Jackson Hole Underground

Gary Strieker is using new media to spotlight critical environmental issues.

Tonight the Jackson Hole Film Institute and Pursue Balance are sponsoring a free talk and screening of some of Strieker’s films from 7 to 9 p.m. at Teton Mountain Lodge. The filmmaker will be on hand to answer questions.

Strieker is a former award-winning international correspondent for CNN who went on to found the Environment News Trust, a nonprofit corporation dedicated to producing video news reports. His short films can be viewed at the Assignment Earth home page and via Yahoo! video, as well as on a new half-hour program on PBS.

Recently Strieker has worked with Jackson journalists Melinda Binks and Rebecca Huntington on stories such as coal-bed methane drilling in the Powder River Basin, delisting of bald eagles and depleted trout stocks in Idaho.

Binks, a videographer who owns Fall Creek Productions, and Huntington, the former ace environmental reporter for the News&Guide, also will show some of their work.

Strieker will screen “Mountains of Coal,” a feature about hilltop mining in West Virginia, and the short films “Mexican Wolves” and “Smuggling Apes.”

For two weeks I had been driving around with bags of bottles and cans in my car, left behind by friends I had dropped at the airport.

Having grown weary of the smell of stale beer, I finally pulled into the recycling center last Wednesday to unload these and other recyclables. Beyond the south end of the building I spotted a small crowd with tripods.

Must be a mountain lion, I figured, or a wolf.

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In case you missed it, “Smart Growth” has the solution to congestion on Teton Pass.

Seriously, smart growth will be the topic as two important issues converge this week: affordable housing and a new Comprehensive Plan.

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(All photos © 2007 David Stubbs Photography)

The Bureau of Reclamation has scaled back the release of water from Jackson Lake Dam so that the Snake River is flowing at its normally low level for this time of year.

For more than six weeks, a magnificent stream was turned into a 90-mile-long irrigation ditch. An inquisitive person might ask, Where did all the water go?

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Last week I was privileged to take part in the “Legends of the Snake” a float trip, a benefit for the Snake River Fund.

The event brought together many of the pioneers of river running and fly fishing in Jackson Hole: Frank Ewing, Dick Barker, Charlie Sands, John Simms, Dave Hansen, Jack Dennis and Paul Bruun. A collection of great guides and storytellers, they are the Jedi Masters of the Snake.

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