LORDS OF NATURE: Life in a Land of Great Predators

Directed by Karen Anspacher-Meyer
United States. 57 minutes
Documentary
SUN OCT 17 @ 5:30pm | Salem Cinema
MON OCT 18 @ 6:30pm | The Grand Theater

Audience Q&A with experts Bill Ripple & Bob Beschta and Rob Klavins of Oregon Wild following the film

Film Host Sponsor: Claudia Kyle & Linda Mason

Can a wolf grow a forest, or a cougar save a butterfly? Only if we let them. Settlers coming to America thought they would be better off by eradicating all the great predators: wolf, mountain lion, and bears. And for the most part, they did. And they were wrong. Narrated by Peter Coyote, LORDS OF NATURE follows biologists Bill Ripple and Bob Beschta, two leading pioneers in the quest to decipher the role of great predators in the web of life. Ripple and Beschta have found that without these predators, ecosystems are seriously degraded, and when returned to places like Yellowstone, they have a remarkable impact in restoring balance to natural systems. But can we learn to live in the presence of these fearsome animals? LORDS OF NATURE visits the ranchers and livestock producers who have developed techniques that eliminate conflict.

Filmography: First Feature

Shown with the short film
Wildwater
World Premiere!
Directed by Anson Fosel
United States. 30 minutes.

When ordinary people, share a singular passion, the extraordinary emerges. WildWater is a journey into the mind and soul of whitewater, into the places only river runners can go, places of discovery, solitude and risk. It’s a visually stunning feast for the senses, and an expedition into new ideas. We set out to create a new kind of adventure film. -- one where image, sound and ideas trump all else. We wanted to communicate the essence of the wild places and whitewater and put its soul on film. WildWater brings not only new perspectives, but new images to kayaking and the world of adventure cinema.