I recently finished a conservation photography project on declining Appalachian salamanders. One component of this was a short documentary, called "The Hidden Jewels of Appalachia", that you can have a look at here:


Link @ --> http://vimeo.com/26202702

This was an outreach initiative from an IUCN working group on Appalachian salamanders that formed at the Smithsonian in 2008. The main goal is simply to educate folks about this amazing biodiversity resource we have right in our own backyards. These species also happen to be bioindicators ("canaries in the coal mine") that are in rapid decline from a "perfect storm" of threats such as upslope residential development, climate change, mountaintop removal mining, invasive species, disease, pollution and so forth. Filming took place from Summer 2010 through Spring 2011 throughout much of the Appalachian range - NY down to GA. I filmed exclusively on the 1d Mark IV and edited in FCP7.

If you're interested in learning more about Appalachian salamanders, you can check out the facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Appalachian-Salamanders/110150654899

Joe, your video is just excellent! The salamanders are just adorable and the information is fascinating and well presented and the people you interviewed are all very well spoken. (I was so taken with the salamander eating the caterpillar - so cute - that I had to rewind that part and watch it again to catch what the person speaking was saying. I sure hope the little guys collected in ziplock bags were not kept in them very long! - be hard to breathe through your skin in there.)

So kudos to you for making this video and I hope it helps the salamanders.

The one thing I would like to see added at the end is contact information for people who want to take some action to help protect salamanders or fight mountain top coal mining etc. Your video is very motivational in this regard and be great to be able to channel the motivation that your video inspires toward some steps that might make a real difference for Appalachia.

Roberta Olenick
Vancouver, BC
www.neverspook.com

Beautiful and inspirational Video Joe! I think we all need to dive a little deeper into our surroundings and learn about what lives with and around us.

Jim