Our Local Epic

By Dean Madley

92 year-old Lamar Empey from Wapiti, WY talks about the process of declaring the Clark’s Fork of the Yellowstone “Wild and Scenic”. Kayakers are among the people affected, including Will Taggart and Aaron Pruzan (Jackson Kayak and Rendezvous Media) who  are working on a kayaking documentary. I set out to make a teaser trailer for their film using the footage I got, and this short clip records some of what Lamar had to say about the process and the reasons behind declaring the river “Wild and Scenic”. His son-in-law David Ryan was a major part of those reasons. In the 1980’s David was killed in a landslide while climbing in the Grand Tetons. Mr. Empey decided he needed to ensure that the river David kayaked regularly could never be developed.

Our Local Epic from Dean Madley on Vimeo.