Hidden Lake, by Bill McDavid.  The natural beauty found in Glacier National Park, Montana can only be partially captured through the lens. No matter how great the image justice will never be served by reducing such magnificence to pixels on a screen.

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“Facing the Storm: Story of the American Bison,” a documentary by Missoula-based High Plains Films and co-produced with Independent Television Service and Montana PBS, will premier at the Kansas International Film Festival next month. Showings will be scheduled in the West and it will eventually air on local PBS stations.

The film’s a major undertaking. It tells the epic story of human relations with the largest land mammal on the continent: its dominance, its loss and the subsequent quest to protect those that remain.

It recounts the near-destruction of the species in the late 19th century--from an estimated 30 million bison to a mere 23 individuals by 1885. It graphically exposes the annual slaughter of bison outside of Yellowstone National Park, where the largest genetically-pure herd remains in semi-captivity. Finally, the film explores the vision--and monumental obstacles--to restore bison to immense tracts of the Great Plains. This involves a dramatic transformation of how we understand the Great Plains, from a utilitarian world view to a fully-functional ecosystem that combines a lost culture with modern ecological science and contemporary economies, and includes the full range of original species that have been largely vanquished from the region. 

It’s summer in Montana (as it seems to be in most of the U.S.), so we go outside. I spend the winter huddled in front of the TV, watching NFL and Jeopardy. Then when the snow melts I take all that bottled up aggression and trivial knowledge into the Great Outdoors and get right with Old Man Mother Nature.