CLOSE

About the Film

August 2009

Of America's federal public forest lands - BLM, national forests, national parks, and wilderness areas - only wilderness areas are really protected. America's beloved national forests and BLM lands in particular have been destroyed by logging, mining, and drilling for almost 100 years.

This 25 minute film makes absolutely clear the dramatic differences between the widely held misconceptions of public forests and the reality, using an eye-opening mix of old and new technologies. The message is clear - enact laws to end logging and other resource extraction on national forests and other federal public lands. It's destructive, counter-productive, wasteful, unnecessary, and illogical.

You will not see anything quite like this anywhere else. Here are a some of the resources brought to bear in creating this new look at your public forests. (Note: this page scrolls down)

	Black and White Aerial Photographs from the US Geological Service. The NFC created a first-of-its-kind series of aerial photo composties of entire national forests (see them here), comprised of hundreds of individual photos, tonally corrected with national forest boundaries and other overlaid information. Many of those maps are integrated into this video.
	Google Earth forms the backbone of this film. It's used to fly over dozens of areas and show the differences between national parks, national forests, and wilderness areas. The film makes extensive use of customized image overlays in Google Earth - maps and graphics - that demonstrate different conservation concepts.
	LANDSAT Satellite Photos taken from Space. LANDSAT has eight spectral bands that reveal a myriad of different information about the surface of the Earth, including differences in vegetation cover. It clearly shows deforestation, and is therefore very useful to conservationists and scientists in analyzing changes in forest cover.
	Pictometry Bird's-Eye color photos taken from low flying aircraft that show exceptional detail. These photos are used in the video to create a unique, captivating look at one of the only remaining old growth forests in the Mid-Atlantic region.
	Simulated True-Color Satellite Photos taken by Digital Globe and other providers. These are used throughout the film to show the differences between national forests, national parks, and wilderness areas. This modern coverage from Digital Globe is perhaps the best available to laypeople, due to its realistic colors, consistent tones, and high resolution.
	On-the-Ground Color Photographs are used throughout the film to show examples of old-growth or native forests, deforestation, signage, and details including wildlife, water, and erosion.
	Historic Aerial Photos show the dramatic changes in the landscape over time. The NFC has been at the forefront of creating unprecedented new materials using historic photos from the University of Oregon aerial photo collection to show the effects of logging in Western Oregon over the past 50 years.
CLOSE