Apalachicola River Article



		Elam Stoltzfus, Clyde Butcher, Sammy Tedder and Richard Bickel
	Capturing The River As It Runs May 26,2005 Tim Croft The Star, Port St. Joe It worked so nice they decided to try it twice. And expand the all-star lineup. The team which several years ago documented, in image and music, Florida''s aquatic preserves, including St. Joseph Bay, are collaborating again to raise the profile on one of Florida''s most pristine and threatened ecosystems, the Apalachicola River and its basin. They''ve added to the squad an eye trained on the folks who ply the river and bay - Richard Bickel, famed Apalachicola photographer most-recently known for his pictures of the people of Franklin County. They were quite an impressive conclave this week, sitting and trading ideas on Bickel''s porch - famed photographer of the Everglades Clyde Butcher and his wife Niki; Tallahassee-area musician and composer Sammy Tedder; and Blountstown documentary filmmaker Elam Stoltzfus, whose film Living Waters: Florida''s Aquatic Preserves provided the initial spark for this artistic collaboration to bring life to the history and people of the Apalachicola River, to tell the story of Florida''s largest and most pristine river. Stoltzfus, Butcher and Tedder brought Living Waters to life two years ago, the movie, funded by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, a paean to the waters which cradle, and nurture, the Sunshine State. "The response to Living Waters was so dynamic," said Niki Butcher, adding that the film touched viewers not only on an emotional level but an intellectual one, the project a mold for future endeavors of a similar ilk. "It''s been good for the state of Florida," Niki Butcher continued. "There is awareness there that the waters bordering Florida are being taken care of." That awareness, and the reception from the movie''s opening in February of 2003 struck a chord with Roger Martin, director of development at the Apalachicola Bay and River Keepers (ABARK), a non-profit group dedicated to preserving the river while educating people on its value. With Stoltzfus''s documentary, as well as Butcher''s accompanying coffee table book of photographs and Tedder''s CD of music from the film, Martin had a sneak preview of the ideal mechanism to raise the profile of the river. "There never really has been a documentary pulled together of the past, the present and the future of the river," Martin said. "It was the mixture of film and music together (with Living Waters). "People don''t know the ecosystem of the Apalachicola River. This system is almost the same as it was 100 years ago. You''ve got to tell the story of it." Martin said ABARK envisioned the project on two levels - as an educational tool and as a fund-raising mechanism for the group, which has already secured 50 percent of the funding for the project from the Jelks Family Foundation and Prudential Resort Realty of St. George Island. The Apalachicola River, Martin noted, was, along with the Butchers'' stomping ground, the Big Cypress in the midst of the Everglades, are considered the two most pristine biospheres in Florida by the United Nations. Filming on Apalachicola River: An American Treasure has begun in earnest over the past several weeks, Stoltzfus said, with Butcher and Bickel essentially taking their own paths to a common point. That point is a book to accompany the film which will combine the soft tones and personal profiles of Bickel''s work with Clyde Butcher''s black-and-white portraits of the land, lending a yin and yang to the book portion of the project. Both photographers - "We crazy artists," as Clyde Butcher described the group - are donating their efforts to the project. "We should have a nice balance because we''ll have the mix of water and man," Bickel said. "Water revives the human spirit; there is that connection." Clyde Butcher added, "I need absolute stillness and (Bickel) needs absolute movement. "This project involves people and nature. People are involved in nature, whether they like it or not." Clyde Butcher noted that he would not be involved with the project save for Stoltzfus; the project is also, Niki Butcher noted, the ideal excuse to meet and work with Bickel. "Elam was the nucleus of the whole project," Clyde Butcher said. And as he has undertaken the filming, Stoltzfus, who lives not far from the Apalachicola, said he''s been amazed at the richness of the story there to be mined, with as many available subplots as tributaries on the river. "Through these stories that I am finding, I''ve found more connection than I thought," Stoltzfus said, noting the film will attempt to capture in 57 running minutes everything from Indian history and pre-Civil War days along the river to what the future might hold for Florida''s greatest waterway, with the major segment dwelling on those who live and work on the river today. "This is a story that needs to be told." Stoltzfus added. Even to those who live in the neighborhood. "I''m from around this area, I love this area," Tedder said. "I''ve never been on the Apalachicola much. What an Amazonian-like experience. It''s been a great thing to be a part of." Tedder, as is his custom, has accompanied Stoltzfus on some of his travels up and down the river, taking in the sounds, searching for material. He recently came upon some rare river cane which he believes will be suitable to carve a flute to be used exclusively for the project. And as residents of South Florida, where pavement long ago overtook the green spaces, the project provides the Butchers evidence that maybe, maybe, some errors won''t be repeated far to the north. "For people up here to think this way is very visionary," Niki Butcher said of the film project and its creators. "Looking at the future before the future stomps on them. That''s an extraordinary experience." The hope is that in April 2006, when the film is scheduled for premiere and the book, CD and DVD go on sale, a success similar to Living Waters is the end result. The target outlets, as with that film, will be Florida public broadcasting television stations as well as those in Georgia and Alabama. Film festivals will follow and Stoltzfus has a distributor which could pick up the film. Since its release, Living Waters has been screened at festivals around the country, garnering a slew of awards. It has recently been picked up for distribution in Europe. "If you use the arts you can touch people in the heart," said Niki Butcher of such film projects. "When you touch somebody in the heart it results in people wanting to take care of it."