Conservation cinema
Apr. 22—Scott Putnam and Jarret Twoyoungmen have vastly different experiences, but the two men share a love of filmmaking and each will have their work highlighted tonight at the University of Idaho's Fish and Wildlife Film Festival.
Twoyoungmen is a member of the Nakoda people of Alberta, Canada, and the co-founder of the Nakoda Audio Visual Club. The storytelling society that introduces young Native Candians to filmmaking teamed up with the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, a conservation group, to make a short animated film about animal crossings — highway overpasses and underpassess designed to reduce animal collisions and deaths.
Putnam is a fisheries biologist with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and a hobbyist filmmaker interested in telling stories about Snake River salmon and steelhead, the region's natural beauty and the work of his agency.
Both films, among 10 that will be shown starting at 6:30 tonight at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre in Moscow, fit the mission of the 5-year-old festival.
"Our goal is to really highlight and feature the incredible wildlife research and conservation work that is going on around the world and to give an opportunity for student filmmakers as well as professionals to be featured in our festival," said Lisette Waits, a professor with the university's College of Natural Resources. "We also want to encourage students to get involved and tell the stories of wildlife and their research."
A trailer of the festival's offerings is available at bit.ly/3v1gGwH.
Putnam frequently works with college students, mentoring them in what often is their first experiences in professional field work. In the spring, he leads crews that monitor salmon and steelhead populations through a series of fish traps, such as the one beneath Interstate Bridge between Lewiston and Clarkston. Later in the summer, he heads up crews that conduct snorkel surveys of salmon- and steelhead-bearing streams in the state's Clearwater Region.
His film "Hells Canyon Chinook Salmon & Steelhead Trout Snorkel Surveys" followed one all-Vandal crew last summer as they donned wetsuits and meticulously worked their way up Granite and Sheep creeks, tributaries to the Snake River in Hells Canyon.
"This is part of our wild salmon and steelhead surveys for Idaho Fish and Game," he said. "We are surveying streams from the Snake River all the way to the Montana border and the upper Selway River looking for the presence or absence of anadromous fish — specifically juvenile salmon and steelhead trout."
The surveys are conducted in some of Idaho's most scenic and little-visited settings. Hells Canyon is a popular destination, but few visitors get more than 100 yards away from the Snake River. Not so for Putnam and his crews. They explore deep into tributary streams. Putnam uses drones, underwater cameras and traditional footage to document the work.
In an effort to perfect his art, Putnam took classes with the Berkeley Advanced Media Institute last year.
"This was a chance to use that education and put out a video. It really seems to have paid off."
Putnam's work can be viewed on his YouTube channel, Bluz River, at bit.ly/37sEvox.
"I love it," he said of filmmaking. "It's right up there with my music. It's what I do in my off time."
Twoyoungmen lives on the Stoney Indian Reserve west of Calgary. He founded the Nakoda AV Club as an outlet for Native youth. The club introduced them to all aspects of filmmaking from the technical to artistic. For some, it occupies their time in a positive way for a short period. But a few fall in love with it.
"It's something to make an improvement with the youth, to actually make something out of themselves," he said. "In the reserve, it's such a tough place to live. There is not anything like youth programs and youth activities."
The film "Helping Animal Friends Across Roads" was made to highlight the need for wildlife crossings and is told from the perspective of animals facing the dangerous and sometimes deadly task of dodging speeding cars and trucks to make it to the other side of a busy highway. Twoyoungmen said members of the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative had seen one of his films, "Rez Dogs," liked it and approached him about collaborating on the project.
"We said, 'We will do it, but we want the kids to actually write and animate the film,' so that is how it came to be."
It was made during the peak of the pandemic and much of the work was done remotely through online services such as Zoom.
The club's work and story is available at its website, nakodaavclub.com, and Twoyoungmen's work can be viewed at his YouTube channel, bit.ly/3L5rGPo.
Putnam, Twoyoungmen and some of the other filmmakers will attend the screening tonight. The event also will feature short films about monarch butterflies, corvids and efforts to protect habitat important to fish and wildlife species. Tickets are $5, but there is no cost for students and children younger than 18. The doors open at 6 p.m.
Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.
