[MUSIC] Announcer: Funding for Outdoor Idaho is made possible by the Laura Moore Cunningham foundation; committed to fulfilling the Moore and Bettis family legacy of building the great state of Idaho.

By the Friends of Idaho Public Television, By the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by the Idaho Public Television Endowment.

[MUSIC] Ben Ysursa: Mother Nature did a heck of a job in Idaho.

And I think Outdoor Idaho captures that.

It shows the Gem State, the Idaho that I know and don't know, a lot of things I don't know about Idaho, you watch Outdoor Idaho to see it.

And I really appreciate the quality of the programming and the fact that, I don't know, we always say they're the top Public TV Station in the nation.

I think it was especially a source of comfort during the pandemic.

And somebody else said it, and I will reiterate it, it was comfort food for the soul.

Forrest Burger (narrator): Volunteers have always been a key to our success.

People like Judy Austin who has spent countless hours of her time doing research for us.

And all the while admitting she's not exactly the outdoorsy type.

Judy Austin: I don't hike, I don't camp, I don't do any of that stuff.

I walk around the neighborhood with our dog.

Outdoor Idaho has (laugh) has brought Outdoor Idaho into our house, lower case outdoor Idaho into our house.

Beautiful areas that I will never see.

Narrator: We've also relied heavily on environmental experts, politicians, outdoor enthusiasts as well as federal and state employees to tell our stories.

Leo Hennessy has helped us on several Outdoor Idaho episodes.

Leo Sound Up Swimming: Not bad, come on in.

Leo Hennessy: Well, some of them were a long time ago.

And I came to Idaho in 1989 as the non-motorized trails coordinator for the State of Idaho.

And I wanted to mountain bike Hells Canyon, I heard about this deep canyon.

And so, we went down there, and we found out that the Public TV was doing a show on it, and I met Bruce.

He said you want to ride in our jet boat?

We're going to go the full length of the canyon.

So, what we could do is we could ride a section of the trail and then we'd get down to the end and we could jet boat back.

What we didn't know was that he expected us to pay.

And basically, we didn't have any money.

And finally, he relented, and he said yeah, we'll pay.

So that was my first experience with Public TV.

Narrator: Luckily for us, Leo didn't hold a grudge.

In fact, he actually ended up catching the Outdoor Idaho bug.

Leo Hennessy: I'm just amazed at what your crew can do.

And the cameramen are the ones who really amazed me.

We'd be carrying, you know, up to maybe 75 pounds just us with pack rafts or backpacks.

And then they had the camera.

I do remember offering to carry equipment and I was told very politely no because this is a very valuable camera and if it drops we're going to be in trouble.

So, I basically did not carry anything unless I was asked.

But I offered all the time.

[MUSIC] Judy Austin: Idaho Public Television is accessible to just about everyone in the state.

This really is Idaho's public television station.

Not Boise's, Idaho's.

Also, I think that's one of the reasons Outdoor Idaho is a valuable program because it does cover the whole state in its subject matter.

Congressman Mike Simpson: Change is coming.

Are we going to take advantage of it?

Are we going to design our future or are we going to have it imposed on us?

Greg Hahn: You know, Idaho's been divided forever along different lines.

I mean northern Idaho and southern Idaho have been at odds since the beginning.

You know, as a journalist you're used to people coming out and being wary of why are you there?

You know, what are you guys up to?

I really think that Outdoor Idaho is one of those unifying forces in Idaho.

And I saw it.

I've seen it around the state.

I've seen it when I drive up in an Idaho Public Television marked SUV.

I can't tell you how many people I've talked to over the years who have recognized me from Public Television or whatever and said you know; the Outdoor Idaho shows taught me how to go on vacation.

Sheri Freemuth: Outdoor Idaho's absolutely an asset to all of us that live here in Idaho.

If we didn't have it, I don't know what would fill that void exactly, because the outdoors is what most Idahoans have in common.

It speaks to that Boisean who hasn't had a chance to get out further than the Boise River.

But it also speaks to the hunters and the fisherman who, you know, routinely spend their Octobers in the woods.

It also speaks to people who it's their livelihood is working for Forest Service; their livelihood is working for the BLM.

They want to hear what Outdoor Idaho has to say.

So yeah, I think it brings the state together.

Ben Ysursa: To see the world of politics and what's going on around us, and the fact that people cannot anymore agree to disagree, and yet you turn on Outdoor Idaho and you see this splendor.

And you don't see a lot of controversy going on between people.

It's man kibitzing with nature.

And I think that it's a good, again, comfort food for the soul.

I don't want to overplay that, but it is.

Kevin Donahue: These mountains draw you home.

I mean, there's other mountains, but not like these.

Not in my mind.

[MUSIC] LAUREN MELINK: There's something about beautiful imagery like this that makes your heart sing.

It's a visual symphony and it was captured by Outdoor Idaho videographer Jay Krajic.

For the past 16 years Jay has hiked hundreds of miles, rafted white water rivers, ridden horseback and climbed mountains - all in order to document the grandeur of Idaho, and the people who call this state home.

JAY KRAJIC, VIDEOGRAPHER, OUTDOOR IDAHO: So, I got a degree in still photography and through the course of graduating and trying to figure out what I wanted to do in life somebody mentioned if I ever wanted to get into television and when they did that the little light bulb went off and I was off, running.

And that's what I was going to do for the rest of my life.

MELINK: Watching Jay work, you can see there's a real sense of joy and devotion.

In the field, he's on the go non-stop.

Literally.

Moving his tripod from here to there and back to here again - waking at dawn for sunrise and staying up late for sunset.

KRAJIC: I had this passion for documenting things.

I can document things a lot better with video than still photography.

After working in the news business for 20 years, the thought of coming to work at a job where I can go hang out in the wilds of this very wild state and capture it, that was pretty appealing to me.

We have canyons in the south, beautiful, beautiful deep rugged canyons.

We have more mountains than I've ever seen before.

And rivers, nobody has rivers like Idaho, they're beautiful.

Yeah, it's such a beautiful state.

MELINK: But trust us when we tell you, capturing the majesty of this state isn't always easy!

Shooting video for outdoor Idaho means roughing it, with long hours, bad weather and lots and lots of driving!

KRAJIC: We camp a lot.

We sleep in tents.

We sleep on the ground.

I mean you're kind of self-contained when we go on some of these backcountry shoots.

You've got to have a water filter, you got to have a stove, you got to have fuel, you got to have food, you have to have rain gear.

KRAJIC: We have to do a lot of driving to get to places.

We cover the whole state, so you have to drive and drive and drive.

Yeah, we've driven a lot of roads.

We've driven a lot of highways and we've driven a lot of dirt roads and I've gotten a lot of flat tires.

But there are so many variables that will get in your way and really make things a challenge.

Jay: You done?

Bill Manny: Yep..is it stinging?

Jay: Ahh, a little bit.

Not bad, not bad.

MELINK: For example, shooting video while white water rafting.

KRAJIC: Rafting has been a big part of a lot of shoots and there was that one fateful trip down the Owyhee where I fell out of the boat.

That was fun.

And then the Middle Fork where we got stuck on a rock.

That's some fun video.

We got stuck on about three rocks in about 20 minutes.

And so, there's lots of adventure in different modes of transportation.

We did a show on headwaters, and we were on horseback, what 40 miles back to the headwaters of the Snake River in the far remote reaches of eastern Yellowstone.

Then we did the Selway River and that was about 25 miles on a mule, yeah those were pretty extreme trips.

MELINK: Plus, there's just a lot of walking, uphill, downhill, through streams, over rocks, across ridges, every type of walking you can imagine, Jay has done it with a video camera in hand.

KRAJIC: There's a lot of hiking involved.

You got to hike a mile, maybe two miles maybe 20 miles like we did a couple weeks ago.

MELINK: Being the mountain goat that he is, jay has scrambled up peaks all over the state, Castle Peak in the White Clouds, Ryan in the Boulders, Trapper in the Bitterroots and all nine of the 12-thousand-foot peaks.

KRAJIC: Something about the people who work for this show.

They like to climb peaks.

What is that?

I think I've climbed 20 peaks just working for Outdoor Idaho.

And I would get stressed out before every one of those hikes because you have to really push your body to get up to a 12,000-foot peak from elevation 5,000 feet.

But you got to make sure the gear works, and you got to make sure you work, and you have all the stuff you need to take care of yourself and do the job.

It's a big reward to finally make it to the top and see you have the video that you need to make a segment in the show.

Bill Manny: You're on top of the world.

Jay: For the last time.

MELINK: if you ask Jay about any part of Idaho, most likely he'll be able to tell you how to get there, when to go there and what to see there.

KRAJIC: I mean it's my job to go out and find all these places to go to and then capture it with a video camera.

I feel like I've documented just about every corner of this beautiful state and told a lot of different stories.

MELINK: From the Bruneau River in the south to the Seven Devils in the west, Upper Priest Lake in the north and Tetons in the east.

KRAJIC: We had a wonderful time at Upper Priest Lake, we got dropped off by boat, they went up the thoroughfare and got dropped off for a night.

That was such a cool trip, because we had clouds, we had rainbows, we had rain, we had sun, we had everything that anybody would ever imagine to get video of.

MELINK: We Idahoans, we're truly lucky that Jay has documented this for us to see.

He's preserved nearly two decades of sights and sounds.

Jay has left a visual legacy for all to enjoy.

KRAJIC: There's a lot to remember about this job.

There's been some really amazing adventures.

I couldn't ask for anything better than to just go out and shoot video of what I love to shoot video of.

Yeah, just get lost with my video camera, it doesn't get any better than that.

Jay: Boy this is fun.

LAUREN MELINK, PRODUCER, OUTDOOR IDAHO: I'm Lauren Melink, I'm the lead producer at Outdoor Idaho and when I think about the value of Outdoor Idaho I think about the potential that we have as storytellers to help people across the state of Idaho care about the outdoors.

And that includes, kids, SMITH DENNIS, SIX-YEAR-OLD, EVERWILD FOREST SCHOOL: And I like the outside because I've had a wasp on my hand, a jumping spider in my hand and another wasp on my leg.

I'm just I'm just like, okay.

Okay.

It's just a bug.

It's not going to bite me, but if I just freak out, I will get bitten.

teacher: Ahh perfect!

Where's your paper?

There it is.

BILL MANNY, IDHAO PUBLIC TELEVISION: I'm Bill Manny, executive producer at Idaho Public Television and what I love about Outdoor Idaho and what I love about the outdoors in Idaho is the power it has to bring people together, urban and rural, newcomer and old timer.

You know, you can't be an Idahoan and not love the outdoors and Outdoor Idaho brings the outdoors to every Idahoan.

JARED TALLEY, PROFESSOR OF ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES: No one has the answer, but we're all working towards the same goal, healthy environments, healthy communities, and here in Idaho, right?

So we have to work together.

Outdoor Idaho showing all those other sides in the stories is exactly what's needed to foster that, you know, not only collaboration, but solutions to the big problems we face is to hear the other, [How many people, in here, let's show the hands are against this National Monument?)

Listen to them and understand their story.

Um, whether or not we agree with it.

Just understand it.

And when we just hear each other's stories and start saying, yeah, actually that, that matters to me too.

I just never really realized it because I never heard it in that way, that's when things move forward.

RUTH BROWN, IDAHO PUBLIC TELEVISION: My name is Ruth Brown and I'm a producer and writer for Idaho Public Television.

And when I think future of the outdoors --- I think about kids and what we should teach them moving forward, we're lucky to live in a place like Idaho and we want to sustain that as long as possible.

MIKAILA ROGERS, FOUR-YEAR-OLD: Cause' we get to play a lot and climb trees.

We get to see roly polys and lady bugs.

HALLIE KNOX, TEACHER, EVERWILD FOREST SCHOOL: They're burrowing their feet in the sand.

They're climbing up trees and noticing their hands get sticky.

Earlier we had a moth, they were capturing holding them moth.

They were touching slugs.

They're washing their sandy feet off in the water when they notice it's uncomfortable, they're smelling leaves.

They're just exploring their environment in a really cool way.

CARTER WHITTINGTON, FIVE-YEAR OLD, EVERWILD FOREST SCHOOL: Oh yeah, I also like about the winter is that I can eat snow and we can make an igloo.

PAT METZLER, IDAHO PUBLIC TELEVISION: I'm Pat Metzler, I'm the director, videographer, editor and I've been working on Outdoor Idaho for 33 years now and it is a lot of fun watching kids learn about Idaho and the special places that we have and we have the ability to bring those places to people, to educate them about the history, the importance, those type of things, so hopefully when they're in charge we can have those places preserved.

T.R.

BROOKS, ASST.

PROF. OF PSYCHOLOGY: A show like Outdoor Idaho where you kind of go in depth and talk about the issues surrounding a place and its history and its natural history.

I think would instill a sense of respect for the land and responsibility.

Educating people about how to use it while preserving it and conserving it (now just pull it out really quickly so it doesn't bind on the saw there) Brooks: is a winning strategy.

I think that's the role a show like Outdoor Idaho can fill.

FORREST BURGER, IDAHO PUBLIC TELEVISION: Hi my name is Forrest Burger, I'm a producer, director for Idaho Public Television.

The future of the outdoors is going to be dependent on our children, they're the new shepherds of the land so to speak, at Outdoor Idaho our role is to teach them so that they can succeed.

CAYDEN PRIMAVERA, FOURTH-GRADER, EVERWILD FOREST SCHOOL: When I learn outside, I learn something new that my brain puts in knowledge in me every day.

Like I learn something new, but every day and like the river over there, I learned something new about it today.

I learned there's like bugs in the river.

KNOX: If they are growing up and their fondest memories, their most powerful memories, the memories where they most felt themselves and free and right were in this outdoor environment, I think it is natural that we will have a generation kind of rise up that is deeply and authentically passionate about the outdoors.

Not just because they think they should be, or they've been told the environment matters, but what does that even mean?

They're going to really care about nature.

They're going to know nature.

PAXTON RUSCIN, FIVE-YEAR-OLD, EVERWILD FOREST SCHOOL: I like stacking rocks.

I like climbing trees.

I like catching minnows.

I like catching bullfrogs.

um...I like digging.

I like looking for worms.

AARON KUNZ, IDAHO PUBLIC TELEVISION: I'm Aaron Kunz, the production manager here at Idaho Public Television for the last 11 years.

So what is Outdoor Idaho to me, it's 30 minutes of zen.

(bird call) Being out in nature, enjoying the outdoors.

What Outdoor Idaho brings is education, you get to learn about things, being inspired and every once in a while it brings that sense of awe.

BROOKS: Nature is important for our mental health and for our physical health.

And it's beneficial in almost any dose and in almost any form, it's not all equally beneficial.

It's great if you can get out on a multiday backpacking trip, but failing that if you just can sit outside on your porch for 15 minutes, open a window, or turn on Outdoor Idaho and, watch an episode, the research says that even watching a nature show can provide many of the benefits that we get from being in nature.

PRIMAVERA: Plus every day it doesn't matter if you did dirty, it matters if you have fun.

TALLEY: Scientists know things that you know about the very specifics of how the environment works, that a lot of people don't.

But it turns out that people working on the land, whether they be ranchers or loggers or even miners, they know a lot of things about how the land works, that scientists don't.

And that I think is maybe the most critical component of education, is helping us develop our own perspectives by listening to others instead of, just trying to figure that out on our own.

Nature, and the environment around us provides us a sense of wonder and awe that almost nothing else in our life does.

And that's, I think what people care about protecting.

But we also want to be able for our kids to go have the same sense of wonder and experience that we've had in the outdoors that could very well be lost if we don't take care of it.

It's that preserving that sense of wonder alongside the utility.

A hikers wonder, the snowmobiles wonder, the bird watchers wonder, the ranchers wonder, they're all the same sort of wonder and they enact it differently and we can absolutely work together and keep enjoying the things we, we enjoy with some humility and a little bit of good old fashioned working together.

ARVEN RICHEY, STUDENT I don't touch spiders, but I do catch, roly poly's and try to bring them home.

VOICE OF LAUREN MELINK: You bring 'em home.

Where do you put 'em to bring 'em home?

RICHEY: I'll just let them crawl all over the place in the house.

DENNIS: So inside you like play video games and then just like you set your mind on video games, but if you play outside, you're actually learning something and video games you're only learning controls and video games.

But if you're outside, you're learning about animals and bugs and all sorts of things.

Presentation of Outdoor Idaho is made possible through the generous support of the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, committed to fulfilling the Moore and Bettis family legacy of building the great state of Idaho, by the Friends of Idaho Public Television, by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by the Idaho Public Television Endowment.

To find more information about these shows visit us at idahoptv.org