The Crown of the Continent is featured by KSPS Public Television in a new documentary that has been aired across four western states and three Canadian provinces since September 2009.

KSPS (Spokane * Calgary * Edmonton) has broad coverage throughout the Crown of the Continent region in Alberta, British Columbia and Montana.

The 12-minute mini-documentary features several of the partner groups who worked with National Geographic Society to develop the Crown of the Continent Geotourism MapGuide in 2008. Like the National Geographic map, the KSPS documentary captures what's special about this place and what people are doing to keep it that way.

The KSPS documentary tells the story of cross-border cooperation in the Crown of the Continent over the last century.

The world’s first international peace park and the surrounding region in the heart of the Rocky Mountains is the focus of the KSPS mini-documentary that captures the region's stunning natural beauty, wide-ranging wildlife, sparkling clean rivers, and friendly gateway communities.

Crown of the Continent: Parks Across Borders celebrates the Canadian and American commitment to preserve wild nature at the narrow waist of the Rockies, where Alberta, British Columbia, and Montana meet. It was here that small-town Rotary clubs on both sides of the border convinced the U.S. Congress and Canadian Parliament to jointly protect a sprawling landscape of unbroken prairie and deep forest, plunging valleys and glacial lakes, jagged mountain peaks and meadows of alpine tundra: Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.

The 12-minute KSPS documentary serves as a unique regional companion to “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” a 12-hour documentary film by Ken Burns, which begain to air on PBS stations across North America in September 2009.

At left, you can view the 30-second KSPS underwriting clip sponsored by CrownoftheContinent.net and our partners, the Montana Office of Tourism, Travel Alberta, and Kootenay Rockies British Columbia. The sponsorship clip encourages the public to visit www.crownofthecontinent.net to order a free copy of the National Geographic MapGuide.

The 12-minute documentary can be viewed on the home page: www.crownofthecontinent.net

KSPS Producer Bill Fitzner interviewed park officials and community, business, conservation and tribal leaders in Alberta, British Columbia and Montana to tell a remarkable story about transboundary cooperation to preserve a wild place across borders. The film was produced in partnership with the National Parks Conservation Association, Montana Office of Tourism, and Alberta Southwest Regional Alliance.

“Nearly 80 years ago, our two nations took an unprecedented step to recognize that nature knows no boundaries,” said Steve Thompson of the National Parks Conservation Association. “Our rivers and lakes, the mountains and wildlife, and our own human history transcend the U.S.-Canadian border. Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park represents an historic commitment to peace and goodwill between our nations.”

“We’re pleased to join with the National Parks Conservation Association and our partners in the Crown of the Continent to tell this special story about national parks joined across an international border,” said Claude Kistler, KSPS general manager. “This program provides a regional, two-nation complement to the Ken Burns film. It’s a nice fit for our audience.”

The documentary includes photographs taken this summer by professional photographers who converged on the Crown of the Continent in July as volunteers with the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP). ILCP's photographic mission is to document some of the world's most spectacular places and support conservation efforts to protect those places. Participating photographers and videographers include: Garth Lenz, Michael Ready, Roy Toft, Joe Riis, Justin Black, Matthias Breiter, Cristina Mittermeier, Andy Wright, Harvey Locke, and Trip Jennings.

The partners that helped produce Crown of the Continent recently joined with National Geographic Society to develop a community-based map of the region that surrounds Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. Hundreds of local residents nominated places, stories and events in response to two questions: What’s special about your place, and what are people doing to keep it that way? Visit the companion web site, www.crownofthecontinent.net, to learn more about this transboundary region and order a free copy of the National Geographic map.

Crownofthecontinent.net, Travel Alberta, Montana Office of Tourism, and Kootenay Rockies British Columbia also are proud to sponsor with KSPS the Ken Burns film, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” Click on the video link at left to view the sponsorship message from www.crownofthecontinent.net.

People interviewed in the documentary include:

Beth Towe, Trail of the Great Bear
Waterton, Alberta

Bev Thornton,
Pincher Creek Rotary, Alberta

Randal Macnair, Former Mayor
Fernie, British Columbia

Locke Marshall
Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta

Cris Coughlin
Glacier Wilderness Guides, Montana

Jack Potter
Glacier National Park

Will Hammerquist
National Parks Conservation Association

Liz Gravelle, Ktunaxa Elder
Grasmere, British Columbia

Steve Thompson, Editor
www.crownofthecontinent.net

KSPS Public Television is the flagship PBS station of the Inland Pacific Northwest. The KSPS signal area includes parts of four western states (Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana) and western Canada, reaching more than 4 million regional viewers through broadcast, satellite and cable distribution.

http://www.ksps.org/pressroom/crownofcontinent.htm