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2002
Great Lakes Independent Film Festival
Unconquering
the Last Frontier
 World
Premiere
Category: Documentary Feature 57min 15sec
Director: Robert Lundahl
There are some
people in Native American country who say that each Native
American people has its own "mother watershed."
And for the Klallam of Washington's Olympic Peninsula, that
watershed was the Elwha. The river provided everything that they
needed, from the shellfish present at the mouth of the
river to the game congregating along it's upper banks. In 1908 a
dam was constructed on the Elwha. Despite its builder's
assurances that passage for salmon would be provided, none was.
The dam had been
built in a narrow canyon; there was simply no practical way to
get the salmon around or over it. Before the dams, the Elwha had
been a prolific provider. The river once supported a important
subsistence fishery, enjoyed by both natives and white settlers
alike. Settlers survived depressions by eating foodstuffs from
the river. But to the Elwha Klallam, the river was the very
foundation of life and culture. Everything flowed from it. And
with the construction of the dam, everything was taken away. For
the long remainder of the 20th century the Elwha Klallam fought
hard to survive. Now the tribal community is fighting to get the
dams removed, so salmon can spawn once again in their "Holy
River."
 Director:
Robert Lundahl
Born in Pasadena, California, Robert is a documentary filmmaker
with a keen interest in rural communities and environmental
policy. While a student at the University of Oregon, Mr. Lundahl
produced "The Burden of Proof," a short documentary on
health effects attributed to herbicide spraying in National
Forests. After several years cutting his teeth on
industrials and syndicated TV, Mr. Lundahl embarked on the
production "Unconquering the Last Frontier" in 1993.
Mr. Lundahl later moved from program to series production, with
"Digital Journey," in 1997, an Emmy Award winning
technology series produced for U.S. Public Television stations.
It features six programs on "sustainability," a
direction Robert is pursuing further.
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