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STOECKER ECOLOGICAL - About. Matt Stoecker ready to float his backpack and survey gear through a deep gorge pool while studying the wilds of Sespe Creek. Stoecker Ecological was formed in 1998 after encouragement from my professors and internship director to seek funding of my thesis project with U.C. Santa Barbara’s Biology Department.
Jun 22, 2016 · DamNation producer Matt Stoecker gives an update on the fight to demolish America's derelict dams and restore fish-friendly watersheds.
1,441 Followers, 197 Following, 96 Posts - Matt Stoecker (@mattstoecker) on Instagram: "Director of Beyond Searsville Dam https://caltrout.org/news/action-alert-remove-searsville-dam".
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Aug 8, 2014 · For now, Corte Madera Creek is still a special place for Matt Stoecker. On a hot July day, he squats on a cool creek bank and points out more than a dozen rainbow trout, both tiny fry that hatched out this year and larger fish that have survived to their second year.
- Overview
- National Geographic Adventure: Matt, you’ve been working on dam removal and habitat restoration since 1998. Why did you and Yvon Chouinard think it was the right time to make this film?
- NGA: This project took three and a half years to complete. It’s not a simple topic. This must have been a daunting task.
- NGA: The cinematography in this film is amazing. Ben, what approach did you take?
- NGA: You must get asked all the time by other filmmakers for advice on trying to make a difference with their work. What do you say?
- NGA: After all the hard work, is there a specific part of this project you are really proud of?
- NGA: Do you think the film has made an impact?
Three filmmakers capture a pivotal moment in river conservation and ignite a movement to return rivers to their natural state.
“A lot of people see a huge reservoir, and they think, That’s a beautiful, beneficial thing,” says filmmaker and conservationist Matt Stoecker. “But dams are like coal-fired power plants. They decimate a river’s ecosystem.”
Four years ago, Stoecker and Yvon Chouinard, founder of apparel company Patagonia, wanted to see rivers come to life on film as they returned to their free-flowing state. It was a particularly timely moment—two large dams in the heart of United States salmon habitat were set to be demolished. Stoecker reached out to Colorado-based filmmakers Ben Knight and Travis Rummel of Felt Soul Media to create a story about the U.S.’s long but evolving relationship with dams and the push to remove obsolete or decommissioned dams even as the country continues to use and build others.
The resulting 87-minute film, DamNation, has brought the topic of dam removal to a broad audience. It’s been racking up awards at festivals, including the prestigious Audience Choice Award at SXSW, and became available on Netflix in early November.
“Dams aren’t charismatic, so we pushed ourselves to find beautiful, character-driven stories,” says co-director Rummel.
From 95-year-old conservationist Katie Lee recalling her last trip down Glen Canyon before it was flooded to form Lake Powell to the artist and activist Mikal Jakubal recounting his iconic story of painting a crack down the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir’s dam in Yosemite, the film’s stories enliven and personalize a topic that could easily devolve into statistics and political talking heads. In the end, even director Ben Knight became a character, functioning as a guide for the viewer as the film navigates its way through the decades of history and dam locations across the U.S.
Matt Stoecker: With the Elwha and Condit Dams coming out, it was this insanely historic summer. These were the biggest dams removed in history. Before, the biggest dam that had come out was 50 feet tall. All of a sudden, we were raising the bar to 200 feet tall. We just knew that there were going to be incredible visuals of dams coming out and ecos...
Travis Rummel: Ben and I turned it down at first. But there is a lot of value to saying yes to things that you don’t necessarily know how to pull off. It meant not being afraid to fail.
Ben Knight: I had this idea. I wanted to film it like we were shooting stills. When you look at a still photograph, you can stare at it for a minute and not get bored. I wanted to shoot more carefully. We left all the jibs and sliders and toys at home.
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TR: Take on a topic that you are utterly passionate about, because it’s going to take over your life. Work with people you love. It helps. Ben and I have a really nice working relationship. I feel really fortunate for that because the reward is in the process. You won’t make money.
BK: I’m just really proud that we were able to pull it off. There were literally years when I didn’t think we would be able to. I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to make something bold enough.
MS: When we showed it in Ventura, California, I had a seven-year-old give me a high five. The kid told me he wanted to be a dam buster. The film is working when that happens. We are entering this stage where the film is going out internationally. It’s cool to see how much interest there is abroad. I went to Finland and Norway and they put on big ev...
STOECKER ECOLOGICAL. Home | Projects | Services | Clients | Videos | About. View Videos of Our Work. Habitat and fisheries assessment and watershed recovery projects.
Feb 3, 2015 · The former Elwha Dam looms overhead as DamNation producer and underwater photographer Matt Stoecker prepares to film Chinook salmon trapped below the impassable wall of concrete in a scene from...
