A Journey Begins...

From the early days of dreaming of what Traverse Image back in 2012 would  look like, as well as the type of work that we wanted to create as filmmakers, we knew that we wanted to be inspired by and inspire others by the   outdoors. We weren’t sure how at the time, but this was our passion to find subjects for films along the rough drafts of ideas.

It wasn’t until a stuffy but energetic hotel conference room during the 2018 Summer Session of Outdoor Retailer in Salt Lake City, that the cliche “AH-HA” moment happened.  Although writing began on a public lands film after the Summer 2017 session after attending a panel discussion, this was the moment that galvanized the entire Traverse Image documentary film crew for what a feature length film could look like. That moment began when former Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell stepped on stage to deliver a speech about the recent actions that the new administration was taking to begin to undo the new National Monument, known as Bears Ears.

The ink was barely dry on President Obama’s proclamation protecting more than 1.3 million acres of land in Southern Utah, before the new Trump administration put 27 national monuments under review, starting with Grand Staircase Escalante and ending with Bears Ears National Monument.

Up to that point, our fledgling idea for a film had a handful of treatment drafts and current focus on how the Outdoor Rec Act would transform the Outdoor Recreation Industry along with subsequently the face of conservation in this country. At that time, we already began to see the impacts of the new economic information would be impacting the industry, with the founders Patagonia and Black Diamond penning a letter to OIA to move the OR show out of Utah because of Governor Herbert’s and Utah’s state leadership anti-public lands agenda.

The energy in the conference room that morning was dynamic as Sally Jewell took the stage to amplify the message about the importance and significance of then coming threats to our public lands. . “America’s public lands—like Yosemite, the Statue of Liberty, Bears Ears National Monument, and more—each tell a unique story and help protect and honor our nation’s natural, cultural and historic heritage,” said Jewell. “The outdoor industry depends on our nation’s public lands and waters, and I am proud to see leaders help policymakers understand the profound significance of these places to our economy and the health of our nation.”

The film up to that session of Outdoor Retailer was a handful of interviews, and decent understanding of the situation around the Outdoor Rec Act, but still needed a story, plot, and characters. Those core components that make up a film, of course! Along with a solid direction.  It was a long couple of days during that session of Outdoor Retailer with tons of ideas of ways to develop the film, to make connections with those who were working closely to the developing story around Bears Ears, and the actions that the current Secretary of The interior Ryan Zinke was taking to subvert public opinion and move forward on putting our national monuments under review.

It would still be several months until we would bring the cameras back out into the field to begin shooting with this first new direction in story. On Strange Soil began to take shape, at leas with words, and several important conference calls from connections made at that session of Outdoor Retailer.