Educational Media Reviews Online

The subtitle to The Salmon Forest is “the fragile connection [among] salmon, bears, trees, and people in the Northwest rainforest.” In an era when “interconnectedness” and “eco-web” are the reigning buzzwords, one is suspicious of a video which hopes to tackle such ambitious concepts in 52 minutes, especially in one of the most ecologically diverse places on the planet. Yet this film does exactly that, with eye-popping cinematography, intelligent and well-placed explanations, and a subtle-but-reliable narrative thread to keep the video together.

Narrator David Suzuki outlines the role of salmon spawning in rivers along Canada’s Pacific Coast. New research, however, shows just what kind of reach these salmon have, and how this keystone species establishes a food chain that goes well beyond a grizzly’s lunch. Biologist Tom Reimchen demonstrates how nitrogen found in salmon winds its way into hemlock trees (providing a much-needed nitrogen pulse to the entire forest), while entomologist Neville Winchester explores the link between nitrogen and moss mats in the forest’s canopy. Later, Suzuki visits some of the coast’s Native Peoples, demonstrating the generations-old traditions that have forged lasting links among humans, oceans, and forests for hundreds of years. In less than an hour, Carolyn Underwood’s careful writing and editing provides a snapshot of an entire system, and hints at the elaborately brittle dance which holds it all together.

There are minor complaints about this film, most notably the repeated warning about logging and global warming—yet no explanation of how these affect the salmon or the ecosystem. And I’m not sure that an audience without some knowledge of food chains or the role of nitrogen will fully appreciate the connections made here. But, again, these are minor—many of the more complex concepts are understood from the context of the film, and Underwood’s elegant design and production make this video applicable to a wide audience—biology and ecology studies, as well as classes in anthropology, environment and indigenous peoples.