Our Vanishing Wilderness; The Slow Death of the Desert Water

Item Information

Title:
Our Vanishing Wilderness; The Slow Death of the Desert Water
Description:
Pyramid Lake in Nevada once offered the best fishing areas for cutthroat trout in the west, and Anaho Island, which sits in the lake, formerly provided nesting ground for North America's largest colony of white pelicans. The lake was also known to naturalists because of the cui-cui, a primitive desert fish not found anywhere else in the world. Today the trout have long ceased to spawn in the lake and have to be stocked yearly, the pelican population is dropping at a drastic rate, and the cui-cui could cease to exist at any time. This episode illustrates the many ways in which man is responsible for what's taking place. To begin with, the damming of the Truckee River which feeds the lake prevents fish from swimming up the river to spawn. This wiped out the trout, but the more adaptable cui-cui have managed to spawn a little in the mouth of the river and even in streams that occasionally run down from the mountains after a heavy rain. The dam has also caused a severe drop in the level of the lake and if that level drops much further a land bridge will emerge linking Anaho with the mainland, thus making the pelican chicks easy prey for coyotes and other predators. But the pelicans have problems even without the coyotes. Their population dropped from about 14,000 in 1950 to an estimated 7,500 in 1965. Jet planes frequently cause sonic booms in the area, scaring the adult pelicans off their nests for hours at a time. Gulls in nearby colonies have learned they can find an easy meal of pelican eggs following the booms. The episode also shows why there is strong suspicion, though no clear evidence yet, that pesticides have been responsible for the decline of these pelicans (in the same way that pesticides have been positively linked to the destruction of the Santa Barbara brown pelican flock, as shown in episode 1 of this series). The episode also takes a look at the conflicts between three factions in the area: officials and proponents of the Truckee Carson Irrigation District; the Paiute Indians, who claim ownership of the lake and want to develop its shores for recreation; and the managers of federal refuges. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche) Our Vanishing Wilderness is a series of eight half-hour color episodes which illustrates how Americans are dangerously upsetting natures balance and point to possible consequences. The series required more than two years to make and was filmed in California, Nevada, New Mexico, Florida, the Great Plains, and Alaska. Our Vanishing Wilderness is based on a book of the same name and was created by its authors a team of naturalists composed of Shelly and Mary Louise Grossman and John N. Hamlet. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
Producer:
Prowitt, David
Composer:
Kronfeld, Barry
Creator:
Grossman, Mary Louise
Creator:
Hamlet, John N.
Author:
Goodman, Philip S.
Producer:
Grossman, Shelly
Director:
Grossman, Shelly
Editor:
Grossman, Shelly
Narrator:
Hamlet, John N.
Date:
November 1, 1970
Format:
Film/Video
Genre:
Documentary
Location:
Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive
Collection (local):
American Archive of Public Broadcasting Collection
Series:
Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive > Our Vanishing Wilderness
Subjects:
Environment
Nature
Animals
Extent:
00:30:10
Link to Item:
https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-75-07gqnxsc
Terms of Use:
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
Notes:
Episode Number: 4