Producers Ron Blatman and Miles Saunders have put together a masterful 4-part HDTV documentary on the long story of Saving San Francisco Bay. Parts 3 and 4 air tonight Oct 15th at 8pm on KQED TV in San Francisco (repeated on Sunday). Don’t miss it.

Having spent three years photographing my book on San Francisco Bay with author John Hart, I know many of the places and subjects covered. It is a pleasure to see this broad ranging subject succinctly presented in four hours, with narration by Robert Redford. The film makes extensive use of interviews with some of the original players in the move to stop the filling and degradation of the Bay, and start an ambitious restoration process. John Hart and I were interviewed for the project and he appears in part 1.

Filmed by Sacramento cinematographer Kit Tyler, the program makes excellent use of animation, showing the flooding of the Bay after the Ice age and the arrival of the Spanish in the 1700’s. Tonight’s episodes complete the history and focus on the conservation efforts. With increased pressures from agriculture and the eight million inhabitants of the Bay Area, plus the constant pressure of climate change, what is done in San Francisco will impact conservation efforts throughout the world.

Details are at www.savingthebay.org.

Tagged as: california, conservation, environment, san francisco bay