Documentary
Our documentary has been featured in several national film festivals, including the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival in New York City, as well as local festivals like the Thunder Bay International Film Festival in Alpena, Michigan.
The City of Monroe, Michigan, Commission on the Environment and Water Quality (COTE) mini documentary film, detailing the extensive remediation cleanup work, habitat restoration and recreational enhancements that have taken place in the River Raisin over the past two decades.
Filmed over the course of 2018, the eleven minute video documents the recent work on the River Raisin to de-list it as an Area of Concern (AOC), which includes removal of dams, installation of fish passages, and reinvigoration of the natural environment.
It features interviews with Jon Allan, Director of the Michigan Office of the Great Lakes (OGL), Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ); Mark Tuchman, Environmental Scientist with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA); Scott Cieniawski, Section Chief US EPA, Great Lakes National Program Office; Michelle Selzer, Lake Erie Coordinator, MOGL; as well as local citizens Dan Stefanski and Richard Micka – longtime champions of the River Raisin come-back, members of the River Raisin Public Advisory Council and COTE. Made possible by funding through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative administered by the Michigan Areas of Concern Program, Office of the Great Lakes, Department of Environmental Quality, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Through past grants, the COTE/City of Monroe and its partners have removed dams and created passages permitting fish to migrate, for the first time in over 80 years, a twenty-three mile stretch of the River.
The documentary showcases the relentless efforts of volunteers, staff and key stakeholders to restore the ecology and natural beauty, as well as the cultural and recreational value of this regional asset including fishing, kayaking, wildlife viewing and more. It is the hope of COTE that the film can serve as a model and inspiration to other AOCs and citizens, as well as local and regional stakeholders.