Mud-thick boots, cold farmers, an adze chopping holes for tiny trees in a huge field. These are memorable images from “Flowing Forward.” The new film by Christy Frank and Alex Goetz of Running Wild Media follows one recent restoration project of the Black Swamp Conservancy to tell the larger story of the history and mission of the Conservancy.
Frank and her team filmed a Conservancy project along Wolf Creek in Seneca County from the purchase of a farm field to final planting of a large wetland habitat. Watching the finished 15-minute documentary, viewers will learn how managing water in one farm field has an impact on drinking water for thousands of people. Along the way, viewers will learn some history of the Black Swamp region, how and why local people created the Conservancy, and about the ethics and science that drive Conservancy operations.
Christy Frank found creating the documentary hard but rewarding. She said, “It was a challenging subject matter, in that having land itself as a character can be difficult to portray.” The film shows that character as one capable of change. It starts as a flat cornfield but by the end is a dynamic environment of wetland, woodland, pools, and meadow. Where at first water shoots through the field to a ditch, at the end, water rests and percolates through the soil. Rainwater forms pools to feed native plants and to harbor baby frogs.
She added, “I hope our film shows the value of what Black Swamp Conservancy is providing to the region and how, as we learn more, we have the ability to improve the way we interact with our environments.”
Frank and Goetz are local filmmakers with national and international experience. Their work has appeared in outlets including National Geographic WILD, BBC, PBS Nature, and CBS Sunday Morning. “Flowing Forward” was funded by Land Trust Alliance as part of a grant that also funded a GIS program for the Black Swamp Conservancy.