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The Toledo City Paper attended a premiere screening of a film by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Ohio: Wild at Heart. The screening was at Imagination Station on Thursday, October 9th.
Ohio: Wild at Heart is a heartwarming and inspirational film about wildlife, nature, people, and doing activities in nature, like hiking, mountain biking, birding, kayaking, and fishing. The film also stresses the importance and value of safeguarding nature, wildlife, and natural places and promoting conservation. The film is narrated by Archie Griffin, a former professional football player who also played football for the Ohio State Buckeyes in college.
The film kicks off with beautiful scenery and close-up shots of bald eagles, their nests, and their young chicks, noting that our national bird has made a comeback in Ohio. Later the film focuses on the reintroduction of the Trumpeter Swan and releasing Bobcats into the wild.
Many of Ohio’s state parks are featured in the film, including Mosquito Lake State Park, Hocking Hills State Park, Punderson State Park, John Bryan State Park, and Mohican State Park.
“We restore nature, nature restores us,” Mr. Griffin counsels in the film.
“30,000 miles of rivers criss-cross this great state. You’d never know by looking at them now, but our rivers were once in real trouble.” He says, “Ohio’s wild places were pushed to a breaking point. One river was so polluted it caught fire more than a dozen times. In 1969 a river fire finally made national headlines…Communities demanded change and a national environmental movement began. River cleanups restored wildlife habitats and made it safe for recreation.”
Young children play a significant role in Ohio: Wild at Heart: going for walks in the park, engaging in birding during the best birding time of the year, and also going for a walk in a park with Governor Mike Dewine and his wife Frances.
The film is 45 minutes long and is a great film for parents to take their children to.
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After the showing of the film, there was a discussion moderated by Governor Mike Dewine which included ODNR Director Mary Mertz, Imagination Station CEO Lori Hauser, Metroparks Toledo director Dave Zenk, and from Duck’s Unlimited, Kyle Rorah.
“I wasn’t really convinced [the film] could happen until I was out hunting with your Chief Conservation Officer,” said Mary Mertz, “and you all had just produced [a film] ‘Wings on Water’ and I was so impressed by that and all the things you did to use it to promote conservation.”
“We look at this [film] as sort of a tool to get people interested in the outside,” said Governor Dewine, “maybe they haven’t been out for a while, haven’t hiked for a while, or haven’t fished for a while, maybe get them inspired.”
“We have great Metroparks all over the state of Ohio, and it’s phenomenal,” added Governor Dewine, “you take the Metroparks along with the 76 state parks, everybody in the state has an opportunity to get out and enjoy nature.”
“We’ve had an opportunity to show a wide range of films in the theater, everything from going to Antarctica to the bottom of the ocean,” said Imagination Station CEO Lori Hauser “and the pleasure to show a film like this is that this is in your backyard, this is right here, and it can even either encourage people who maybe forget that ‘I love Hocking Hills’. It can reignite memories even as a kid. For adults. It showcases the opportunities, going to Hocking Hills or up to Marblehead. The imagery [of the film] is outstanding, it covers careers, the parks, there’s jobs you can do, and it also shows a wide range of ages [of people].”
Ohio: Wild at heart is showing at Imagination Station on Sundays at 12:30pm, 2pm, and 3:30pm, and Tuesday through Saturday at those same times plus an 11am showing.
