Actor Beach Has Plan To Back First Nation Film & TV - Bison Can Make Comeback
Submitted by Roscoe Pond
One of Canada's most prominent First Nations film stars has a plan to get more aboriginal stories into movie theatres and onto the airwaves.
Adam Beach, the Manitoba-born actor most recently known for his role on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, has announced he is setting up a new film company and will take a high-profile role in a new internet cable company.
He announced details Wednesday at an aboriginal economic development conference in Winnipeg.
His new company will produce feature films created by First Nations filmmakers.
He has also been hired by a new internet cable company to head its aboriginal division and will start reviewing proposals for the network in January.
"The content will be delivered by [everything from] an individual on the corner of a street telling us his life to the biggest politician we have complaining about the government, but the world will now hear our voice," he said.
Beach also has teamed up with rapper Ice-T, who also starred in Law and Order: SVU, to get more coverage for First Nations music.
"We're going to make the first native American pop star," he said, drawing whistling and clapping from the crowd of nearly 700.
Hebron Sinclair, a 19-year-old from Pinaymootang, in the Interlake area of Manitoba, was excited about the prospect of working with Beach.
"Holy Cow! Now I've got to get involved in this," he told CBC News. Sinclair creates hip hop music under the name Junebug.
"I've got to do something … that's like another open door for me."
Beach plans to leave Law and Order: SVU at the end of the season to concentrate on these projects.
Beach is also known for his recent performances in films such as Flags of Our Fathers, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Windtalkers.
Bison Can Thrive Again, Study Says
Submitted by WSDP
ScienceDaily - Bison can repopulate large areas from Alaska to Mexico over the next 100 years provided a series of conservation and restoration measures are taken, according to continental assessment of this iconic species by the Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups.
The assessment was authored by a diverse group of conservationists, scientists, ranchers, and Native Americans/First Nations peoples, and appears in the April issue of the journal Conservation Biology.
The authors say that ecological restoration of bison, a keystone species in American natural history, could occur where conservationists and others see potential for large, unfettered landscapes over the next century. The general sites identified in the paper range from grasslands and prairies in the southwestern U.S., to Arctic lowland taiga in Alaska where the sub-species wood bison could once again roam. Large swaths of mountain forests and grasslands are identified as prime locations across Canada and the U.S., while parts of the desert in Mexico could also again support herds that oncelived there.
The researchers assessed the restoration potential of these areas by creating a "conservation scorecard" that evaluated the availability of existing habitat, potential for interaction with other nativespecies, such as elk, carnivores, prairie dogs, and grassland birds, and a variety of other factors, including the socio-economic climate of the regions and the potential for cultural re-connection with bison. The higher the score of these factors, the more likely restoration could take place over time.
"The bison is one of the great living symbols of North America," said the paper's lead author, Dr. Eric Sanderson of the Wildlife Conservation Society. "This assessment shows us what is possible; that with hard work and ambitious goals, we can restore this iconic species to a surprising amount of its former range over the next century."
Bison once numbered in the tens of millions but were wiped out by commercial hunting and habitat loss. By 1889 fewer than 1,100 animals survived. In 1905 the American Bison Society (ABS) formed at WCS'sBronx Zoo headquarters and began efforts to re-populate reserves on the Great Plains with animals from the zoo's herd and other sources (bison continue to be exhibited at the Bronx Zoo and Queens Zoo). Of the estimated 500,000 bison existing today, 20,000 are considered wild; the rest live on private ranches.
"The bison is an important part of the heritage of not only the Wildlife Conservation Society but the United States." said Dr. Steven E. Sanderson, President and CEO of WCS. "One hundred years ago, through our efforts and the efforts of others, the bison was saved from extinction. We are now looking 100 years from now, because we believe there is an ecological future for the bison in the North American landscape."
The assessment is part of a long-term effort launched in 2006 by the new American Bison Society, led by WCS and including other conservation groups, Native Americans, agencies and private ranchers, to restore the "ecological role" of the bison. According to the groups, ecological restoration would occur when large herds of plains and wood bison can move freely across extensive landscapes within major habitats of their historic ranges. It would also include bison interacting with the fullest possible set of other native species, as well as inspiring, sustaining and connecting human cultures.
Ecological restoration will likely take a century, says WCS, and will only be realized through collaboration with a broad range of public, private and indigenous partners.
Adapted from materials provided by Wildlife Conservation Society, viaEurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.
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One of Canada's most prominent First Nations film stars has a plan to get more aboriginal stories into movie theatres and onto the airwaves.
Adam Beach, the Manitoba-born actor most recently known for his role on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, has announced he is setting up a new film company and will take a high-profile role in a new internet cable company.
He announced details Wednesday at an aboriginal economic development conference in Winnipeg.
His new company will produce feature films created by First Nations filmmakers.
He has also been hired by a new internet cable company to head its aboriginal division and will start reviewing proposals for the network in January.
"The content will be delivered by [everything from] an individual on the corner of a street telling us his life to the biggest politician we have complaining about the government, but the world will now hear our voice," he said.
Beach also has teamed up with rapper Ice-T, who also starred in Law and Order: SVU, to get more coverage for First Nations music.
"We're going to make the first native American pop star," he said, drawing whistling and clapping from the crowd of nearly 700.
Hebron Sinclair, a 19-year-old from Pinaymootang, in the Interlake area of Manitoba, was excited about the prospect of working with Beach.
"Holy Cow! Now I've got to get involved in this," he told CBC News. Sinclair creates hip hop music under the name Junebug.
"I've got to do something … that's like another open door for me."
Beach plans to leave Law and Order: SVU at the end of the season to concentrate on these projects.
Beach is also known for his recent performances in films such as Flags of Our Fathers, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Windtalkers.
Bison Can Thrive Again, Study Says
Submitted by WSDP
ScienceDaily - Bison can repopulate large areas from Alaska to Mexico over the next 100 years provided a series of conservation and restoration measures are taken, according to continental assessment of this iconic species by the Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups.
The assessment was authored by a diverse group of conservationists, scientists, ranchers, and Native Americans/First Nations peoples, and appears in the April issue of the journal Conservation Biology.
The authors say that ecological restoration of bison, a keystone species in American natural history, could occur where conservationists and others see potential for large, unfettered landscapes over the next century. The general sites identified in the paper range from grasslands and prairies in the southwestern U.S., to Arctic lowland taiga in Alaska where the sub-species wood bison could once again roam. Large swaths of mountain forests and grasslands are identified as prime locations across Canada and the U.S., while parts of the desert in Mexico could also again support herds that oncelived there.
The researchers assessed the restoration potential of these areas by creating a "conservation scorecard" that evaluated the availability of existing habitat, potential for interaction with other nativespecies, such as elk, carnivores, prairie dogs, and grassland birds, and a variety of other factors, including the socio-economic climate of the regions and the potential for cultural re-connection with bison. The higher the score of these factors, the more likely restoration could take place over time.
"The bison is one of the great living symbols of North America," said the paper's lead author, Dr. Eric Sanderson of the Wildlife Conservation Society. "This assessment shows us what is possible; that with hard work and ambitious goals, we can restore this iconic species to a surprising amount of its former range over the next century."
Bison once numbered in the tens of millions but were wiped out by commercial hunting and habitat loss. By 1889 fewer than 1,100 animals survived. In 1905 the American Bison Society (ABS) formed at WCS'sBronx Zoo headquarters and began efforts to re-populate reserves on the Great Plains with animals from the zoo's herd and other sources (bison continue to be exhibited at the Bronx Zoo and Queens Zoo). Of the estimated 500,000 bison existing today, 20,000 are considered wild; the rest live on private ranches.
"The bison is an important part of the heritage of not only the Wildlife Conservation Society but the United States." said Dr. Steven E. Sanderson, President and CEO of WCS. "One hundred years ago, through our efforts and the efforts of others, the bison was saved from extinction. We are now looking 100 years from now, because we believe there is an ecological future for the bison in the North American landscape."
The assessment is part of a long-term effort launched in 2006 by the new American Bison Society, led by WCS and including other conservation groups, Native Americans, agencies and private ranchers, to restore the "ecological role" of the bison. According to the groups, ecological restoration would occur when large herds of plains and wood bison can move freely across extensive landscapes within major habitats of their historic ranges. It would also include bison interacting with the fullest possible set of other native species, as well as inspiring, sustaining and connecting human cultures.
Ecological restoration will likely take a century, says WCS, and will only be realized through collaboration with a broad range of public, private and indigenous partners.
Adapted from materials provided by Wildlife Conservation Society, viaEurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.
NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.
'MAKING THE WORLD SAFE FOR HYPOCRISY' By Joe Perez
http://www.mtwsfh.blogspot.com
NATIVE ISSUES BLOG
Professor Robert J. Miller
http://lawlib.lclark.edu/blog/native_america/
AIROS NATIVE NETWORK plays music, news and other great programs from Indian Country - www.airos.org
FOR ANNIE'S NATIVE CELEBRITY NEWS - go to www.nativecelebs.com
CATCH COLORADAN PETER JONES AT:
http://indigenousissuestoday.blogspot.com
SUPPORTING NATIVE AMERICAN/FIRST PEOPLE - ARTISTS, FILM MAKERS, ENTERTAINERS, ETC. http://www.krystynmedia.blogspot.com.
posted by BobbieoAZ @ 9:18 PM
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