America the Beautiful (2022–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - Rise of the Redwood Giants - full transcript
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: Welcome
to North America.
The most diverse
continent on Earth.
Home to a unique lineup
of incredible animals.
And some pretty
amazing people too.
Across the country,
everyday heroes from
all walks of life
are stepping up to the plate...
(HELICOPTER BLADES WHIR)
COAST GUARDSMAN:
There's the blow.
NARRATOR: to protect our
most iconic animals...
Pretty amazing to see it
run off into the wild.
NARRATOR: and our
wildest spaces.
BERNADETTE: This place is one of the
last untouched ecosystems in the world.
And we are going to fight
to keep it that way.
NARRATOR: Anyone can help.
ALEX: You have the power within
you, even if you're a little kid,
to go and make a change.
Inspiration is just contagious.
NARRATOR: To share our
world with wildlife,
it takes people with passion...
Holy moly!
NARRATOR: and vision for the
future of our beautiful continent.
(MUSIC FADES)
(MELLOW MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: The
Northern Great Plains.
One hundred and
eighty million acres
of open prairie, crisscrossed
with roads and farms.
But just a couple of centuries
ago, this was all wilderness,
filled with animals.
There are plans to restore
it to its former glory.
Ecologists Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant
and Dr. Danny Kinka
are carrying out
an aerial survey
for an organization
called American Prairie.
Their vision is to rewild the
grasslands on an epic scale.
This place used to have just
hundreds and hundreds of species.
You know, if we
flash back 200 years,
you could just see all of those
animals all over these grasslands.
And it's possible to get this
place back to where it was before.
The mission of American
Prairie is to restore
one of the last remnant
grasslands on the planet
and to open that up to the public
so that they can enjoy them,
so they can experience this
kind of Serengeti-type landscape
but right here in North America.
NARRATOR: American
Prairie is buying up land
to create a three-million-acre
haven for wildlife.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
(INSECTS CHIRPING)
NARRATOR: The plan is to
restore the entire ecosystem.
From humble vegetarians...
to A-list predators.
Wolves from Yellowstone
and grizzly bears are
already on their way here.
(COWS MOOING)
NARRATOR: But this
is cattle country.
Cowboys have worked
this land for 150 years.
And predators are a threat
to their livelihood.
(COWS MOO)
NARRATOR: Rae and Danny are
trialing some new solutions
to help ranchers live
alongside wildlife.
Lance and Nicole are the first in
their community to give it a try.
- LANCE: Hey.
- RAE: Good morning. Good to see you guys.
Hello.
- NICOLE: Good morning.
- LANCE: I'm a cow guy first and foremost.
I'm fourth-generation Montanan.
Both me and my wife's families
came here and homesteaded,
and we love the land,
we love the cattle.
But I also think there's
ways to balance things
and to have the wildlife here,
and to have them in healthy numbers,
and to enjoy them for yourself,
or to even, you know,
make some money.
NARRATOR: American Prairie pays ranchers
for any wild animals caught on camera
on their land.
For something like a coyote,
they might receive 25 dollars.
If they were to get a wolf or
a grizzly bear on that camera,
it would be worth 500 dollars.
It's a little contribution that may
ease the pain of losing livestock,
but it doesn't stop the
cattle from being preyed on.
To help with that, people are turning
to an old profession around these parts.
Range riders.
They're hired by ranchers
and wildlife groups
to keep predators
away from livestock.
A range rider with the cattle
is that extra level of deterrent
that just says to a wolf, or
a grizzly bear, or a cougar,
or even a coyote, "Hey, better to stick
with the deer, don't mind the cows."
RAE: The range riders I'm
meeting these days, like Molly,
are similar yet different
from range riders of the past.
You know, their grandfathers
or great grandfathers,
if they came across a wolf,
or a bear, or a mountain lion,
they probably would
have killed it.
Whereas, today, we
have these young women
who are really strong and ambitious
and have a solid understanding
of the balance that
nature needs here.
You don't see a lot of women,
or you don't notice them,
out here making a difference.
And we really are
making a big difference.
And I really am proud to be a
part of that and inspire people.
Now they've laid the groundwork,
it's opened the door for the return
of the prairie's
most iconic animal.
The bison.
(SNORTS, GROWLS)
NARRATOR: Symbol
of the heartlands.
Once their numbers were up to
60 million on the Great Plains.
By the 1880s, they were
hunted to less than 400.
Today, they're coming back.
A group of bison raised
by American Prairie
are set to be released
onto the plains of Montana.
- (DRUM BEATING)
- (TRIBESPEOPLE VOCALIZING)
NARRATOR: Over 500 members of
the Chippewa Cree Tribe are here
to welcome the bison back
to their native lands.
A symbolic moment for Dustin,
known as Sweet Grass Old Man.
At one time, you could look upon this land
and see buffalo from horizon to horizon.
That's how many were here.
And it means so much
to bring it back.
(SENTIMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: Rae and Danny are here
to witness history in the making.
(BISON GRUNTING)
Here we go, guys.
NARRATOR: Time to release the
bison into their new home.
MALE VOICE: Ready?
- RAE: Here they come. Here they come.
- (MALE VOICE 2 WHOOPING)
(BISON HOOVES THUNDERING)
Yeah.
(PEOPLE WHOOPING)
- RAE: Yay!
- (BOTH LAUGHING)
To watch that happen, you
can feel the ground shake
as they come thundering
out of that pen.
It feels like something's
been put back right again.
The idea is that these bison are
going to reproduce and reproduce
and create a larger
and larger population.
And maybe one day
they'll get back to those population sizes
that we used to have historically here.
NARRATOR: American Prairie's goal
is to create a herd of over 10,000.
TRIBESMAN: The buffalo
made a promise to Creator,
promise they'll never
leave us, the human race.
So, it means a lot today.
And then to see the
eagle fly above,
it's like a complete
ceremony, made it all whole.
NARRATOR: From the
Great Plains...
to the very edge of the continent,
people are taking action
to protect their local wildlife.
And you don't have to be a
scientist to make a difference.
Anyone can help at any age.
- MIKE: Beautiful sunrise, Alex.
- ALEX: Yeah.
NARRATOR: At Stillwater
Cove, in California,
young conservationist Alex Weber and
her dad, Mike, are hitting the waves.
ALEX: Growing up as a kid, I spent
all of my free time in the ocean.
It's always been my safe
place and my happy place.
And that love for the
ocean grew as I grew.
(ETHEREAL MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: The undersea
forest around Monterey
is home to hundreds of species.
Alex's favorite... the
California sea otter.
They rely on the
kelp for shelter,
and it's also where
they find their food.
ALEX: Sea otters really do
have a magical charm to them.
They're incredibly curious. They
like to come and check you out,
and so we always get visited
by one when we're out diving
which is always a
special experience.
NARRATOR: But all
is not well here.
Alex has noticed the
otters chewing on garbage.
And in particular, golf balls.
There's a sinister
secret beneath the waves,
uncovered by Alex when she was
just a 16-year-old high schooler.
ALEX: When we looked beneath the
ocean, you couldn't see the bottom.
It was this dynamic blanket of
golf balls just tumbling along
as the ocean swayed
back and forth.
NARRATOR: The reason
for all the balls?
Right next door is the famous
Pebble Beach Golf Club.
One mistake here and
your ball's in the ocean.
They're rolling around, and the coating
on the golf ball quickly gets worn off.
And all that plastic, all
the chemicals that were used,
they're now in the environment
in an uncontrollable way.
And every one of those golf balls
is like three water bottles.
Now, if you saw someone come and dump
a bag of water bottles in the ocean,
you'd get pretty upset.
NARRATOR: Alex decided to
tackle the problem herself.
One golf ball at a time.
ALEX: I always say if golf balls
floated, this wouldn't be an issue.
But because these golf balls are
out of sight, they are out of mind.
NARRATOR: Over the
last five years,
Alex and Mike have
collected 50,000 golf balls
but still believe there
are over a million left.
Alex recorded her data
in a scientific paper
to persuade the golf
course to clean up its act.
MIKE: Once the research
paper was published,
within a matter of days,
Pebble Beach went public with a commitment
to take the golf balls out of the ocean.
ALEX: The power was not in
the removal of the golf ball,
but it was in the message to other
people that if you're seeing a problem,
you can go and make a change.
And you have the power within
you, even if you're a little kid,
to go out there and
make that change happen
for yourself, for your community,
and for your environment.
NARRATOR: But plastic pollution
is only part of the story.
The sea otters and other
kelp forest residents
are facing the loss of
their entire habitat.
Alex's dad, Mike, is working
with a team of divers
to try to stop an invading army.
Sea urchins...
in their millions.
Urchin numbers have exploded
because of unusually warm waters.
And they're eating their
way through the kelp.
Two-thirds of the
forest is already gone.
MIKE: The scale of this
problem is beyond belief.
It's tens of thousands of
acres of... of coastline
that the kelp has been
devastated. And as a result,
the fish populations suffer, the
crustaceans suffer, everything suffers
because the forest that they
all depended on is now gone.
(WAVES CRASHING)
MIKE: So, if there's no kelp forests,
the sea otter is missing a habitat,
it's missing some protection.
And nobody wants a world
without sea otters.
Mike is with a group of volunteer
divers, led by Keith Rootsaert.
They call themselves
"The Urchinators."
Our role in this is to go out
and be a predator of urchins
and reduce the number of urchins so
that the kelp can come back and thrive
and restore the
biodiversity to this reef.
(DIVERS SPLASH)
NARRATOR: Over 400 divers have joined
the Giant Kelp Restoration Project.
So far, they've removed 350,000
urchins to help the kelp recover.
(MELLOW MUSIC PLAYING)
KEITH: It feels great to be out there
doing something and not just watching
the disaster unfold
in front of us.
All right.
FEMALE DIVER: Oh, this
is nice. Yeah, I think...
MALE DIVER: It's a good haul.
Every little bit makes
a difference, you know?
Yeah, yeah. Especially when they're on
the kelp and you're taking them off.
KEITH: You know, there
are so many urchins,
and then you realize that it's not just
me down here. It's Casey, and Chad,
- and Emily, and Kevin.
- Right.
And that's what inspires me,
you know, to keep on going.
And, uh, it's just...
Inspiration is just contagious.
NARRATOR: The dive community here
isn't just removing the problems,
they're also restoring the kelp.
Biologist Sara Gonzalez
is collecting spores.
She then nurtures them
in her lab for six weeks.
When the plants are just a
fraction of an inch tall,
Sara secures them to the seabed
to help them make it
through the storms.
I'm so happy. It is such
a joy to see them grow up.
Now there's some of them
are nine meters tall.
Swimming around through there, it
looks just like any other kelp forest.
NARRATOR: In time,
this experiment could be
rolled out on a bigger scale,
helping to regenerate kelp
forests all along the coasts.
MIKE: What Sara is
doing is brilliant.
This is a story of perseverance.
Nobody wakes up in the morning and
says, "I'm going to save the world."
But people like Alex and Keith, they
get up in the morning and they say,
"I'm going to take
a step forward.
"And if I get a few balls out,
if I get a few urchins out,
"it's gonna make the world a little
bit closer to being a better place."
NARRATOR: From coast to coast,
everyday heroes are
helping protect wildlife...
using whatever skills they have.
Sometimes huge success can be
achieved with just a camera...
and a lot of perseverance.
The southern swamps.
A secret world of wildlife.
Most elusive of all...
the Florida panther.
North America's
most endangered cat.
Once very common in the
southeastern states,
they were nearly
wiped out completely.
Now they only exist in
Florida's wildest places...
which are rapidly disappearing.
CARLTON: You could say that
Florida is a fractured paradise.
We have now more than 1,000 people
moving here every single day.
And that leads, conservatively,
to 100,000 acres of land lost
to development every year.
NARRATOR: Carlton Ward is
a wildlife photographer.
For the last five years,
he and fellow
conservationist, Malia Byrtus,
have been on a
mission to connect
the remaining wild fragments of Florida
into a protected corridor for wildlife.
(MELLOW MUSIC PLAYING)
(FUSION OF ANIMAL NOISES)
NARRATOR: To win public support
for the corridor project,
Carlton and Malia have spent
many months in the swamps,
trying to get pictures
of the panthers.
MALIA: These animals are so elusive
that we have to set cameras up
in environments like this where
the actual animal triggers
the camera themselves. And
that's how we get images.
And we're able to see
their natural behavior
without any impact
on the animal.
Gosh. I like this angle.
NARRATOR: Malia's best panther
impression helps set the camera's focus,
and they're ready to go.
When a panther comes to this spot, it's
going to have a choice to turn around
and walk back or to jump over.
There's a log here, it might
give it a stepping-stone.
We're hoping to get a picture of a
Florida panther walking down this trail,
pausing at the edge of that water,
and then flying through the air
to get to the other side.
NARRATOR: Carlton is an
eighth-generation Floridian.
He's deeply connected
to these wild places.
CARLTON: These swamps are so remote
and so... harsh to many people
that they've been spared the
bulldozer and spared the development.
They're a last remnant and a
reminder of a primordial, wild past
where you can step down into
this dark, tannic water,
and this quiet
just surrounds you.
(BEAR HUFFS)
CARLTON: As someone
working with camera traps,
you get a sense of who you're
sharing that space with.
You'll start to recognize
that same panther
or that same family
of black bears.
And so, it's a window into
this truly wild world.
(COW MOOS)
NARRATOR: But the wild animals don't
have this corridor to themselves.
They share it with cattle where it
passes through Florida's ranch land.
On this ranch in Immokalee,
they often run into black bears moving
between different patches of forest.
They need the wildlife corridor
as much as the panthers.
Because it's such a hot spot for bears,
this ranch is a great place to catch one.
SHELBY: Yeah. All right.
NARRATOR: Carlton and Malia are
working with government scientists
to study the bears'
health and movements.
The best way to lure
in a hungry bear?
They can tell you're trying
to attract something.
NARRATOR: Donuts. Every time.
MALIA: Glazed,
jelly-filled, powdered.
(BANJO MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: Now all the team has
to do is sit tight... and wait.
One of the biggest obstacles
for the wildlife corridor...
are human highways.
Around 20 panthers are killed
each year on Florida's roads.
(TRAFFIC NOISE)
NARRATOR: So, when they
built the highway I-75,
the Department of Transportation
worked with conservationists
to find a way to keep
the animals safe.
CARLTON: When the planners developed
that stretch of interstate,
the entire length of it has
eight-foot-tall cross fence.
And there's more than
30 underpass structures
going beneath that road.
As a result, you
never have panthers
and bears killed on
that stretch of highway.
Which side do you think?
MALIA: That looks good to me.
CARLTON: Our cameras show
that they really work.
We see bears,
bobcats, coyotes...
deer.
All these animals are
using these places.
NARRATOR: The team captures
a very special moment...
a mother panther and
her one-year-old cub.
It's a great sign.
Crystal clear evidence
that the wildlife corridor
is starting to work,
and panthers are
traveling more freely.
CARLTON: It's just amazing to sit
back and watch the hundreds of cars
and tractor-trailers whizzing by
and wonder how many people know
that, like, at certain moments,
there's a Florida panther
standing beneath them.
Or a Florida black bear
and its cubs traveling
from one patch of
forest to the next.
(BEAR HUFFS)
NARRATOR: Back at the ranch,
the donuts have delivered.
There's a large
bear in the trap.
CARLTON: This is a big bear.
SHELBY: Yeah. Probably around
350 pounds. Maybe bigger.
He's adult.
SHELBY: Yeah, definitely
an adult male.
NARRATOR: First job for
Shelby and her team is
to send him off for a snooze.
(MELLOW MUSIC PLAYING)
- SHELBY: All right, Ashley.
- ASHLEY: Yep.
- SHELBY: All right, he's coming down.
- ASHLEY: I got his head.
All right, he's 355.
- SHELBY: Three fifty-five.
- ASHLEY: Yeah.
So, he is an adult male.
He's very healthy-looking.
I would guess he's probably maybe
around six or seven years old.
And overall, he's a
great-looking bear.
And hopefully, he'll live
a long life out here.
To be able to see the bear, and
hear the bear, and smell the bear,
and feel the strength of the
bear makes you respect them
even that much more.
The bear is given an ear tag so
they can identify him in the future.
SHELBY: Ear tag code.
FEMALE RESEARCHER: The code is short
black, short black, medium black.
CARLTON: There's a chance that
this bear will show up again
on camera 25, 50,
100 miles away,
and that'll give information
about their territory
and how they travel
through the corridor.
NARRATOR: It's time to wake up. This
dozy bear won't remember a thing.
But the information he
provides will be crucial
to understanding how people and
wildlife can coexist along the corridor.
(ALL WHOOPING)
Pretty amazing to see it
run off into the wild.
Sitting in that cage
quiet... and then bam!
FEMALE RESEARCHER
2: There you go.
So fast. Jumps out of the cage, and
then gone, back into the forest.
MALIA: This does give me
an extreme amount of hope.
I'm seeing with my own eyes
that this bear is using the
Florida Wildlife Corridor,
and that means the world.
That means that all of
our work that we're doing
in collaboration with so many
other folks is, it's working.
NARRATOR: Covering
nearly 18 million acres,
the Florida Wildlife Corridor
was officially recognized
in state law in 2021.
Carlton, Malia, and their team
have achieved their dream.
Their pictures have shown people the
amazing animals on their doorstep
and won the support needed
to secure their future.
MALIA: Seeing the images of the panther
in its natural and wild environment,
it... it's incredible.
- That is wild. That is wild.
- (CHUCKLES)
CARLTON: You can see the
eyes of this Florida panther
coming into the frame, stop at the edge
of this swamp creek, and then leap,
with all this strength and
grace, right past the camera.
MALIA: Wow!
CARLTON: And that panther is gonna
carry with it the story and the hopes
of these wild places where
it still makes its home.
NARRATOR: Wildlife heroes come
from every corner of the continent.
And from every walk of life.
All along the West Coast,
individuals are helping
to make a difference...
even in the smallest of ways.
Every year, people gather
on Oregon's shoreline
for one of the world's
greatest wildlife events...
- BOY: Do you see it, Mom?
- MOM: Yeah, I see it.
(WATER GUSHES FROM BLOWHOLE)
NARRATOR: the gray
whale migration.
It's a 12,000-mile journey...
from Mexico to the
Alaskan Arctic.
The whales are a welcome sight
to those who keep
watch for their return.
Retired firefighter Ara has
found a new purpose in life.
He's now a volunteer
whale observer
and helps educate people
who come to see them.
How big are they?
Uh, the gray whales, they're about as big
as a school bus. The ones we're seeing.
- MOM: You see the orange thing? Okay.
- BOY: Yeah.
ARA: When I was in the fire service,
I generally dealt with people
having the worst
day of their life.
And now what I'm doing
is totally different.
And when people see a
whale, and they get excited,
I just realize they're having one
of the best days of their life.
- (BOTH GIGGLING)
- ARA: And that's pretty exciting.
(WATER GUSHES FROM BLOWHOLE)
NARRATOR: Like
hundreds of others,
Ara uses an app on his
phone to record sightings,
including a note of
any whales in trouble.
Thanks, in part, to this information,
scientists have discovered
a serious problem.
Following a recent
peak in population,
gray whale numbers have
suddenly dropped by 25 percent.
It's a mystery that
needs to be solved.
Professor Leigh Torres,
one of the world's top
experts on gray whales,
is on the case.
PILOT: Ready for takeoff.
(HELICOPTER BLADES WHIR)
NARRATOR: With a bit of help
from the U.S. Coast Guard,
Leigh is heading out to
track the whale's progress
along the Oregon coastline.
LEIGH: There's a blow at three
o'clock, about 200 meters.
Two blows, if we
can bank around.
Another blow, so there's two
whales right next to each other.
We do these flights four times a
month, and we collect some great data
about their distribution
across these coastal oceans.
(WATER GUSHES FROM BLOWHOLE)
LEIGH: It's really important because
a lot of them are washing up dead
and skinny on the beach.
NARRATOR: Since 2019,
more than 500 dead whales have
been discovered along the coast.
At the same time, the number
of ship strikes has gone up.
The whales seem to be more and
more vulnerable to collisions.
(SHIP HORN BLARES)
NARRATOR: Another danger is
getting tangled in fishing gear.
Leigh and her team are studying
their local whale population,
to discover why they're
running into trouble.
Every now and then, we shut down the
engine and have a look and a listen.
It's just a little puff on the horizon,
a difference in the smell of the air,
a sound of the blow. And
then we're on our game.
- Oh, blow right here. Yeah.
- MALE RESEARCHER: Yeah.
- CLARA: I've got it.
- Cool.
Right over there.
By that other one.
- Oh. It's Pac-Man.
- Yeah! (CHUCKLES)
LEIGH: So, this is
a whale we know.
It's got this really distinctive
Pac-Man-looking mark on its left side.
Oh, it's wonderful. It's like seeing
an old friend on the street, you know?
Just, uh, knowing, "Oh,
you're here, you're feeding.
"So, yeah, let's hang
out for a little bit."
- MALE RESEARCHER: Oh, right here.
- Holy moly! Hi, Pac-Man.
And that's a whale.
So, now we'll just... hang around and
wait for poop. See if we can get lucky.
NARRATOR: The team is trying to sniff out
any possible clues in the whale's poop.
LEIGH: All clean, no poop?
CLARA: All clean. No poop.
Oh, whale, give us a poop.
- Oh.
- MALE RESEARCHER: Whoa!
- LEIGH: That's a big arch.
- MALE RESEARCHER: Come on.
- Oh, poop!
- LEIGH: Poop! Poop!
Get the net in, net in.
Nice swooshing.
NARRATOR: Even just
a little bit will do.
MALE RESEARCHER: I have some.
Oh, nice. Oh, that's
a good sample. Sweet!
- MALE RESEARCHER: Good job, Clara!
- (ALL CHUCKLING)
LEIGH: Nice, Pac-Man.
Nice work, dude!
NARRATOR: By
analyzing their poop,
Leigh can tell if her
study group are stressed.
LEIGH: What we found is
that skinny whales have
higher stress levels.
And so, like us, maybe
they get hangry, right?
So, when you just don't get enough
food, everything seems to bother us more
and stress us out more.
And it might be
similar for whales.
The million-dollar question really is why
these whales aren't getting enough food?
NARRATOR: Part of the answer
lies 2,000 miles north,
in the whales' arctic feeding
grounds at the end of their journey.
LEIGH: With climate change,
prey is becoming less abundant,
less predictable to the whales.
Many of them are suffering.
They're malnourished and skinny,
which is impacting their
ability to survive.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: The whales are stressed
out, starving, and exhausted.
So they find it harder to move out of
the way of the ships and fishing nets.
But people can help
simply by watching them.
(WATER GUSHES FROM BLOWHOLE)
Beautiful. Beautiful.
Magnificent animal.
NARRATOR: Ara's app sends alerts
to fishing boats and other ships
so they know where the whales
are feeding and can avoid them.
ARA: I believe the average
citizen who comes out
on a regular basis and observes, they
can see changes that are occurring.
And when they notice those
changes, they can alert somebody.
And you're making a difference...
even in your own little way.
NARRATOR: There are times when being
a wildlife hero takes real bravery.
In the battle to protect
our wildest places,
often the most powerful
weapon is your voice.
Alaska.
Up here are some
of the last areas
of untouched wilderness
left on the planet.
At nearly 20 million acres,
the Arctic Refuge is the largest
wildlife reserve in the U.S.
Home to a vast herd
of 150,000 caribou.
They have a special connection
with the people who live here.
Known as the "Caribou People,"
the Gwich'in have roamed this land
for over 40,000 years.
Bernadette Demientieff is one
of the lead voices in the tribe.
She and her family have come to
their ancestral hunting lands.
(ETHEREAL MUSIC PLAYING)
BERNADETTE: This
place is sacred to us.
Just like how some
people consider a church.
Our ancestors respected, honored
these lands and these waters,
our animals, and we
have to carry that on.
NARRATOR: But Bernadette hasn't
always felt such a strong connection
to her roots.
After high school, I lost
myself. I started drinking...
and I walked away
from my family.
I really went down a path
that I am not proud of.
But I see now today that
it made me who I am.
And I'm here now to share my
responsibility as a Gwich'in.
NARRATOR: Bernadette and her people
have a major fight on their hands.
Their most sacred site
is the coastal plain
where the caribou come
each year to give birth.
But beneath the surface lies
over four billion barrels of oil.
The oil companies in nearby Prudhoe Bay
want to drill into the birthing grounds.
That could put the very survival
of the caribou in jeopardy.
There was a time when we were able
to communicate with the animals.
We communicated
with the caribou.
And we made a vow to
take care of each other.
Now it's our turn to take care of them
and to protect their calving grounds.
NARRATOR: As spokesperson
for the Gwich'in,
Bernadette has spent eight years
battling to get a bill to protect
the Refuge passed through Washington.
Protecting the coastal plain
is protecting our identity
and our human rights.
For us, this is a matter of physical,
spiritual, and cultural survival.
BERNADETTE: I believe that
one of the most powerful tools
that you have is your voice.
I just got a big mouth.
I just... (CHUCKLES)
I absolutely refuse
to allow somebody
to push their way into our
homelands, and do whatever they want,
and, um, sit idly by. I won't
allow it... that to happen.
Creator, we thank you for this day.
We thank you for bringing us together.
We thank you for this land,
for the water, for the animals.
We vow to protect it.
Today and always.
NARRATOR: And then a phone
call from Washington.
Oh my gosh. You guys, I've just...
(LAUGHS WITH JOY) Oh my gosh.
The bill just passed the House
and it's going to the Senate.
And, um, they did a count.
Um, and we got enough in the
Senate to... to restore protection
for the Arctic Refuge. A lot
of hard work paid off. (SIGHS)
Just never give up for
what you believe in.
I just can't believe it. This
was just, like, impossible.
One year ago, this was
totally impossible.
And now it's happening. And it's
just... it's just really in my heart.
Just really... Just feeling it.
- GWICH'IN WOMAN: I am proud of you.
- (BERNADETTE WHIMPERS, SNIFFLES)
BERNADETTE: We win
this fight together.
Standing as one, not
just Gwich'in people,
but all of us.
NARRATOR: From the
southern swamps...
to the northern plains...
people are finding new ways to
enable us to live alongside nature.
RAE: I love that we're moving back
in the direction of sharing lands
with wild animals
because that's how we as people
on this continent started,
and that's what our
future is gonna be too.
NARRATOR: America is
a land of heroes...
with one thing in common...
the courage to protect our
most precious wild treasures.
ALEX: As long as you're passionate
about what you're fighting for,
there's no question whether you'll succeed
or not because when your heart's involved,
nothing else can stop you.
(MELLOW COUNTRY MUSIC PLAYING)
(MUSIC CONCLUDES)
NARRATOR: Welcome
to North America.
The most diverse
continent on Earth.
Home to a unique lineup
of incredible animals.
And some pretty
amazing people too.
Across the country,
everyday heroes from
all walks of life
are stepping up to the plate...
(HELICOPTER BLADES WHIR)
COAST GUARDSMAN:
There's the blow.
NARRATOR: to protect our
most iconic animals...
Pretty amazing to see it
run off into the wild.
NARRATOR: and our
wildest spaces.
BERNADETTE: This place is one of the
last untouched ecosystems in the world.
And we are going to fight
to keep it that way.
NARRATOR: Anyone can help.
ALEX: You have the power within
you, even if you're a little kid,
to go and make a change.
Inspiration is just contagious.
NARRATOR: To share our
world with wildlife,
it takes people with passion...
Holy moly!
NARRATOR: and vision for the
future of our beautiful continent.
(MUSIC FADES)
(MELLOW MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: The
Northern Great Plains.
One hundred and
eighty million acres
of open prairie, crisscrossed
with roads and farms.
But just a couple of centuries
ago, this was all wilderness,
filled with animals.
There are plans to restore
it to its former glory.
Ecologists Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant
and Dr. Danny Kinka
are carrying out
an aerial survey
for an organization
called American Prairie.
Their vision is to rewild the
grasslands on an epic scale.
This place used to have just
hundreds and hundreds of species.
You know, if we
flash back 200 years,
you could just see all of those
animals all over these grasslands.
And it's possible to get this
place back to where it was before.
The mission of American
Prairie is to restore
one of the last remnant
grasslands on the planet
and to open that up to the public
so that they can enjoy them,
so they can experience this
kind of Serengeti-type landscape
but right here in North America.
NARRATOR: American
Prairie is buying up land
to create a three-million-acre
haven for wildlife.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
(INSECTS CHIRPING)
NARRATOR: The plan is to
restore the entire ecosystem.
From humble vegetarians...
to A-list predators.
Wolves from Yellowstone
and grizzly bears are
already on their way here.
(COWS MOOING)
NARRATOR: But this
is cattle country.
Cowboys have worked
this land for 150 years.
And predators are a threat
to their livelihood.
(COWS MOO)
NARRATOR: Rae and Danny are
trialing some new solutions
to help ranchers live
alongside wildlife.
Lance and Nicole are the first in
their community to give it a try.
- LANCE: Hey.
- RAE: Good morning. Good to see you guys.
Hello.
- NICOLE: Good morning.
- LANCE: I'm a cow guy first and foremost.
I'm fourth-generation Montanan.
Both me and my wife's families
came here and homesteaded,
and we love the land,
we love the cattle.
But I also think there's
ways to balance things
and to have the wildlife here,
and to have them in healthy numbers,
and to enjoy them for yourself,
or to even, you know,
make some money.
NARRATOR: American Prairie pays ranchers
for any wild animals caught on camera
on their land.
For something like a coyote,
they might receive 25 dollars.
If they were to get a wolf or
a grizzly bear on that camera,
it would be worth 500 dollars.
It's a little contribution that may
ease the pain of losing livestock,
but it doesn't stop the
cattle from being preyed on.
To help with that, people are turning
to an old profession around these parts.
Range riders.
They're hired by ranchers
and wildlife groups
to keep predators
away from livestock.
A range rider with the cattle
is that extra level of deterrent
that just says to a wolf, or
a grizzly bear, or a cougar,
or even a coyote, "Hey, better to stick
with the deer, don't mind the cows."
RAE: The range riders I'm
meeting these days, like Molly,
are similar yet different
from range riders of the past.
You know, their grandfathers
or great grandfathers,
if they came across a wolf,
or a bear, or a mountain lion,
they probably would
have killed it.
Whereas, today, we
have these young women
who are really strong and ambitious
and have a solid understanding
of the balance that
nature needs here.
You don't see a lot of women,
or you don't notice them,
out here making a difference.
And we really are
making a big difference.
And I really am proud to be a
part of that and inspire people.
Now they've laid the groundwork,
it's opened the door for the return
of the prairie's
most iconic animal.
The bison.
(SNORTS, GROWLS)
NARRATOR: Symbol
of the heartlands.
Once their numbers were up to
60 million on the Great Plains.
By the 1880s, they were
hunted to less than 400.
Today, they're coming back.
A group of bison raised
by American Prairie
are set to be released
onto the plains of Montana.
- (DRUM BEATING)
- (TRIBESPEOPLE VOCALIZING)
NARRATOR: Over 500 members of
the Chippewa Cree Tribe are here
to welcome the bison back
to their native lands.
A symbolic moment for Dustin,
known as Sweet Grass Old Man.
At one time, you could look upon this land
and see buffalo from horizon to horizon.
That's how many were here.
And it means so much
to bring it back.
(SENTIMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: Rae and Danny are here
to witness history in the making.
(BISON GRUNTING)
Here we go, guys.
NARRATOR: Time to release the
bison into their new home.
MALE VOICE: Ready?
- RAE: Here they come. Here they come.
- (MALE VOICE 2 WHOOPING)
(BISON HOOVES THUNDERING)
Yeah.
(PEOPLE WHOOPING)
- RAE: Yay!
- (BOTH LAUGHING)
To watch that happen, you
can feel the ground shake
as they come thundering
out of that pen.
It feels like something's
been put back right again.
The idea is that these bison are
going to reproduce and reproduce
and create a larger
and larger population.
And maybe one day
they'll get back to those population sizes
that we used to have historically here.
NARRATOR: American Prairie's goal
is to create a herd of over 10,000.
TRIBESMAN: The buffalo
made a promise to Creator,
promise they'll never
leave us, the human race.
So, it means a lot today.
And then to see the
eagle fly above,
it's like a complete
ceremony, made it all whole.
NARRATOR: From the
Great Plains...
to the very edge of the continent,
people are taking action
to protect their local wildlife.
And you don't have to be a
scientist to make a difference.
Anyone can help at any age.
- MIKE: Beautiful sunrise, Alex.
- ALEX: Yeah.
NARRATOR: At Stillwater
Cove, in California,
young conservationist Alex Weber and
her dad, Mike, are hitting the waves.
ALEX: Growing up as a kid, I spent
all of my free time in the ocean.
It's always been my safe
place and my happy place.
And that love for the
ocean grew as I grew.
(ETHEREAL MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: The undersea
forest around Monterey
is home to hundreds of species.
Alex's favorite... the
California sea otter.
They rely on the
kelp for shelter,
and it's also where
they find their food.
ALEX: Sea otters really do
have a magical charm to them.
They're incredibly curious. They
like to come and check you out,
and so we always get visited
by one when we're out diving
which is always a
special experience.
NARRATOR: But all
is not well here.
Alex has noticed the
otters chewing on garbage.
And in particular, golf balls.
There's a sinister
secret beneath the waves,
uncovered by Alex when she was
just a 16-year-old high schooler.
ALEX: When we looked beneath the
ocean, you couldn't see the bottom.
It was this dynamic blanket of
golf balls just tumbling along
as the ocean swayed
back and forth.
NARRATOR: The reason
for all the balls?
Right next door is the famous
Pebble Beach Golf Club.
One mistake here and
your ball's in the ocean.
They're rolling around, and the coating
on the golf ball quickly gets worn off.
And all that plastic, all
the chemicals that were used,
they're now in the environment
in an uncontrollable way.
And every one of those golf balls
is like three water bottles.
Now, if you saw someone come and dump
a bag of water bottles in the ocean,
you'd get pretty upset.
NARRATOR: Alex decided to
tackle the problem herself.
One golf ball at a time.
ALEX: I always say if golf balls
floated, this wouldn't be an issue.
But because these golf balls are
out of sight, they are out of mind.
NARRATOR: Over the
last five years,
Alex and Mike have
collected 50,000 golf balls
but still believe there
are over a million left.
Alex recorded her data
in a scientific paper
to persuade the golf
course to clean up its act.
MIKE: Once the research
paper was published,
within a matter of days,
Pebble Beach went public with a commitment
to take the golf balls out of the ocean.
ALEX: The power was not in
the removal of the golf ball,
but it was in the message to other
people that if you're seeing a problem,
you can go and make a change.
And you have the power within
you, even if you're a little kid,
to go out there and
make that change happen
for yourself, for your community,
and for your environment.
NARRATOR: But plastic pollution
is only part of the story.
The sea otters and other
kelp forest residents
are facing the loss of
their entire habitat.
Alex's dad, Mike, is working
with a team of divers
to try to stop an invading army.
Sea urchins...
in their millions.
Urchin numbers have exploded
because of unusually warm waters.
And they're eating their
way through the kelp.
Two-thirds of the
forest is already gone.
MIKE: The scale of this
problem is beyond belief.
It's tens of thousands of
acres of... of coastline
that the kelp has been
devastated. And as a result,
the fish populations suffer, the
crustaceans suffer, everything suffers
because the forest that they
all depended on is now gone.
(WAVES CRASHING)
MIKE: So, if there's no kelp forests,
the sea otter is missing a habitat,
it's missing some protection.
And nobody wants a world
without sea otters.
Mike is with a group of volunteer
divers, led by Keith Rootsaert.
They call themselves
"The Urchinators."
Our role in this is to go out
and be a predator of urchins
and reduce the number of urchins so
that the kelp can come back and thrive
and restore the
biodiversity to this reef.
(DIVERS SPLASH)
NARRATOR: Over 400 divers have joined
the Giant Kelp Restoration Project.
So far, they've removed 350,000
urchins to help the kelp recover.
(MELLOW MUSIC PLAYING)
KEITH: It feels great to be out there
doing something and not just watching
the disaster unfold
in front of us.
All right.
FEMALE DIVER: Oh, this
is nice. Yeah, I think...
MALE DIVER: It's a good haul.
Every little bit makes
a difference, you know?
Yeah, yeah. Especially when they're on
the kelp and you're taking them off.
KEITH: You know, there
are so many urchins,
and then you realize that it's not just
me down here. It's Casey, and Chad,
- and Emily, and Kevin.
- Right.
And that's what inspires me,
you know, to keep on going.
And, uh, it's just...
Inspiration is just contagious.
NARRATOR: The dive community here
isn't just removing the problems,
they're also restoring the kelp.
Biologist Sara Gonzalez
is collecting spores.
She then nurtures them
in her lab for six weeks.
When the plants are just a
fraction of an inch tall,
Sara secures them to the seabed
to help them make it
through the storms.
I'm so happy. It is such
a joy to see them grow up.
Now there's some of them
are nine meters tall.
Swimming around through there, it
looks just like any other kelp forest.
NARRATOR: In time,
this experiment could be
rolled out on a bigger scale,
helping to regenerate kelp
forests all along the coasts.
MIKE: What Sara is
doing is brilliant.
This is a story of perseverance.
Nobody wakes up in the morning and
says, "I'm going to save the world."
But people like Alex and Keith, they
get up in the morning and they say,
"I'm going to take
a step forward.
"And if I get a few balls out,
if I get a few urchins out,
"it's gonna make the world a little
bit closer to being a better place."
NARRATOR: From coast to coast,
everyday heroes are
helping protect wildlife...
using whatever skills they have.
Sometimes huge success can be
achieved with just a camera...
and a lot of perseverance.
The southern swamps.
A secret world of wildlife.
Most elusive of all...
the Florida panther.
North America's
most endangered cat.
Once very common in the
southeastern states,
they were nearly
wiped out completely.
Now they only exist in
Florida's wildest places...
which are rapidly disappearing.
CARLTON: You could say that
Florida is a fractured paradise.
We have now more than 1,000 people
moving here every single day.
And that leads, conservatively,
to 100,000 acres of land lost
to development every year.
NARRATOR: Carlton Ward is
a wildlife photographer.
For the last five years,
he and fellow
conservationist, Malia Byrtus,
have been on a
mission to connect
the remaining wild fragments of Florida
into a protected corridor for wildlife.
(MELLOW MUSIC PLAYING)
(FUSION OF ANIMAL NOISES)
NARRATOR: To win public support
for the corridor project,
Carlton and Malia have spent
many months in the swamps,
trying to get pictures
of the panthers.
MALIA: These animals are so elusive
that we have to set cameras up
in environments like this where
the actual animal triggers
the camera themselves. And
that's how we get images.
And we're able to see
their natural behavior
without any impact
on the animal.
Gosh. I like this angle.
NARRATOR: Malia's best panther
impression helps set the camera's focus,
and they're ready to go.
When a panther comes to this spot, it's
going to have a choice to turn around
and walk back or to jump over.
There's a log here, it might
give it a stepping-stone.
We're hoping to get a picture of a
Florida panther walking down this trail,
pausing at the edge of that water,
and then flying through the air
to get to the other side.
NARRATOR: Carlton is an
eighth-generation Floridian.
He's deeply connected
to these wild places.
CARLTON: These swamps are so remote
and so... harsh to many people
that they've been spared the
bulldozer and spared the development.
They're a last remnant and a
reminder of a primordial, wild past
where you can step down into
this dark, tannic water,
and this quiet
just surrounds you.
(BEAR HUFFS)
CARLTON: As someone
working with camera traps,
you get a sense of who you're
sharing that space with.
You'll start to recognize
that same panther
or that same family
of black bears.
And so, it's a window into
this truly wild world.
(COW MOOS)
NARRATOR: But the wild animals don't
have this corridor to themselves.
They share it with cattle where it
passes through Florida's ranch land.
On this ranch in Immokalee,
they often run into black bears moving
between different patches of forest.
They need the wildlife corridor
as much as the panthers.
Because it's such a hot spot for bears,
this ranch is a great place to catch one.
SHELBY: Yeah. All right.
NARRATOR: Carlton and Malia are
working with government scientists
to study the bears'
health and movements.
The best way to lure
in a hungry bear?
They can tell you're trying
to attract something.
NARRATOR: Donuts. Every time.
MALIA: Glazed,
jelly-filled, powdered.
(BANJO MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: Now all the team has
to do is sit tight... and wait.
One of the biggest obstacles
for the wildlife corridor...
are human highways.
Around 20 panthers are killed
each year on Florida's roads.
(TRAFFIC NOISE)
NARRATOR: So, when they
built the highway I-75,
the Department of Transportation
worked with conservationists
to find a way to keep
the animals safe.
CARLTON: When the planners developed
that stretch of interstate,
the entire length of it has
eight-foot-tall cross fence.
And there's more than
30 underpass structures
going beneath that road.
As a result, you
never have panthers
and bears killed on
that stretch of highway.
Which side do you think?
MALIA: That looks good to me.
CARLTON: Our cameras show
that they really work.
We see bears,
bobcats, coyotes...
deer.
All these animals are
using these places.
NARRATOR: The team captures
a very special moment...
a mother panther and
her one-year-old cub.
It's a great sign.
Crystal clear evidence
that the wildlife corridor
is starting to work,
and panthers are
traveling more freely.
CARLTON: It's just amazing to sit
back and watch the hundreds of cars
and tractor-trailers whizzing by
and wonder how many people know
that, like, at certain moments,
there's a Florida panther
standing beneath them.
Or a Florida black bear
and its cubs traveling
from one patch of
forest to the next.
(BEAR HUFFS)
NARRATOR: Back at the ranch,
the donuts have delivered.
There's a large
bear in the trap.
CARLTON: This is a big bear.
SHELBY: Yeah. Probably around
350 pounds. Maybe bigger.
He's adult.
SHELBY: Yeah, definitely
an adult male.
NARRATOR: First job for
Shelby and her team is
to send him off for a snooze.
(MELLOW MUSIC PLAYING)
- SHELBY: All right, Ashley.
- ASHLEY: Yep.
- SHELBY: All right, he's coming down.
- ASHLEY: I got his head.
All right, he's 355.
- SHELBY: Three fifty-five.
- ASHLEY: Yeah.
So, he is an adult male.
He's very healthy-looking.
I would guess he's probably maybe
around six or seven years old.
And overall, he's a
great-looking bear.
And hopefully, he'll live
a long life out here.
To be able to see the bear, and
hear the bear, and smell the bear,
and feel the strength of the
bear makes you respect them
even that much more.
The bear is given an ear tag so
they can identify him in the future.
SHELBY: Ear tag code.
FEMALE RESEARCHER: The code is short
black, short black, medium black.
CARLTON: There's a chance that
this bear will show up again
on camera 25, 50,
100 miles away,
and that'll give information
about their territory
and how they travel
through the corridor.
NARRATOR: It's time to wake up. This
dozy bear won't remember a thing.
But the information he
provides will be crucial
to understanding how people and
wildlife can coexist along the corridor.
(ALL WHOOPING)
Pretty amazing to see it
run off into the wild.
Sitting in that cage
quiet... and then bam!
FEMALE RESEARCHER
2: There you go.
So fast. Jumps out of the cage, and
then gone, back into the forest.
MALIA: This does give me
an extreme amount of hope.
I'm seeing with my own eyes
that this bear is using the
Florida Wildlife Corridor,
and that means the world.
That means that all of
our work that we're doing
in collaboration with so many
other folks is, it's working.
NARRATOR: Covering
nearly 18 million acres,
the Florida Wildlife Corridor
was officially recognized
in state law in 2021.
Carlton, Malia, and their team
have achieved their dream.
Their pictures have shown people the
amazing animals on their doorstep
and won the support needed
to secure their future.
MALIA: Seeing the images of the panther
in its natural and wild environment,
it... it's incredible.
- That is wild. That is wild.
- (CHUCKLES)
CARLTON: You can see the
eyes of this Florida panther
coming into the frame, stop at the edge
of this swamp creek, and then leap,
with all this strength and
grace, right past the camera.
MALIA: Wow!
CARLTON: And that panther is gonna
carry with it the story and the hopes
of these wild places where
it still makes its home.
NARRATOR: Wildlife heroes come
from every corner of the continent.
And from every walk of life.
All along the West Coast,
individuals are helping
to make a difference...
even in the smallest of ways.
Every year, people gather
on Oregon's shoreline
for one of the world's
greatest wildlife events...
- BOY: Do you see it, Mom?
- MOM: Yeah, I see it.
(WATER GUSHES FROM BLOWHOLE)
NARRATOR: the gray
whale migration.
It's a 12,000-mile journey...
from Mexico to the
Alaskan Arctic.
The whales are a welcome sight
to those who keep
watch for their return.
Retired firefighter Ara has
found a new purpose in life.
He's now a volunteer
whale observer
and helps educate people
who come to see them.
How big are they?
Uh, the gray whales, they're about as big
as a school bus. The ones we're seeing.
- MOM: You see the orange thing? Okay.
- BOY: Yeah.
ARA: When I was in the fire service,
I generally dealt with people
having the worst
day of their life.
And now what I'm doing
is totally different.
And when people see a
whale, and they get excited,
I just realize they're having one
of the best days of their life.
- (BOTH GIGGLING)
- ARA: And that's pretty exciting.
(WATER GUSHES FROM BLOWHOLE)
NARRATOR: Like
hundreds of others,
Ara uses an app on his
phone to record sightings,
including a note of
any whales in trouble.
Thanks, in part, to this information,
scientists have discovered
a serious problem.
Following a recent
peak in population,
gray whale numbers have
suddenly dropped by 25 percent.
It's a mystery that
needs to be solved.
Professor Leigh Torres,
one of the world's top
experts on gray whales,
is on the case.
PILOT: Ready for takeoff.
(HELICOPTER BLADES WHIR)
NARRATOR: With a bit of help
from the U.S. Coast Guard,
Leigh is heading out to
track the whale's progress
along the Oregon coastline.
LEIGH: There's a blow at three
o'clock, about 200 meters.
Two blows, if we
can bank around.
Another blow, so there's two
whales right next to each other.
We do these flights four times a
month, and we collect some great data
about their distribution
across these coastal oceans.
(WATER GUSHES FROM BLOWHOLE)
LEIGH: It's really important because
a lot of them are washing up dead
and skinny on the beach.
NARRATOR: Since 2019,
more than 500 dead whales have
been discovered along the coast.
At the same time, the number
of ship strikes has gone up.
The whales seem to be more and
more vulnerable to collisions.
(SHIP HORN BLARES)
NARRATOR: Another danger is
getting tangled in fishing gear.
Leigh and her team are studying
their local whale population,
to discover why they're
running into trouble.
Every now and then, we shut down the
engine and have a look and a listen.
It's just a little puff on the horizon,
a difference in the smell of the air,
a sound of the blow. And
then we're on our game.
- Oh, blow right here. Yeah.
- MALE RESEARCHER: Yeah.
- CLARA: I've got it.
- Cool.
Right over there.
By that other one.
- Oh. It's Pac-Man.
- Yeah! (CHUCKLES)
LEIGH: So, this is
a whale we know.
It's got this really distinctive
Pac-Man-looking mark on its left side.
Oh, it's wonderful. It's like seeing
an old friend on the street, you know?
Just, uh, knowing, "Oh,
you're here, you're feeding.
"So, yeah, let's hang
out for a little bit."
- MALE RESEARCHER: Oh, right here.
- Holy moly! Hi, Pac-Man.
And that's a whale.
So, now we'll just... hang around and
wait for poop. See if we can get lucky.
NARRATOR: The team is trying to sniff out
any possible clues in the whale's poop.
LEIGH: All clean, no poop?
CLARA: All clean. No poop.
Oh, whale, give us a poop.
- Oh.
- MALE RESEARCHER: Whoa!
- LEIGH: That's a big arch.
- MALE RESEARCHER: Come on.
- Oh, poop!
- LEIGH: Poop! Poop!
Get the net in, net in.
Nice swooshing.
NARRATOR: Even just
a little bit will do.
MALE RESEARCHER: I have some.
Oh, nice. Oh, that's
a good sample. Sweet!
- MALE RESEARCHER: Good job, Clara!
- (ALL CHUCKLING)
LEIGH: Nice, Pac-Man.
Nice work, dude!
NARRATOR: By
analyzing their poop,
Leigh can tell if her
study group are stressed.
LEIGH: What we found is
that skinny whales have
higher stress levels.
And so, like us, maybe
they get hangry, right?
So, when you just don't get enough
food, everything seems to bother us more
and stress us out more.
And it might be
similar for whales.
The million-dollar question really is why
these whales aren't getting enough food?
NARRATOR: Part of the answer
lies 2,000 miles north,
in the whales' arctic feeding
grounds at the end of their journey.
LEIGH: With climate change,
prey is becoming less abundant,
less predictable to the whales.
Many of them are suffering.
They're malnourished and skinny,
which is impacting their
ability to survive.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
NARRATOR: The whales are stressed
out, starving, and exhausted.
So they find it harder to move out of
the way of the ships and fishing nets.
But people can help
simply by watching them.
(WATER GUSHES FROM BLOWHOLE)
Beautiful. Beautiful.
Magnificent animal.
NARRATOR: Ara's app sends alerts
to fishing boats and other ships
so they know where the whales
are feeding and can avoid them.
ARA: I believe the average
citizen who comes out
on a regular basis and observes, they
can see changes that are occurring.
And when they notice those
changes, they can alert somebody.
And you're making a difference...
even in your own little way.
NARRATOR: There are times when being
a wildlife hero takes real bravery.
In the battle to protect
our wildest places,
often the most powerful
weapon is your voice.
Alaska.
Up here are some
of the last areas
of untouched wilderness
left on the planet.
At nearly 20 million acres,
the Arctic Refuge is the largest
wildlife reserve in the U.S.
Home to a vast herd
of 150,000 caribou.
They have a special connection
with the people who live here.
Known as the "Caribou People,"
the Gwich'in have roamed this land
for over 40,000 years.
Bernadette Demientieff is one
of the lead voices in the tribe.
She and her family have come to
their ancestral hunting lands.
(ETHEREAL MUSIC PLAYING)
BERNADETTE: This
place is sacred to us.
Just like how some
people consider a church.
Our ancestors respected, honored
these lands and these waters,
our animals, and we
have to carry that on.
NARRATOR: But Bernadette hasn't
always felt such a strong connection
to her roots.
After high school, I lost
myself. I started drinking...
and I walked away
from my family.
I really went down a path
that I am not proud of.
But I see now today that
it made me who I am.
And I'm here now to share my
responsibility as a Gwich'in.
NARRATOR: Bernadette and her people
have a major fight on their hands.
Their most sacred site
is the coastal plain
where the caribou come
each year to give birth.
But beneath the surface lies
over four billion barrels of oil.
The oil companies in nearby Prudhoe Bay
want to drill into the birthing grounds.
That could put the very survival
of the caribou in jeopardy.
There was a time when we were able
to communicate with the animals.
We communicated
with the caribou.
And we made a vow to
take care of each other.
Now it's our turn to take care of them
and to protect their calving grounds.
NARRATOR: As spokesperson
for the Gwich'in,
Bernadette has spent eight years
battling to get a bill to protect
the Refuge passed through Washington.
Protecting the coastal plain
is protecting our identity
and our human rights.
For us, this is a matter of physical,
spiritual, and cultural survival.
BERNADETTE: I believe that
one of the most powerful tools
that you have is your voice.
I just got a big mouth.
I just... (CHUCKLES)
I absolutely refuse
to allow somebody
to push their way into our
homelands, and do whatever they want,
and, um, sit idly by. I won't
allow it... that to happen.
Creator, we thank you for this day.
We thank you for bringing us together.
We thank you for this land,
for the water, for the animals.
We vow to protect it.
Today and always.
NARRATOR: And then a phone
call from Washington.
Oh my gosh. You guys, I've just...
(LAUGHS WITH JOY) Oh my gosh.
The bill just passed the House
and it's going to the Senate.
And, um, they did a count.
Um, and we got enough in the
Senate to... to restore protection
for the Arctic Refuge. A lot
of hard work paid off. (SIGHS)
Just never give up for
what you believe in.
I just can't believe it. This
was just, like, impossible.
One year ago, this was
totally impossible.
And now it's happening. And it's
just... it's just really in my heart.
Just really... Just feeling it.
- GWICH'IN WOMAN: I am proud of you.
- (BERNADETTE WHIMPERS, SNIFFLES)
BERNADETTE: We win
this fight together.
Standing as one, not
just Gwich'in people,
but all of us.
NARRATOR: From the
southern swamps...
to the northern plains...
people are finding new ways to
enable us to live alongside nature.
RAE: I love that we're moving back
in the direction of sharing lands
with wild animals
because that's how we as people
on this continent started,
and that's what our
future is gonna be too.
NARRATOR: America is
a land of heroes...
with one thing in common...
the courage to protect our
most precious wild treasures.
ALEX: As long as you're passionate
about what you're fighting for,
there's no question whether you'll succeed
or not because when your heart's involved,
nothing else can stop you.
(MELLOW COUNTRY MUSIC PLAYING)
(MUSIC CONCLUDES)