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National Wildlife Refuges Play Well on the Silver Screen Could this be an Oscar Year?

Meeks Cutoff

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Washington, DC --(Ammoland.com)- This year’s Academy Awards ceremony holds special interest for the Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Wildlife Refuge System.

Some critics are listing “Meeks Cutoff,” with scenes from Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, as a possible Oscar contender.

“Meeks Cutoff,” starring Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood and Paul Dano, is about pioneers stranded on the Oregon Trail and was filmed from federal lands adjacent to the wildlife refuge.

Malheur Refuge manager Tim Bodeen knows why director Kelly Reichardt wanted to capture scenes of the refuge:

“We’re one of the nation’s great wild places where you can get wide open views of the natural environment,” he says. “And we have bountiful wildlife [including coyotes and mule deer] that people associate with historic America.”

Today’s visitors can hike, bike, fish and hunt on the refuge as well as see wildlife and tour the 19 th-century Sod House Ranch.

What are some of the better known refuge-linked movies? Besides “Meeks Cutoff,” there’s everything from a 1923 silent classic filmed at Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes National Wildlife Refuge in California to a 1971 B movie filmed at Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia.

Okefenokee Refuge boasts about the refuge scenes in the 1971 film “Swamp Girl” and shows the movie to visitors. It does so even though the movie’s depiction of the swamp doesn’t match the refuge’s perspective, laughs refuge office assistant Judy Drury, who recalls the filming. It depicts, she says, “what everybody thought the swamp was – scary, bad, dreary, full of alligators and snakes – and not what it actually is. It’s so beautiful out there.”

Okefenokee Refuge is popular with paddlers, nature photographers, hunters and fishermen. Canoeists can follow water trails deep into the 354,000 acre wilderness, and visitors can tour a restored homestead to discover how “swampers” once made their home here.

In the case of the 1923 silent classic, director Cecil B. DeMille set up shop at or near what would later become Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Refuge to film his epic “The Ten Commandments.”

It’s “the only refuge that has an Egyptian city underneath,” jokes Fish and Wildlife Service senior writer/editor David Klinger. He’s not kidding entirely.

DeMille’s colossus of a movie built a lavish set to replicate the ancient City of Seti that boasted of “21 sphinxes, four 35-foot-tall statues of Ramses, and a commanding, awe-inspiring 110-foot-high set of massive city gates,” says Klinger. (The film won an Oscar for best visual effects.) When filming ended, the company simply dynamited the set, costumes and all, and buried them in the dunes. There they lay for decades until bits began resurfacing, exposed by wind and weather. Now, movie artifacts are on display where visitors can see them at the Dunes Center in nearby Guadalupe.

Refuge visitors can walk four miles across the beach to the refuge to see migrating waterfowl and shorebirds and coastal dune plants in bloom. The site is also a popular spot for surf fishing enthusiasts and wildlife photographers.

These days, commercial filmmakers work with refuge managers and need to obtain a special use permit to film on refuge lands. Rules posted by Merrit Island National Wildlife Refuge in Florida show the kinds of concerns typically addressed – primarily those of compatibility with wildlife conservation and safeguarding refuge resources.

Klinger says that carefully chosen film projects can enhance the public’s view of refuges “as long as they do not harm the resource,” he says. “Our job is to protect refuges for the present and future.”

About:
The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals and commitment to public service. For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit www.fws.gov.

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Boone and Crockett Club Supports Renaming Refuge in Hamilton’s Honor

Boone and Crockett Club

MISSOULA, Mont.--(Ammoland.com)- The Boone and Crockett Club has announced its support for changing the name of Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge in Mississippi to the Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge in honor of the late director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Legislation to rename the refuge has passed the House of Representatives and Senate. The measure now awaits the signature of President Obama.

“Sam was an avid hunter and he approached conservation with a hunter’s sensibilities,” said Boone and Crockett Club President Ben B. Wallace. “He was part of the long, proud tradition of sportsmen leading America’s conservation movement. And he served that role–both professionally and personally–with great passion.”

Boone and Crockett founder Theodore Roosevelt and other early Club members were instrumental in establishing the National Wildlife Refuge System in 1903.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said, “A native Mississippian, Sam Hamilton fell in love with conservation and fish and wildlife management when as a boy he learned how to band ducks and build waterfowl pens at Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge. I commend the House for recognizing Sam’s distinguished career and extraordinary contributions to wildlife conservation–and especially the National Wildlife Refuge System–by voting to rename this refuge, which was so close to his heart, in his honor.”

Hamilton was sworn in as the 15th director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in September 2009 and was serving in that capacity when he died suddenly of a heart attack last February.

A 30-year career employee of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Hamilton had previously served in a variety of positions, including regional director of the Southeast Region, where he was instrumental in the extensive recovery and restoration efforts required following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the Interior Department’s restoration work in the Everglades.

Established in 1940, the Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge is located within the three Mississippi counties of Noxubee, Oktibbeha and Winston. Its 42,500 acres of bottomland and upland woodlands provide essential habitat to the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, American alligator, bobcat, quail, white-tailed deer and wild turkeys. In addition, waterfowl including American widgeons, gadwalls, mallards and wood ducks annually winter on the refuge.

About the Boone and Crockett Club
Founded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1887, the Boone and Crockett Club promotes guardianship and visionary management of big game and associated wildlife in North America. The Club maintains the highest standards of fair-chase sportsmanship and habitat stewardship. Member accomplishments include enlarging and protecting Yellowstone and establishing Glacier and Denali national parks, founding the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and National Wildlife Refuge System, fostering the Pittman-Robertson and Lacey Acts, creating the Federal Duck Stamp program, and developing the cornerstones of modern game laws. The Boone and Crockett Club is headquartered in Missoula, Mont. For details, visit www.boone-crockett.org.

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