation, agency, or non-profit that can think, and act, and run, on its feet, in real time, and why systems-building and automated marketing get attention.

It does not, in and of itself, spark creative imagination.

We approached this project on several levels.

The clients are multiple countries, on several continents. The ROI is not conventionally limited. The campaign relies on expertise in various disciplines from scientific to policy and social imperatives.

Taking advantage of new technologies in drag and drop HTML 5 sitebuilders like Squarespace, we used simple tools to tell a story. The story is Pure Water, Clean Soil, and Safe Shelter, 3 basic human needs.

In order to be seen and vetted internationally, our team re-visited technology underpinnings and re-framed the company’s capabilities as *IoW Internet of Water.

Having re-created the company mission statement, communicated a new vision–of a series of networked devices and services on common, cloud provisioned, and field deployed TCP-IP networks, the market itself had been re-defined.

It was a customer requirement that the mission statement be visual, to be instantly “readable” no matter the language.

The three part structure tells about the basic relationships. The top level message defines IoW.

The mid level message defines technical structure and how it works.

The third level message defines key products and locations for implementation.

Since the client is in the Middle East, another message would be presented; It would be the message for people. It would be specifically developed for PowerPoint (pitch) and would apply equally to multiple countries and problems.

That message is the value proposition. Why separate when we can integrate?

“Working Together We Will Build a Better World for Future Generations.”

This four part message may be dispersed across media.

Let the big picture speak for itself, keep the message consistent, and support that message with cognitive and emotional visual media.


When I was a boy, growing up in Pasadena, California, we played and rode horses on lands and trails along the Arroyo Seco, translated as “Dry Stream,” roughly the location of the Rose Bowl. The Arroyo Seco was not always dry, floods roared out of the San Gabriel Mountains, down and beyond what is now Devils Gate Dam.

The Xaxaamonga, in their native language, are a band of the Tongva people of California. Their language belongs to the Uto-Aztecan family. Xaxaamonga was the name of the Chief, the tribe and the location, where the Rose Bowl now stands.

According to Wikipedia, “above Devil’s Gate, the rapids of the Arroyo Seco are positioned so that the falls make a beating, laughing sound. In Tongva traditional narratives, this is attributed to a wager made between the river and the coyote spirit.”

As Penn State and USC meet to play in the 2017 Rose Bowl, it is not forgotten by this writer upon what foundation the pageantry rests.

aaeaaqaaaaaaaal-aaaajdiwntrimza4lwi0yjqtndnlny04njuzltk2njewywnmndizoq
Tongva/Chumash Pictographs, Burro Flats

In 1769 the Sacred Expedition led by Fr. Junipero Serra began the process of establishing the mission system and initiating the Spanish colonization of Alta California. San Gabriel Archangel, the fourth mission of the twenty-one, was established in 1771.

In 1778, the mass conversions of the Indians began. As was to be the case in the rest of California under the mission system, contagious diseases of European origin took an enormous toll on the Tongva. Mission conditions were harsh, tedious, confining, unsanitary, confusing, and culturally alien. Population decline was rapid. Though this period of history is often characterized as romantic, it was an unmitigated disaster for California’s Native People.

When the Spanish era ended in the early 1820s, Mexico secularized the missions. And for the Tongva/Gabrieleño, this resulted in a massacre at Las Flores Canyon near the Rose Bowl itself, just at the top of Lake Street, a posh shopping district.

According to the eyewitness account of a Californian named Philippe Lugo, Mexican forces destroyed “the greater part of them.”

I was born in Pasadena on the 21st of December, a sacred day for the Tongva.

Anthropologist Al Knight has described the importance of the winter solstice to the local Chumash and related tribes as follows: “The entire local Native American Indian religious ritual cycle is centered on the moment of winter solstice. It’s like rolling together our Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s celebration in one event.

levitra 10 mg precio en farmacia, precio levitra 10 mg 4 comprimidos, comprar levitra generico, levitra generico opiniones, levitra lo cubre la seguridad social,

aaeaaqaaaaaaaajraaaajdy0mtmyztdlltc3otqtngi2zi1hzty5ltazmzg1otu5nmqymg
Condor Image, Burro Flats Pictograph

Perhaps the most detailed description of condor ceremony in southern California comes from the Panes (or bird) festival of the Luiseño. It was described by Friar Boscana of Mission San Juan Capistrano and by Friar Peyri of Mission San Luis Rey in the early 19th century.

Similar ceremonies were held by the Gabrieliño, Cahuilla, Kumeyaay and Cupeño (Kroeber 1907; 2002).” (http://www.tongvapeople.com/villages.html)

We lived in San Marino in what had been an ex-urban area called Chapman Woods, with a little creek, near the Tongva villages of Akuuranga and Alyeupkigna. For the most part, this is hidden history. California elementary curriculum mandates the teaching of Native history, but that history for me was sanitized, romanticized and for the most part irrelevant and inaccurate, context – free. The history of the Arroyo Seco, but a mile or two from my home was not mentioned.

“Who Are My People?,” (2014) (http://whoaremypeople.com) led me on a journey from my youth. Beginning as a rather innoculous “trip down memory lane” – from the Pasadena of my childhood – the film reaches a pitched catharsis in the desert.

Here, modern day Indigenous elders fight international corporations to preserve and protect a small part of what’s left.

In Southern California, complex, successful, and sustainable ways of life were long existing before the arrival of of the Spanish, Mexican, and American armies.

aaeaaqaaaaaaaalgaaaajddkmme5ntu2lwi4nzgtndg4ms1izguwlwixnzbmmdq2nme3nwWe have been lied to, the actual history covered up for small town boosterism (Rose Parade), and sports events, which had in the recent past, featured Indian mascots. Genocide is a word the 103, 000 fans won’t hear at halftime.

We should be outraged, but in reflection, should take the time now, knowing the event sequence outlined above, to self-educate further on the the life-ways and practices of the people brutally annihilated, and to engage in truth and reconciliation from a contemporary perspective, to honor and respect these native lands, and current–day descendants.


The problem is when people say “fight the good fight” what that means usually is you’re going to lose. The good fight is a heart warming loss that externalizes the responsibility. Aleppo is not that. False promises, lack of heart and values doomed her and her people. I wasn’t put here for that – neither were you.

While the “left” and “right” chatter and look for boogey men under the bed – instead of looking into themselves and confronting their own inconsistencies of heart and mind, Aleppo fell, and Standing Rock rose in prayer and ceremony.

In my own experience, fighting to stop energy development in the California deserts, development that would destroy environment, habitat, and native culture to enrich the few, three projects or more were throttled, unsettling energy markets and companies from Berlin and Madrid, to Washington, Tel Aviv, and Bejing, with a siren call for environmental justice and cultural and environmental protection in the age of climate change.

Earlier, in the campaign to restore the Elwha River ecosystem and remove salmon killing dams, I witnessed a spectacular victory and participated in it. The victories I am talking about came on battle lines defined by two elder Native women, leading the “charge” with “Do the best you can.” No philosophizing, predicting the future, or half hearted actions.

In California, the victors are the biblical “meek,” the activist, the Chief, the deaf elder, the shaman, the woman/wife, the beloved daughter abused in school, the hairdresser. These are your warriors/winners, these are your victors, your undefeated, your protectors of soul and democracy – 5 for 5, while energy companies went 1 for 4.

Now we need to teach not talk, unite not divide.


I visited Standing Rock in September of this year, paying a visit while front line Water Protectors challenged construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. They in turn became targets of TigerSwan, a paramilitary, mercenary security organization, spun off from the infamous Blackwater, deployed by Kelcey Warren’s Energy Transfer Partners.

My visit, more benign, consisted of checking in with the camps, purchasing drinks and juices for the Elders, Bison meat and Elk, a kitchen request for meat thus answered, Prayer Cloths and Tobacco in Bismarck.

Several memories and thoughts flood my senses as a result of the last three months.

Threats to Democracy

This is a fight about who controls the very destiny of our democracy, is it going to be big money, big extraction, or is it going to be “We the People?”
We can’t take it anymore. There’s a breaking point. If we’re not out here, willing to sacrifice to whatever level you’re willing to sacrifice, whether that’s jail or death, we’re willing to put it on the line because our children won’t have a homeland, if we fail.
-Chase Iron Eyes, Candidate for Congress, North Dakota

The Urgency of Protecting the Water

Earlier this month, a local landowner discovered an oil pipeline leaked into Ash Coulee creek. There’s no way to ascertain how long the pipeline had been spewing crude oil, as the monitoring system was unable to detect any issues.

Less than 200 miles away, Native Americans, activists, and veterans stand together to oppose a second project known as the North Dakota Access pipeline. Aside from the sovereign land dispute, many are concerned about the pipeline leaking into Lake Oahe, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s primary source of clean water. The lake flows into the Missouri river and is the primary drinking source for over 17 million.
-Charlie May, Salon

The End of the Indian Nations?

Native American reservations cover just 2 percent of the United States, but they may contain about a fifth of the nation’s oil and gas, along with vast coal reserves.
Now, a group of advisors to President-elect Donald Trump on Native American issues wants to free those resources from what they call a suffocating federal bureaucracy that holds title to 56 million acres of tribal lands, two chairmen of the coalition told Reuters in exclusive interviews.

The group proposes to put those lands into private ownership – a politically explosive idea that could upend more than century of policy designed to preserve Indian tribes on U.S.-owned reservations, which are governed by tribal leaders as sovereign nations.

Unbreakable Resolve

aaeaaqaaaaaaaafjaaaajdfjmjawnmzmlwvknjytngu0zi1hmjbjlti1ywywmmu2mte3na

An image of unbreakable resolve speaks to me as I sit, warm, inside my home in California.

Germaine Tremmel, direct descendent of Sitting Bull and Founder of the Moccasin Telegraph Project, http://moccasintelegraph.world, visited the Front Lines at Standing Rock — in a blizzard — one day following the Army Corps of Engineers decision not to issue a permit for construction of the Dakota Access pipeline.

-Robert Lundahl, Journalist, Filmmaker

Gerie and Pat Brock teach the traditional ways of governance of the Lakota and Oceti Sakowin people, in support of the treaties signed by her ancestors, and the indigenous democratic traditions that influenced another, much younger nation, the United States of America. Your support for the Moccasin Telegraph Project is important for building bridges to a better and more equitable future.

Germaine Tremmel is an International Attorney and Lakota Chief.

///////////////////////////////


Project Calls a Halt to Mis-Representation of Indigenous Peoples, Continued Indoctrination, and Brutalization

“We’re going to tell our own stories” says Lakota Elder Germaine Tremmel

It has been two months only since the Dakota Access Pipeline project ripped through the prairie at Standing Rock, desecrating sacred cultural markers and resources alongside traditional burials.

In the time since, we have witnessed a militarized police response, arrests of journalists, clergy, and Native elders in prayer.

We have seen mace, and dogs, blood dripping from their mouths, tear gas and tasers, shotguns with bean bag ammo, rubber bullets and snipers presumably locked and loaded with the real thing, targeting peaceful protectors of the water on traditional lands, never ceded to the United States.

We have seen protectors tossed in dog kennels, strip-searched and humiliated.

These are the tactics of war, against a people whose ancestors were decimated by war and disease at the hands of the United States once already.

It’s time to stop.

As a filmmaker I was asked to help out with media, and in particular because I had helped craft, litigate, and document a series of lawsuits targeting government agencies and energy companies, over similar projects in the California deserts.

Laws Have Been Broken

Though agencies are required to consult with tribes concerning projects like Dakota Access, the facts on the ground in California and North Dakota provide evidence to the contrary.

It has become clear to this observer that the continued brutalization of people, and abrogation of legal responsibility by authorities in North Dakota, underscore the mis-representation of Native peoples in the media and in the popular imagination, one that perpetuates 18th and 19th century stereotypes, stereotypes that resulted in genocide.

# # #


xYoung Protectors of the WaterPHOTO CREDIT: Young Protectors of the Water, John Clark-Dvorak

Video Interview Clip with LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, Founder Sacred Stone Camp.

8/24/16

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sacred Stone Camp,
Cannonball, North Dakota

By Robert Lundahl

BREAKING: Reports Indicate Power/Services Cut off to Camp 6:11 P.M. PST AUG 23. North Dakota State Services Involved, According to Sources.

“We’ve always ‘Occupied the Prarie’ and We’re Not Going Anywhere,” -LaDonna Allard

In Occupying the Prairie: Tensions Rise as Tribes Move to Block a Pipeline by Jack Healy, New York Times, Aug. 23, 2016 we see and hear about Indians in paint on horseback, in “procession” out of their “tepee-dotted camp.”

What Jack Healy misses in this romanticized account is journalism. His is the version Wall Street wants to hear, cowboys (Energy Transfer Partners) vs. Indians in face paint — a classic “Western.”

While the almost 500 Nations of indigenous peoples (over 90 are represented in the Sacred Stone Camp) are proud of their heritage, it’s important to focus on today and why we are here, on this land, the homeland of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, a Sovereign Nation.

In fact, what we call the United States is really comprised of many Nations, it is a “united” Nations, of relationships formed by diplomacy and history.

The Great Oceti Sakowin Nation predates the United States, so as the newly minted USA acquired more territory, agreements were sought with the existing nations of the Plains and elsewhere. One such Treaty, the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851), matters now.




According to Hollywood, every story needs a conflict. And calling this a “conflict” plays into the hands and the wallets of those who would like to profit from the energy game at other people’s expense.

Healy does a disservice to both the Native Nations, and to the investors and companies in the energy field, who rely on solid practices to turn a profit. Good practices seem hard to come by in North Dakota right now.

Sacred Stone Camp was begun by youth and supported by women, as a prayer for the Missouri River and it’s tributaries, flowing into the Mississippi in the greatest river system within the continental boundaries of the United States.

With over 200 river crossings, the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline puts the drinking water of a large part of the country at risk. The prayer is to keep the waters pure for all tribal peoples and all Americans.

The Oceti Sakowin pray for the waters used by farmers in Iowa and Illinois, the water consumed by schoolchildren in South Dakota, Missouri, Tennessee, and Arkansas.

They pray for the millions of Americans who get their drinking water from this system.

The thousands gathered on the lands of the Oceti Sakowin are not protesters, but protectors; they are protecting our children, our elders and ancestors, the creatures, and the land and habitat they depend on.

We would have preferred the Army Corps had done their job, protecting federally administered lands, unceded Indian lands, and Tribal lands, relying on science and judgement rather than construction and destruction.

The state didn’t do its job, overstepping jurisdictions and boundaries placing police barricades inside a Sovereign Nation’s borders, disrespecting treaties, conducting an illegal “occupation” in direct counterveillance to most all the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The Governor of North Dakota didn’t do his job, when instead of ensuring all parties get to the table on energy and environment, he let negative words and accusations cloud judgement.

Thousands of people from across North America and around the world have arrived on the Cannonball River to stand for the health of our environment and our cultures.

Don’t let the environment be “savaged” by speculators, carpetbagging Texas energy companies and lone wolf billionaires.

Don’t let them take our public and our Native lands, and the resources they hold, the water we drink and depend on, in a changing world and climate.

###



Theater_on_the_Rezx

From Yankton, Sioux Elder, Pat Brock:

“More than 7 years ago, I was appointed by Chief Oliver Red Cloud of the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council, to continue my dad’s treaty work. A few months ago, I was appointed to the Elders Advisory Council for the Tribal Historical Preservation Office (THPO). This appointment has given me opportunity to go to, so far, the Black Hills Management Plan meeting and the Oceti Sakowin Power Project meeting, to witness, from our traditional form of governance view, and bring back and present to the People the information shared by the participants, including hand-outs. My appointment to continue my dad’s treaty work is now being visualized.

phenq ingredients, phenq side effects, phenq reviews 2019, phenq coupon codes, does phenq work, phenq pills, where can i buy phenq, phen375 vs phenq, is phenq safe, phenq buy, amazon phenq, phenq coupon code, phenq real reviews, https://www.sportzfuel.com/

Because I was sent to the Oceti Sakowin Power Project, the screening of WHO ARE MY PEOPLE? is part of my report to our People. It is open to the public and FREE, FREE, FREE! According to our traditional form of governance, there will also be a Feed and discussion of the film how the FAST TRACK power project will affect our Inherent right to be Ihanktunwan Oyate from this day forward. Also the filmmaker will be available on SKYPE for the discussion of this documentary.”


WHO_ARE_MY_PEOPLE_POSTER_2
 


wine bottles

Article and Photos by Robert Lundahl
 
 
There are many organizations that have created sustainability programs, and one common characteristic the early adopters share is a focus on “key indicators,” from water consumption, to energy use, and so on, down the line. While these “first generation” programs have successfully measured environmental progress on the ground, the sustainability department is often an accounting or risk management department in disguise.

As customers search for meaning in their lives, and that search supports “green” consumer choices, the bridge between the two, what a brand stands for, and it’s footprint on the planet, is still the road less traveled.

Sure, Ben and Jerry and others have made their cause their brand. But “You are what you eat,” as the old saying goes, as a business strategy, as a brand strategy, is ignored at a company’s peril in 2015.
 
 
vines
 
 
This is an era where business values, measured as sustainability indicators, need to be communicated smartly, and well — simply put, because that’s what people care about.

The school age child who learns about disappearing lions, tigers, leopards, rhinos, coral reefs, orcas, birds, salmon, polar bears, and other species, water shortages, pollution, and rising global temperatures, may well become the owner of a computer, a car, may live in a city, dine out, purchase clothes, food, and home consumer goods, very shortly. And in that lapse of just a few years, the character and quality of life on Earth and the quality of our lives will change, on average, how should we say, not for the better. Nor for the easier.

The better educated that school child becomes, the more affluence they have access to, the more they will comprehend the world in which they live.

Now hospitality businesses like wineries, resorts, and restaurants will sometimes have a sustainability web page, or a video, perhaps not. But the name of the game in a universe of “all-in” social media, is customer engagement.

The sustainability department is now the company. Sustainability is the Branding of the 21st Century.

That’s easy to see, but the “fail” for most, comes with implementation. How do we tell the story? Is it a conversation that lives and breathes, because of its relevancy and interest? Is the story told across multiple platforms in a seamless manner, taking advantage of axioms like reach and frequency that advertising depends on? What about positioning, messaging, and targeting — how do we stack up against the competition and why, how do we frame or tell the story, and who specifically are we having a conversation with?
 
 
barrells
 
 
The tenets of traditional marketing, when applied to digital communications, cut through the clutter and claims, creating a simple and understandable approach that guides effective campaigns. But this new landscape, where we talk about people and our relationship to nature and natural systems, how we fit in, and how we work together — beautifully and cleverly — to extend the resources we have, seems new at first.

Techy, specific, a mix of science and art, technology and big ideas, design, health, habitat, agriculture, water and food/beverage, countless brands have taken their first steps, but we can do much better.

Words are important. When we discuss trees, do we conserve or save? What is an ecosystem? How do we learn as we enjoy? Most importantly how do we make 21st Century Branding work like nature itself, like an ecosystem of ideas and experiences.

It is as true in branding as it is in engineering. Objects are de-materializing. More software, less hardware. We make less things. We create more connections, conversations, tele-presence, and vision.
 
 
pumps
 

In a time of California’s perhaps unprecedented drought, and the radical transparency of the on-line space, negative stereotypes are seen for what they are.

Wine producers using dry farming techniques, and rainwater harvesting and cachement, stand tall amid uncertainty; they rise above the pre-existing conversations in the market and in the media, “Who gets the water and at what price?” And isn’t that, as one example, something to talk about? Positioning against market forces to differentiate the brand is a “natural.”

Sustainability, meet integrated communications.

###


Watch Harvest Dreams on Vimeo – Until September 1, 2015.

Purchase DVDs for Home or School/Library

Harvest_Dreams_sustainx


Klallam_Dancers

I am sure you have heard by now, the fish are already starting to utilize the habitat up above where the projects used to be located. It is awesome, and it is going to keep getting better. I just want to say that I know in my heart that your film and the work you did had a huge impact on the ways things turned out and I am still very grateful to you for that work you did.

Rachel Hagaman (Kowalski), Economic Director, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe

Background

Unconquering the Last Frontier is the Epic Story of the Damming and Undamming of the Elwha River. Filming began in 1993 in Port Angeles, Washington. Production continued for five years, through 1997. The Filmmakers’ mission was to document the efforts of the tribal community and others, to preserve the genetics of the last wild salmon, while the political drama over funding, related to Elwha dam removal played out at the federal level.

The process of making this film created a solid perspective, showing both sides of the issue in depth. The narrative is revealing of the larger scope of need for preserving the what we have left of our nation’s wild places. Our team saw the benefit of redeeming a river, by removing the harness of misguided, industrial encroachment.

The film was released, during special screenings in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Western Washington, to public television stations and to cable (Free Speech TV). A companion fine art photo exhibit, from photography commissioned by the National Park Service, (Large scale digital prints from film positive), was created and displayed in California and Washington. 2006-2008.

Patagonia headquarters, Ventura, CA, BC Space Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA, Seed Gallery, Thoreau Center for Sustainability, San Francisco, Odd Art Gallery, Port Angeles, WA.

The film itself was shot traditionally, using crystal-sync double-system. Eastman Kodak 16mm color negative film was exposed through a French made Eclair ACL 1.5 camera with Angenieux lenses. Audio was mastered on quarter inch reel-to-reel magnetic tape, using the industry standard stereo Nagra IVs-tc recorder, modified for center-track timecode.

robert_elwha_before

“Shooting on film was a work of art.” Says filmmaker Robert Lundahl. “Certainly editing on a flatbed was a work of art. It helps you see the process differently. It makes a different kind of film.”

Unconquering was one of the last productions to utilize the celluloid/acetate motion picture film format, and one of the last films to be printed at San Francisco’s historic Monaco Labs. “It was a statement,” says Filmmaker, Robert Lundahl.

Motion picture film began to be used commonly in the teens, just at the time the dams were built. One of the customers of the power from the dams was Rayonier Mill. Rayonier, in addition to making celluloid compounds for table tennis balls and guitar picks, made materials for movie films, thus helping to launch one of the defining industries of the 20th century. As the era ended, symbolized by the removal of the Elwha River dams, so did the era end for motion picture film.

The Film

Washington’s Elwha was known to produce the largest salmon in the lower 48 states. The Elwha Kings were the stuff of fishing legend, Chinook salmon weighed in at up to 100 lbs.
This legendary river was dammed in 1908 and again in 1926, in one of the first examples of non-local capital arriving into frontier environments for industrial based energy development.

Seattle Times writer, Lynda Mapes described Unconquering the Last Frontier as “The history of the entire Pacific Northwest.” It is, in a fundamental sense. When the Elwha Dam was built, the State of Washington had a law on the books, requiring that all dams must be built with fish ladders. But the Elwha River did not have fish ladders. None were possible, given the construction. The dam hung from steep canyon walls, leaving no easy access for spawning anadromous fish to reach their destination far upstream, once construction was complete. The prime spawning beds , home to their prehistoric ancestors, were no longer accessible.

The eventual interpretation of the legal remedy was to build a hatchery, done in lieu of a having the legally mandated fish ladders. Thus the Elwha set the unsustainable precedent of the hatchery system in the Pacific Northwest, which in turn, led to the construction of more dams and the subsequent devastation of even more fish runs. In that the hatchery on the Elwha was not successful, the trend led to even greater loss of natural resources.

Salmon runs, having uniquely evolved to match their specific spawning milieus, were choked to extinction by the loss of prime spawning habitat.

The Lower Elwha Klallam Indians made this river their home.

The watershed provided the basis for their sustenance and psychological well-being, providing food sources and offering spiritually important sacred sites. And then, through the Devil’s bargain, the salmon could no longer pass upstream of the dams. Their future was damned. Runs of world class fish were subsequently devastated, the resource utterly ruined in a series of mass die-offs.

They (salmon carcasses) were laid up all over the riverbank.” –Rachel Hagaman, Economic Director, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe.

The people faced a similar plight. After their ranks had been decimated by smallpox and other European diseases, the Indian people were indiscriminately persecuted by the arriving settlers. They were forced to abide by laws that were unfair and even genocidal to them, such as being forbidden to fish in their usual and accustomed grounds. If an Indian were to be caught fishing, they could be taken to jail, starvation conditions aside.

unconquering_title

Documentary filmmaker Robert Lundahl embarked on a decade-long journey in 1993, to tell the story of the Lower Elwha people and the river which had sustained them. His picture, released to theaters in the San Francisco Bay Area and across the Northwest in 2000, is the only film to address the historic trauma befalling the Native people.

This is important because, arguably, the history of events on the Elwha has been subject to political interpretations to this day. Many which marginalize Native people and deny their voice, jeopardizing their cultural and physical survival. UNDRIP, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples sets agreed upon standards which “affirm that indigenous peoples are equal to all other peoples, while recognizing the right of all peoples to be different, to consider themselves different, and to be respected as such.” The film represents the clear-eyed understanding, on the ground, that UNDRIP requires.

Future

As the salmon move upstream to spawn and die, the marine-derived nutrients in their bodies will be returned to the forest along 113 km of wild river. Several hundred thousand salmon will eventually repopulate the river annually, bringing a huge quantity of nutrients that will permeate throughout the ecosystem. Because all of the water above the upper dam is in the Olympic National Park, these ecological changes will be available for long-term study, without the confounding influences of human disturbance that are common in virtually all other river restoration projects. Thus, the Elwha dams, by far the largest ever to be removed, constitute a unique opportunity to study the recovery of a riparian ecosystem, with profound implications for the value of dam removal elsewhere as a general conservation strategy (The University of Washington).

The removal of the concrete structures of the Elwha Dams began in 2012, initiating a profoundly new era in conservation management. Never before had dams this large been removed. Never before had an ecosystem been ameliorated like this, restoring complex interactions and allowing synergistic effects to resume flourishing naturally once again.

Our obligation to the future includes making this watershed picture available to new audiences, as an anthem for restoring balance to the world and a bold idea for preserving hope. When Winona LaDuke invites us to “recover the sacred,” the well known Native American organizer is requesting far more than the rescue of ancient bones and beaded headbands from museums. For LaDuke, only the power to define what is sacred—and access it—will enable Native American communities to remember who they are and fashion their future.

In the healing of historical trauma, the restoration plays a significant part in returning dignity to the indigenous cohort of our nation’s population, an important social aspect necessary for our growth and development as a modern group of people.

The Changer, or Transformer is a supernatural force or being capable of transforming one species into another, a bear into a deer, or a wolf.

It is not enough to just remove the concrete superstructure from a river, if what is left behind is mere drainage. It’s not enough to just reintroduce salmon populations to a river. We must support the historical narrative, and acknowledge the emotions of a people as we witness the return of a way of life that had once been taken from them. To understand the essence of the Elwha Story, understanding the Klallam and their culture is essential. To understand what the settlers and the dams took away is to begin to understand what the river means to all of us. It is as close as we’ve gotten to redress and reconciliation, which is to say that environmental justice and stewardship are one in the same. The Elwha provides a tangible lesson on both, for the be benefit of people around the world to see and consider.

History

Unconquering the Last Frontier is a work of history. The film relies on original, first person accounts dating to the 1830s. The film is in use educationally by Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, The University of Washington and other top universities. It has been publicly vetted and peer reviewed. Unconquering is in the collection of The Smithsonian/ National Museum of the American Indian.

Unconquering the Last Frontier clarifies the actions of the past through a rigorous examination of historical facts.
Unconquering examines the nature of energy development at that time, as events on the ground played out in context during the early years of the 20th century.
-The film reveals that Native Americans placed logs along the river to help manage flows and fisheries in the mid 1800s.
-That fisheries pressures were not new and the Territories of Oregon and Washington declared emergencies in the 1870’s as the fish were dangerously over harvested.
-The film examines whether the Elwha dams were built legally and whether the dams’ builder, Thomas Aldwell promised to build fish ladders as a condition of their construction.
-Unconquering the Last Frontier describes the relationship between the Elwha Dams and the hatchery system across the Northwest, as a precursor and precedent.
-Unconquering the Last Frontier examines the history as told by the Native people themselves, and their attitudes about it.

DCIM101GOPROPhoto: Tom Roorda

The Lesson Plan

It is of global importance, how the story of the restoration of the Elwha River and fisheries came into being be told. To this date, full ecosystem restoration at this scale has occurred only once. We are looking at the prime and only example of large scale remediation to the river ecosystem including the landscape, fisheries, culture, spirit and economy of a Pacific Northwest Region. In restoring the Elwha, we have a pattern for other endeavors and a seed for success. It can be done.

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, “Ecological restoration is the process of reclaiming habitat and ecosystem functions by restoring the lands and waters on which plants and animals depend. Restoration is a corrective step that involves eliminating or modifying causes of ecological degradation and re-establishing the natural processes — like natural fires, floods, or predator-prey relationships — that sustain and renew ecosystems over time.”

1. It is important to introduce the concept that ecological restoration is worthy of consideration in addressing landscape level issues having to do with water, toxic substances, ecosystem health and the health of people. With regard to the public/private process to restore the Salton Sea, reintroduction of water to the system allows ecosystems to be supported and to become more fecund, making for a cleaner and healthier environment and thus stabilizing the region.

The removal of water from the southern San Joaquin Valley similarly sees soils become salted, non-productive, and subject to conversion from agriculture to energy production (fracking) and other industries. Toxic compounds compile at specific locations, affecting wildlife and avian species and human beings, through blowing dust and particulates. The lesson of the Elwha is “Let nature run its course.”

Unconquering the Last Frontier shows the debate, framing the story of a waterfront mill town as it ponders its future while confronting its past.

2. Show that what happened on the Elwha, for better and for worse, as the result of decisions made by people who affected the outcome. The decision to build the Lower Elwha Dam, which cut off the fishery 4.3 miles upriver, was a decision based on engineering and cost for the specific purpose of generating power at that location. It is important to realize that a myriad of choices were available to the solution of generating power. The location on the Elwha, as a specific site to do that, had an enormous down side.

What some people did not know then about the fragility of the resource became, over time, the top consideration from a policy and cost perspective across the entire Pacific Northwest region. It would be fair to say, in addition to questions about legality, morality, and philosophy, that questions still remain about the engineering decisions made.

Too often our society solves a problem having to do with financial benefits accruing. Yet, had the “engineering” solution been better focused on generating power at less cost and detriment overall, the solution might have been entirely different.

How we think about the context and consequencess of our actions is critical to their outcome. In this way, we begin to account for the likelihood of unintended result in the design/engineering process itself.

If an analysis of context and consequences was inadequate in the beginning, we may be assured we will eventually be looking at GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out). As simple as this idea sounds, we still are faced with the same scale of poor outcomes, made by decisions mandated by financial incentives, without weighing the true costs. We build solar generation plants in dry lake beds, atop prehistoric Native American ruins, and accept renewable energy installations that require burning fossil fuels- natural gas, to maintain output, making them not renewable at all.

Even today, these costly errors are still committed. We have not learned yet, despite a desperate need to embrace a more intelligent way of being on the planet without wrecking the ecology.

3. Connecting the dots via a side-by-side demonstration of the restored meander of the lower river with the reconstitution of the estuary, compared to then and now aerial photography, filmmaking, etc. Connect the dots by interviewing tribal members about the meaning of “recover the sacred.” Interviews with select individuals from the original film, including the filmmakers, round out the perspective related to the full spectrum of happenings stimulated by this bold and historic undertaking.


 
elwha composite
 


24May

29 Screening

 
screening


 
“WHO’S PAYING FOR THIS?” Script 3.8. Written By Robert Lundahl 415.205.3481

CUT TO: HISTORIC SCENES, BAY DELTA FARMING.
DISSOLVE TO: SERIES OF CUTS: TUNNEL PROJECT RENDERINGS. FRACKING WELLS, PROTESTERS HOLD NO FRACKING SIGNS. LAWNS BEING WATERED SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

NARRATOR: Governor Brown’s proposed $60+ billion twin-tunnel project would divert water from The Bay/Delta Estuary, from salmon fisheries and recreational activites, from productive family farms, and diversified agriculture, to land speculation in Riverside County, to BIG AG. What does that mean for you?

DISSOLVE TO: SHOTS OF DOWNTOWN LA, VALLEY NEIGHBORHOODS SMOG, GAS STATIONS

NARRATOR: Because of conservation measures, Los Angeles uses the same amount of water it did 20 years ago. Now with the money going to the latest pipe dream, there may be no money to invest in local infrastructure, such as water reuse and recycling. Rainwater capture and conservation education.

With a 60 Billion dollar price tag, the costs are ASTRONOMICAL to all of California.

CUT TO: HISTORIC SCENES, BIG DIG. BAY BRIDGE RETROFIT

NARRATOR: Bigger than the Big Dig.
GRAPHIC: 24 BILLION.

NARRATOR: Bigger than the Bay Bridge retrofit.
GRAPHIC: 250 MILLION.

DISSOLVE TO: SERIES OF CUTS: WATER IN THE CANALS HEADING SOUTH.
CUT TO: DRY LAWNS, DRY HILLS, NEWSPAPERS DESCRIBE WATER USE CUTS.

NARRATOR: Currently, millions of gallons of water from the state water project — that rate- payers have already paid for — go to the highest bidder. Big Business.

GRAPHIC: 60 BILLION. BACKGROUND IMAGE – MONEY PILES UP (STOCK ANIMATION)
YOUNG MAN STANDS BEFORE CAMERA.

NARRATOR: Four years into the worst drought in the state’s recorded history, the state’s residents are scared.

STAND UP INTERVIEW WITH YOUNG MAN: “Who’s going to pay for this? What’s my future? Leave the state? This is a total scam.”

STAND UP INTERVIEW WITH OLDER WOMAN: “The California Dream is O-V-E-R if Brown gets his way.

RELAXED DISSOLVE – TO MONTAGE SCENES OF WATER FLOWING THROUGH TRIBUTARIES AND ALONG THE BANKS OF THE SACRAMENTO, DELTA WETLANDS, BIRDS, FISHING.

NARRATOR: The Sacramento/San Joaquin Bay Delta is where BIG AG wants to get its water. A vast river and marine estuary system for the entire San Francisco Bay Area Region, and the State of California.

GRAPHIC: 60 BILLION.

MONTAGE BIG AG, OIL AND GAS WELLS BAKERSFIELD, HORIZONS JAMMED WITH WELLS, DIRTY PARTS OF THE SAN JOAQUIN, INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPES, CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS, HYDROCARBONS

NARRATOR: Not only does BIG AG take clean water, and mix it with 750 toxic chemicals, many of them carcinogens, it sends that dirty water deep underground to break rock for oil and gas production. It’s called fracking.

GRAPHIC: 60 BILLION.

MONTAGE: BIG AG Scenes.

NARRATOR: Central Valley agribusiness leases land to oil companies. These farmers-for-hire do their bidding. BIG AG works for BIG OIL. They’re not going to report a spill, unless they have to.

At a time when voters expect innovative solutions. This administration sticks to the same ‘ol same ‘ol. Contracts to cronies and big business.

GRAPHIC: 60 BILLION. BACKGROUND, CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS, HYDROCARBONS.

NARRATOR: When the farms lands don’t drain, and the San Joaquin Valley salts up, it can no longer be farmed. How much of its water will be used for speculative development?

Reports indicate that farmers are already irrigating with oil and fracking waste water. Why are we paying to pollute?

GRAPHIC: 60 BILLION.

TRANSITION – FLIP OR PAGE TURN – SHOTS GOVERNOR BROWN WITH OIL AND GAS EXECS, DOLLAR SIGNS DANCING, FAT CATS LIGHTING CIGARS, WILDLIFE RUNNING FOR COVER.

MUSIC UP: PUNK COVER OF CALIFORNIA DREAMING

NARRATOR: And the tunnel scam project that’s behind it has costs of its own: The 2013 Report on Affordability and Financing for the Bay Delta Conservation says $60 million or more. And THAT no longer includes a habitat conservation plan – meaning not just humans will pay the price. Series of cuts of pictures of native fauna. Cute animals.

MUSIC: PUNK COVER OF “CALIFORNIA DREAMING” EVOLVES INTO DISHARMONY, DISCORD, THEN POPS, CRACKLES, DROPOUTS AND FINALLY NOTHING.

CUT TO: STAND UP INTERVIEW YOUNG WOMAN
“They’re getting water very, very cheaply and they’re taking water away from farms.”

CUT TO: STAND UP INTERVIEW OLDER MAN
“In a time of water catastrophe, California is prioritizing unsustainable solutions over sustainable ones, like diversified farming in the Delta.”

NARRATOR: Who’s paying for this?

CUT TO: Ordinary homes on a residential street with a moon overhead.

SFX UP: CRICKETS.

OLDER WOMAN’S VOICE IS HEARD: This… is a nightmare.

SLOW FADE TO BLACK.

###


 
“Go With the Flow” Written By Robert Lundahl 415.205.3481

FADE IN:

CU/WATER DRIPPING FROM A FAUCET
CUT TO: MS/PERSON BEHIND CLOUDY GLASS IN THE SHOWER

NARRATOR OLDER FEMALE: Your health, your family’s health and the health of all Californians depends on clean water.

DISSOLVE TO:

SERIES OF CUTS: GLASS OF WATER SET DOWN ON A KITCHEN TABLE. ASPARAGUS OR OTHER DELTA AG IN THE FIELD WITH DEW DROPS.

CUT TO: CU SHOT OF WATER SKIER OR DELTA RECREATION
AND/OR… CUT TO: SF BAY WINDSURFER

NARRATOR: The water we drink, the food we eat, and the fun we have all depend on clean water.

CUT TO: RESTAURANT INTERIOR/WAITER WITH WATER GLASSES. CHIP FAB ENGINEER IN CLEAN SUIT.

NARRATOR: Our jobs depend on it too.

DISSOLVE TO: VAST AERIAL SHOTS DELTA, FLYOVERS. USGS MAP OF SAN FRANCISCO BAY (PUSH IN).

NARRATOR: The Sacramento/San Joaquin Bay Delta is a vast estuary system for the entire San Francisco Bay Area Region, and the State of California.

RELAXED DISSOLVE – TO MONTAGE SCENES OF WATER FLOWING THROUGH TRIBUTARIES AND ALONG THE BANKS OF THE SACRAMENTO.

NARRATOR: It all comes down to flow.

TRANSITION – FLIP OR PAGE TURN

DISSOLVE SEQUENCE WITH MATCHED PUSH INS CHEMICAL FACTORIES, AGRIBUSINESS, PUMPING STATIONS, CANALS, FREEWAYS, LANDFILLS, SIGN – NO DUMPING, RUNS TO BAY, WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT. (NOTE: We can use the Sac treatment plant shot like documentary but we want the rest of these shots outside of the Delta).

NARRATOR: Mercury, Salts, Selenium, Boron, Nitrogens, bacteria, insecticides and other compounds may be found in water, fish and plants because upstream watersheds drain into the Delta.

MONTAGE OF WATER FLOWING, TRICKLING, AROUND OBSTACLES, ROCKS, PIERS, SANDBARS, MARSHES AND WETLANDS.

DISSOLVE TO: MONTAGE KIDS ALONG THE SHORE PLAY WITH SMALL BOATS (STOW LAKE?)/FOR EFFECT, SHORELINE DELTA, KIDS FISHING.

NARRATOR: Toxic soils can leach back into the water. Low water and reduced flow allow mercury mentholated in higher concentrations.

DISSOLVE TO: SEQUENCE OF CUTS. SIGNS, BEACH CLOSURE, NO FISHING, DO NOT EAT FISH. (Note: no fishing signs down by port).

NARRATOR: Water diversion, water sales, and over-pumping reduce the flow — and turn the Delta from a place– that is an interwoven blend of wetland habitat, farms, and communities — a unique ecological and cultural place, to something far less desirable.

DISSOLVE TO: SEQUENCE OF CUTS. BROWN SPEAKING, TUNNELS RENDERING, NEWSPAPER HEADLINE CU PAN, “ALMONDS TO BE SHIPPED TO CHINA” OR SIMILAR. LOS ANGELES SKYLINE.

NARRATOR:

Politicians also get it wrong. Governor Brown’s proposed $25 billion twin-tunnel project would worsen the problem. By diverting excessive amounts of water, the tunnels would both undermine the health of the Delta, the San Francisco Bay, and the ability for cities like Los Angeles to secure their own water future. Water quality will not meet drinking water standards for health and human safety for millions of people living near the Delta and Bay.

DISSOLVE TO: GRASSES/WETLANDS, DISSOLVE TO: MT. SHASTA SCENIC DISSOLVE TO: SIERRA PEAKS. YOSEMITE VALLEY, DISSOLVE TO: AMERICAN RIVER RAPIDS, CUT TO: FLY FISHERMAN, DISSOLVE TO: SHOTS OF THE KERN AND THE SAN JOAQUIN.

NARRATOR: Our San Francisco Bay Delta is a natural wonder. It naturally drains an enormous area from Mt. Shasta to the North, to the Sierras in the East and the South.
Clear water flows from the snowpacks, down the Sacramento and the Feather, the American, and the Kern, and the San Joaquin, the Molkulumne, Calaveras, and Tuolumne.

DISSOLVE TO: SEQUENCE DELTA BEAUTY SHOTS

NARRATOR: This estuary is the largest in the Western Hemisphere.

MONTAGE: KAYAKERS SPILL OVER RAPIDS, SALMON TRAWLER UNLOADS FROZEN CHINOOK ON THE DOCKS AT HALF MOON BAY, CANADIAN GEESE PASS OVERHEAD IN A V FORMATION.
TOURISTS HAVE LUNCH AT BARBARA’S FISH TRAP ON THE WHARF. KIDS RUN AND PLAY ON THE JETTY AND ON THE BEACH.

NARRATOR: The Bay-Delta estuary is a place that connects rivers, ocean and sky. Communities all up and down the Pacific Coast rely on its riches.
Let’s make sure these riches continue to sustain us for generations to come.

FADE OUT.

###


 
“Water is Life” Written By Robert Lundahl 415.205.3481

FADE IN:
AERIAL SHOTS/VAST EXPANSES OF DELTA WATER

NARRATOR OLDER FEMALE: Water is life, And the Sacramento/San Joaquin River Delta is the provider of that life for the San Francisco Bay region.

DISSOLVE TO:HISTORIC SHOTS OF SALMON ON THE SACRAMENTO/LARGE NUMBERS

NARRATOR: Chinook salmon spawning in the Upper Sacramento River numbered 450,000 in 1950. Water diversion, dams, pollution and habitat destruction reduced those numbers by 9/10 in the years that followed.

TRANSITION, WIPE OR PUSH, SALMON ON A LINE TODAY

NARRATOR OLDER FEMALE: Will we learn the lesson and protect the natural resources we have left?

CUT TO: DROUGHT HEADLINES/NEWSPAPER SPINS

NARRATOR: The California drought, now in its 5th year, has prompted reactive policy initiatives by state leaders, choosing one industry over another, and one community over another in allocating precious water resources.

DISSOLVE TO CLOSE UP PAN, TUNNEL HEADLINES/NEWSPAPER

NARRATOR: But that’s not the way to go.

RELAXED DISSOLVE – TO MONTAGE FISHING BOATS HALF MOON BAY, RESTAURANTS SERVE SEAFOOD, TOURISTS AT FISHERMAN’S WHARF

NARRATOR: Salmon still support coastal fishermen, and the culinary and hospitality businesses of one of America’s top 5 vacation destinations, San Francisco.

TRANSITION – FLIP OR PAGE TURN – DISSOLVE SEQUENCE WINDSURFING, DELTA/FARMING SCENES/APPLE CAMPUS WITH LOGO

NARRATOR: And healthy salmon runs, like recreational industries, diversified family farming, and even Silicon Valley’s world leading chip manufacture and corporate campuses — Apple, Google, Intel and others — depend on clean water, readily available.

DISSOLVE TO: MONTAGE CONTRA COSTA BUSINESSES/COMMUNITIES, SHOPPERS AT AN OUTDOOR MALL

NARRATOR: Millions of people living in urban areas rely on a healthy Delta for drinking water.

SEQUENCE OF CUTS: TOMATOES, FRUITS AND VEGETABLES AT A FARMERS MARKET, HAPPY FACES/RIPPLES ON THE WATER CLOSE UP, SOFT ZOOM IN AND RACK OUT OF FOCUS

NARRATOR: In a time of unprecedented drought, the answer to our collective water needs in a historically dry state, is the very reverence for life and people, and the resources the region has always provided.

DISSOLVE TO: OLD SPANISH MAP, SAN FRANCISCO BAY,

NARRATOR: Covering 612 square miles, the San Francisco Bay/Delta region is the largest estuary on the U.S. Pacific Coast.

DISSOLVE TO: SEQUENCE GRASSES/WETLANDS, HERON OR EGRET

NARRATOR: It is recognized as one of North America’s most ecologically important estuaries, accounting for 77 percent of California’s remaining perennial wetlands.

DISSOLVE TO: SPORTS (BASS) FISHERMEN. (TOURNAMENT).

NARRATOR: Not only fish, like salmon, bass, steelhead, shad and sturgeon make this biological nursery home,

CUT TO: GIANT FLOCKS OF MIGRATING BIRDS BLACKEN THE SKY

NARRATOR: …but so do the myriad avain species of the Pacific Flyway.

DISSOLVE TO: EARLY SHOTS FARMING IN THE DELTA REGION

NARRATOR: During the California Gold Rush, farmers planted orchards on Delta islands

CUT TO: DAGUERROTYPES OF GOLD RUSH MINERS, PUSH/DISSOLVE THROUGH SEQUENCE

NARRATOR: …to provide fresh fruit for mining camps in the Sierra Nevada.

CUT TO: VEGETABLE CRATE LABELS FROM THE 1930’s/40’s, PUSH/DISSOLVE THROUGH SEQUENCE ROADSIDE STANDS

NARRATOR: Because of the year-round availability of fresh water, the Delta became one of the most fertile regions of California.

SPIGOT TURNED OFF, SOD TORN OUT, NATIVE GARDEN PLANTED

NARRATOR: Today, conservation not favoritism is our future.

FADE OUT.

###