A new feature-length documentary about the bay of Green Bay will have its local premiere on Earth Day.
“The Natural World of the Bay” by Green Bay filmmaker Dan Larson explores the world’s largest freshwater estuary and the birds, fish, plants, nutrient cycles and invasive species that shape its health as well as the people who influence its future. It will be shown at 6 p.m. April 22 in the University Theatre at Theatre Hall at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Viewers will see stories of northern pike migration, the seasonal spectacle of migratory birds and the complex role of nutrients that fuel productivity while also driving algal blooms and “dead zones” in some seasons.
“I’ve always been drawn to the bay – ships, fish, wild shoreline – but I knew there had to be more stories underneath,” director and producer Larson said in a statement. “This film is about discovery. I set out to meet the people working on the bay, to travel its shores – from Green Bay to Oconto marshes, the Door Peninsula, and up to Escanaba – to invite viewers to go see these places for themselves. Some chapters follow nutrients and restoration, others track fish migrations and birds, and others listen to the scientists and researchers who know this water best. Right now is the time to ask, ‘What more can we do?’”
If Larson’s name sounds familiar, “The Natural World of the Bay” is the third documentary in his trilogy about the local environment. “The Great Ledge” about the Niagara Escarpment premiered in 2017, and “The Power of the River” about the Lower Fox River came out in 2023.
After Green Bay screening, film to be offered to PBS Wisconsin
The evening will begin at 5 p.m. with an open house of exhibits and community tables that focus on freshwater solutions across northeastern Wisconsin. Larson will introduce the film, and composer Dan Weaver will talk briefly about the score.
After the one-hour screening, there will be a Q&A with Larson and local experts featured in the film. The event concludes with a chance to view student art focused on the estuary and meet representatives from local watershed organizations.
Attendees are asked to pay what they can, with a suggested donation of $8. College students and those 18 and younger are free.
Register in advance at https://tinyurl.com/nesdee3x.
Proceeds will benefit UWGB scholarships and the Lower Fox River Watershed Monitoring Program, the university’s longtime student-powered watershed science initiative.
Following the Earth Day premiere, “The Natural World of the Bay” will be offered to PBS Wisconsin and will be part of the film series at the Mulva Cultural Center in De Pere.
Larson and Emily Tyner, UWGB’s director of Freshwater Strategy, are scheduled to appear on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “The Larry Meiller Show” April 15 to preview the project and spread the word about the screening. The show airs 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays.
UWGB is a regional hub for water science, freshwater strategy and estuary research on the bay of Green Bay and the Great Lakes. It has led Wisconsin’s effort to get the bay to become a federally protected National Estuarine Research Reserve. In January 2024, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration accepted the bay’s nomination to join 30 other coastal NERR sites spanning from Alaska to Florida. The effort would help protect three key areas in the bay of Green Bay for long-term research, education, training and stewardship.
Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on X @KendraMeinert.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: New film about the bay of Green Bay to premiere locally on Earth Day
Reporting by Kendra Meinert, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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