Healthy, resilient communities need healthy streams, rivers, and lakes that provide clean water and diverse aquatic habitats, recreation opportunities, abundant sport for anglers, and wildlife-rich environs for us to admire and respect.

Healthy forests support these waterways through their ability to slow and absorb storm runoff, provide a web of roots that stabilize streambanks and soils, and reduce erosion and damaging waterway sedimentation.  Natural filtration of water through forest soils also removes pollutants such as oils, heavy metals, pesticides, and concentrated nutrients from fertilizers that would otherwise harm the aquatic ecosystem.  Along runs and streams throughout the watershed, trees provide shade to keep water temperatures cool and consistent, which is a critical need for many native species including brook trout, various darters, and freshwater mussels.  – Bennett Gould, Foundation for Sustainable Forests

Throughout 2022, PPFF will be focusing on the importance of water quality by highlighting the role of the forested landscape in purifying water and the many ecosystem services forests provide, as well as by raising awareness about water pollution issues in Pennsylvania, and celebrating clean water through this year’s photo contest and beyond.

Likewise, the Foundation for Sustainable Forests and French Creek Valley Conservancy are two organizations focused on conservation of – you guessed it – woods and waters in the northwest Pennsylvania region.  In recognition of the critical importance of healthy forests and healthy waterways, both to each other and to the overall well-being of our communities, they present the Woods and Waters Film Series:

Woods and Waters Film Series
Presented by the Foundation for Sustainable Forests and French Creek Valley Conservancy

The days may be growing longer, but cold winter nights are far from over.  What better way to spend a chilly evening than curled up with a blanket, a warm beverage, and a collection of exciting environmental films?

Please join us for the sixth annual Woods and Waters Film Series, streamed virtually by the Foundation for Sustainable Forests and French Creek Valley Conservancy on Friday, January 21 and Friday, February 25 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm.  Each evening will feature a different collection of short films (and sometimes a longer feature film) exploring environmental and recreational topics paired with conversations about the films, audience Q&As, and discussions with filmmakers.  This year’s films cover a wide range of topics including the efforts to reverse the impact of abandoned coal mines on the Little Conemaugh river in central Pennsylvania, ice harvesting in Minnesota for off-grid refrigeration, a woman’s journey to climb a 13,000-foot peak in her wheelchair, and much more!

The Woods and Waters Film Series began in 2017 as a fun, free way for the communities of the Foundation for Sustainable Forests and French Creek Valley Conservancy to interact, cross-pollinate ideas, and learn together during the quieter winter months.  Over the years, the Film Series has hopped around northwest Pennsylvania to make the event more accessible to an ever-growing in-person audience and went virtual in 2021, allowing people to tune in from anywhere in the world.

You can learn more about the Foundation for Sustainable Forests’ work to protect forested ecosystems and support rural communities through sustainable working forests here and French Creek Valley Conservancy’s land protection, stewardship, and education in the French Creek watershed here.

The Woods and Waters Film Series is free, but registration is required to receive the streaming link.  Additional information about this year’s films and registration for the Film Series can be found here.