KQED

"Without wilderness, we will eventually lose the capacity to understand America."
Harvey Broome

“Forever Wild captures not only the spectacular beauty, but the importance of America’s wild lands. It brings us on the engaging journeys of some truly phenomenal Americans, and celebrates the power of the ordinary citizen in all of us, who can, and must, raise their voice to protect our last best places.” Robert Redford
August 17, 2009

"The celebration and defense of wilderness is one of the most remarkable products of American cultural history. In less than two centuries self-willed, or "wild" land, changed from a liability to an asset. Now the United States leads the world in establishing national park and designated wildernesses. The story of how this has occurred is a composite of many people caring deeply about specific places. Forever Wild explores their motivation and encourages further preservation progress."
Dr.Roderick Frazier Nash Professor Emeritus of History and Environmental Studies, University of California Santa Barbara.

“This is a wonderful, luminous film filled with the special glories our saved places exhibit.”
Ken Burns
Filmmaker
December 2009

"The Wilderness Act of 1964 established the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) as a means of preserving wilderness areas for future generations. Initially, the NWPS included 34 areas and protected 9.1 million acres in the U.S. National Parks and National Forests. Currently, more than 704 wilderness areas are included in the NWPS, preserving more than 107.5 million acres, or about 5% of the entire United States. Many of the additional areas were added through legislative action promoted by ordinary American citizens. Forever Wild tells the story of how U.S. wilderness advocates successfully championed local wilderness areas in order to have them added to the NWPS.

Noted environmental activist Robert Redford hosts the program, providing background and narration for the extraordinary, high-definition photography of James Brundige, who also edited the video. Terry Tempest Williams reads from her contemplative writings on wilderness, while Doug Scott, Campaign for America's Wilderness, provides his insights on wilderness and environmental activism. In each instance of successful activism in the video, in Colorado, in California, and in New Hampshire, wilderness lovers spent years of their lives and devoted much personal income to explore the creation of organizations and coalitions to preserve local threatened wilderness habitats.

This is grassroots activism at its best, a template for change based in personal commitment and dedication to the hard work it takes to share, and eventually to achieve a vision. Although the film depicts only successful efforts, those interviewed adequately describe their efforts and the corporate, legislative and local economic obstacles that they had to overcome to achieve their goals. The commitment and personal sacrifice shown in this video is nearly beyond comprehension. One can only imagine the bitter disappointment for those who had similar worthy aims that were thwarted along the way. Fortunately, Forever Wild is accompanied by in-depth resources and strategies for organizing for environmental activism and succeeding with local and federal legislators. A glance at the resources will further underline the difficulties involved in preserving wilderness for future generations. Only the strongest, the most committed and most patient of wilderness visionaries are likely to succeed. This video is highly recommended for its beauty, its supporting resources, and the inspiration that all will find in the success stories it showcases. "
Cliff Glaviano
Coordinator of Cataloging, Bowling Green State University Libraries, Bowling Green, OH

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KQED www.kqed.org is a service of Northern California Public Broadcasting, Inc. (NCPB). KQED Public Television 9, one of the nation's most-watched public television stations during primetime, is the producer of local and national series such as QUEST; Check, Please! Bay Area; Jacques Pepin: More Fast Food My Way; and Jean-Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventures.

KQED's digital television channels include KQED HD, KQED Life-Encore, KQED World, KQED Kids and KQED V-me, and are available 24/7 on Comcast. KQED Public Radio, home of Forum with Michael Krasny and The California Report, is the most listened-to public radio station in the nation with an award-winning news and public affairs program service (88.5 FM in San Francisco and 89.3 FM in Sacramento).

KQED Education Network brings the impact of KQED to thousands of teachers, students, parents and the general public through workshops, community screenings and multimedia resources. KQED Interactive offers video and audio podcasts and live radio stream at www.kqed.org , featuring unique content on one of the most visited station sites in public broadcasting.

Station Relations (programmers):
Suzanne Romaine

Email:sromaine@kqed.org
Phone: 415.553.2366

Carriage/Preview DVD:
Lisa Landi

Email: llandi@kqed.org
Phone: 415.553.2221

Viewers:
KQED Audience Services
2601 Mariposa Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

Email: tv@kqed.org
Phone: 415.553.2135

Publicity & PR:
Yoon Lee

Email: ylee@kqed.org
Phone: 415.553.3338
Web/Press page: www.kqed.org/press