Outwrite Outdoors

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- An environmental video produced by Michigan State University  Extension (MSUE) and the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Communications Department was recognized for outstanding video production work with a Michigan Emmy award at  a ceremony June 5 in Detroit. ANR Communications and producer Scott Allman received the award from the Michigan Chapter of the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences in the environmental category for the production of “Restoring Wetlands.”

The award-winning video was produced for an MSUE project led by Chuck Nelson, an associate professor in the Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resources Studies (CARRS). The project was also funded by the United States Fisheries and Wildlife Department and Ducks Unlimited.

The primary goal of the video was to communicate the need to restore wetlands in Michigan. “We want people to know the importance of restoration,” Nelson said. “Seventy-eight percent of Michigan’s land is privately owned, so (restoration is) not the responsibility of the government. These are voluntary programs that are critical and economically valuable. We lose wetlands; we lose their benefits as well,” he said.

Video editor and producer Allman said the informational film has seen national exposure and has aired on every local PBS station in the state.  It is being shown in fifth grade classrooms, to agriculture students and other interested audiences.