“Nature's Keepers” premieres March 3

Documentary film on Pike’s land stewardship HAWLEY - An original documentary film “Nature’s Keepers” about Pike County’s land stewardship legacy premieres in March. The film, which details how it began and continues today through the work of citizen activists, will premiere locally on Saturday, March 3 at Ehrhardt’s Waterfront Resort on Lake Wallenpaupack. The Pike premiere of “Nature’s Keepers” will be held from 5 to 8:30 p.m., and will feature hors d’oeuvres, cash bar, film screening, awards and reception. The cost is $75 per person, which includes a $50 tax-deductible gift to the Delaware Highlands Conservancy. “Nature’s Keepers” highlights significant Pike County achievements that collectively embody our conservation heritage, and focuses on how that heritage remains vibrant today through citizen activism. “The film tells Pike’s story, which is one of a community that values natural resource conservation and seeks to lead on land stewardship,” says Sue Currier, Executive Director of the Delaware Highlands Conservancy, Pike’s local land trust working to protect quality of life in the Upper Delaware River Region, and Nature’s Keepers’ non-profit sponsor. More than 40 hours of Nature’s Keepers footage was shot on location in Pike County during the summer and fall of 2006 and has been edited into a one-hour production that will be distributed to more than 150 public television stations nationwide. Interview subjects included Ruth Jones of Kittatinny Canoes, Bill and Stephanie Streeter of the Delaware Valley Raptor Center, Naturalist John Serrao, Conservationist Peter Pinchot, Attorney Duke Schneider, Arthur Watres of Lacawac Sanctuary, Delaware Highlands Conservancy Founder Barbara Yeaman, Photographer John Barclay, and Lackawaxen Township resident Jane Quick, who preserved her family farm with a conservation easement. Many other Pike County residents, business leaders, developers and conservationists contributed their perspectives to the project. “Nature’s Keepers is an opportunity for us to share our history, express our community’s values and declare our intention to choose a future based on conservation,” says the film’s Executive Producer Sean Strub. “The roots of Pike County’s conservation consciousness go back 150 years or more, when artists from New York and Philadelphia came to the area to witness and paint Pike’s glorious waterfalls and dramatic natural environment. By documenting our experience and history on film, we help to set a standard for ourselves and an expectation for our future.” Sponsorship slots for the Nature’s Keepers premiere are currently available. Current event sponsors include Cindy Wildermuth of Russ Dimmig Real Estate, Milford Magazine, W Design, and Michael T. Peifer. All premiere sponsors will be recognized at the March 3rd event. For sponsorship information or event tickets contact the Delaware Highlands Conservancy at info@delawarehighlands.org or 570-226-3164. Reservations for the Nature’s Keepers premiere at Ehrhardt’s are requested by February 16.