The Assateague Coastal Trust is holding its Wild & Scenic Film Festival this week. Delmarva Public Media's Preston Baker has this preview.
BAKER: Each Fall, the Wild & Scenic Film Festival brings stories of nature, conservation and community to the Eastern Shore. From the big screen to our own backyard. I'm Preston Baker for Delmarva Public Media. The festival hosted by Assateague Coastal Trust takes place in Ocean City and Salisbury, showcasing films that highlight the beauty of our planet and the people fighting to protect it. Taylor Swanson, the director of Assateague Coastal Trust, shared insight into the importance of the festival and how it connects to broader conservation efforts across the shore.
SWANSON: Our mission is really about protecting the water, the resources that are in the water, but I love the way that we go about doing it, and that's really why I gravitated to our work with the Coastal Trust and what our mission is.
BAKER: That mission touches nearly every corner of Delmarva from the bays and creeks that feed into the Atlantic, to the small communities that depend on the clean water and healthy ecosystems.
SWANSON: Clean water is high on the list for, I think most people on the Eastern shore. Clean water, beautiful green spaces. I think it's really why a lot of people choose to live down here.
BAKER: Assateague Coastal Trust also focuses on education, inspiring the next generation of environmental stewards through school programs, volunteer cleanups, and community events.
SWANSON: We have a huge amount of programming that is geared for, I mean, really all ages, but in particular adults field experiences. So we have all kinds of ways to get people outside. We also do an educational lecture series. We do one every month and we have an expert on a topic come in and join us so that we can deliver a really high quality program in the classroom.
BAKER: And that's where the Wild and Scenic Festival comes in. Using the power of storytelling to turn awareness into action. The festival features a collection of short environmental films from around the world, each one offering a unique perspective on conservation, resilience, and hope.
SWANSON: These films are about almost every way that you can imagine that people interact with their outdoor spaces. It could be about rock climbing, whitewater rafting, but it's not just like the high action ways people use the world. It is also about conservation efforts, research. These are really, really good movies.
BAKER: Among this year's lineup, Taylor is especially excited about the film, Surf & Turf.
SWANSON: We get really excited when one of these movies, is in our own backyard, called Surf & Turf, and it's really talking about the connection between the people who are working on the land. It's the connection between the watermen, the surf, their agricultural counterpart, the turf. It's talking about the connection between what actions people can take on the land that make meaningful difference on the water.
BAKER: That message, Taylor says, is at the heart of both the festival and Assateague Trust work. Empowering people to see that local action makes a difference.
SWANSON: I want people to come out of this, seeing that point; that we've done a ton. There's a lot to go. The goal will move, but we're rapidly moving in the right direction.
BAKER: He says that it takes a united community to keep an organization's mission alive.
SWANSON: Identifying a solution is really the harder part, especially for us down here in the lower Eastern shore where we are smaller and fairly tight knit community. When we identify a problem down here, the people need to really come together because for better or worse, [this] really requires everyone to be at the table.
BAKER: Taylor believes events like this remind us that the solution begins right here at home.
SWANSON: We need groups that are willing to look at the collective mass of people because honestly, the difference between the people in Salisbury and Berlin and Pocomoke and Ocean City and Ocean Pines, there's a ton of overlap in those communities and what they want at the end of the day. And clean water is high on the list.
BAKER: From the waterways of the Eastern Shore to the story shared on screen. The Wild & Scenic Film Festival invites the community to connect with the places they love and the future they hope to protect. The festival comes to Salisbury University on October 29th and to Ocean City on November 6th. Admission is free for students with a gull card. I'm Preston Baker for Delmarva Public Media.
