Have you ever wondered how open space remains open? Who is working to keep these spaces open and healthy? Well, it turns out a lot of people are and they likely fall into two categories: Land Trusts or Resource Conservation Districts. While both types of organizations do incredibly important work to conserve and protect our undeveloped areas, they do it in different ways and they rarely work in tandem. Until now…

We recently teamed up with our good friends at the Bay Area Open Space Council to create a short film about all the ways that these two groups can and should work together in ‘A State of Harmony’. We shot interviews with a myriad of stakeholders from the Bay Area conservation community and filmed in three beautiful locations, Patterson Ranch in Livermore, CA and two locations near Watsonville, CA, Byrne-Milliron Forest and Watsonville Slough Farm. We wrapped it up into a nice little bundle, sprinkled some original music in and…voila! ‘A State of Harmony’

A State of Harmony from Plus M Productions on Vimeo.

The whole production was memorable and eye opening, but the highlight was definitely spending the afternoon in the redwood groves at Byrne-Milliron forest with it’s manager Jeff Helmer. Jeff has managed the forest for over thirty years for the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County. He personally designed and built all the trails and knows every inch of the 402 acre park like the back of his hand. We had the great pleasure to not only meet and hang out with Jeff but to also film and interview him. We took the footage we gathered of Jeff and created a short side project film entitled ‘The Coyote Mantle’. Here it is, we hope you enjoy it.

The Coyote Mantle – A tribute to Jeff Helmer and the Byrne-Milliron Forest from Plus M Productions on Vimeo.

Special thanks to Crystal Simons and Annie Burke at the Bay Area Open Space Council, Karen Buhr at California Association of Resource Conservation Districts and the California State Coastal Conservancy.