Documentary Film Festival • Redmond, OR • October, 8th • 7pm

Working Hands
Wild Lands

An evening of film and conversation about the value of working lands and collaboration for conservation

Tuesday, October 8th at 7pm PDT
High Desert Music Hall, Redmond, OR

Join us as we show three short films about working lands conservation.
Admission $15

RANGELAND RESTORATION

Against the Herd

Almost a century of poorly managed grazing degraded millions of acres of America’s public lands. But Cottonwood Ranch has discovered that cattle can actually be the key to restoring our rangelands.

Now the Smith family must convince legislators and agencies that cows aren't always eco-villains, or they’re sure to lose their land.

RANCHING WITH WILDLIFE

Grizzlies and Grazing

Grizzlies and Grazing is a film that explores how the fate of these iconic landscapes and their inhabitants hangs in a delicate balance, where the survival of both grizzlies and ranchers are deeply intertwined.

COLLABORATION IN CONSERVATION

The Fish and the Flame

This award-winning short film shows how Tim Haarmann, ranch manager at Banded Peak Ranch, and Jim White, a biologist with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, teamed up to save one of the last remaining populations of nearly-extinct San Juan cutthroat trout, just as a wildfire threatens to decimate the fish.

CATE HAVSTAD-CASAD

Cate Havstad-Casad is a designer, entrepreneur and first-generation regenerative rancher. She founded her first company, Havstad Hat Company, in 2014, and has evolved as a designer and a land steward in tandem.

Cate and her husband, Chris Casad, also manage Casad Family Farms, a diversified organic farm, which they have scaled from a 3-acre market farm into a 365-acre, regeneratively managed operation, verified with Ecological Outcomes monitoring.

In 2021, Cate founded Range Revolution as an endeavor to connect her purpose in design and agriculture, finding artful ways to inspire people to find their place in the natural world.

Agee Smith

Agee Smith, a fourth-generation rancher, manages the Cottonwood Ranch in northeastern Nevada alongside his daughter Mckenzie and son-in-law Jason. Inspired by holistic management, Agee transformed the ranch's grazing practices to mimic the Great Plains' buffalo herds, resulting in healthier land and riparian areas.

A dedicated steward of the land, Agee is also committed to bringing people together. More than 20 years ago, facing serious concerns about the future of the ranch, he created a management group comprised of his family, government agency personnel, environmental groups and neighboring ranches that still guides their management. “Now we have problem-solving meetings, not barrier-type meetings. We all at least respect one another and a lot of us are good friends,” he says.

Jaxon Derow

Jaxon Derow, a Brooklyn-based director and producer, is the talent behind "Against the Herd." With a passion for storytelling about culture, politics and nature, his work aims to deepen our understanding of human society and the world around us.

Jaxon graduated from Northeastern University with a degree in MarineBiology, Environmental Science, and Philosophy. He left the world ofmarine research to attend the National Film and Television School inthe UK, producing two laurelled documentary shorts while completing an MA in Directing and Producing Science and Natural History.

ELLIE GAGE

Born in Idaho and a lifelong resident of Oregon, Ellie lives in Powell Butte with her husband Mark and two young sons.. Ellie earned a bachelor’s in Biology from OSU-Cascades in 2014, and in May 2023 completed her master’s at the University of Idaho in Integrated Natural Resources, focusing on rangeland and wildlife management. She loves spending time outdoors with her family and animals, fly fishing, and learning about hunting and cooking wild game with her sons.

She has a genuine love for the land, wildlife, livestock, and land stewards. That love is the driving force that motivates her to support working people and working lands to continue to provide food, fiber, critical habitat and ecosystem services in the future.

MODERATOR

LOUIS WERTZ

Louis Wertz leads communications for the Western Landowners Alliance. He grew up taking long road trips across the American West in the family minivan. Since, he has been obsessed with listening to and telling the stories of the land stewards who protect and regenerate the amazing places he fell in love with.

Louis holds a Bachelor of Science in Journalism degree from Northwestern University and a Master’s of Science in World Heritage Studies from the Brandenburg Technical University in Cottbus, Germany, where he focused on holistic approaches for managing heritage sites. He completed his master’s thesis in Yosemite National Park in 2008. In 2010 he spent a year working on an organic vegetable farm and apple orchard in Mendocino County, California. He received his Permaculture and Advanced Permaculture Design Certificate from the Denver Permaculture Guild. He lives with his wife and their two young children just outside of Denver, Colorado.

TICKETS

Media Inquiries

Presented by

Film Credits

Against the Herd
Jaxon Derow - Director and Cinematographer

Grizzlies and Grazing
Laurie Hedges - Cinematographer and Editing

Fish and the Flame
Day's Edge Prodcutions

Produced by

Against the Herd
Jaxon Derow

Grizzlies and Grazing
Steve Primm, Alexa Montefiore, Brent Brock

Fish and the Flame
Page Buono
Nate Dappen
David Hutchinson

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