When Seth Walker, director of communications and outreach at Ecotrust, a Portland, Oregon-based non-profit, and his colleagues were discussing how to best promote the benefits of community-based watershed and habitat restoration in the Northwest, they decided on a short-film contest called Stories From Our Watersheds. “The video contest is a way for us to plant some seeds and hopefully inspire as many people as possible to take action,” says Walker. The video contest, which opened on May 19, is set to close later this summer on July 19. Total prize money for the contest is $3,500, which Ecotrust will award to the first and second place finishers in a 21-and-over category and a 20-and-under category in August.

Ecotrust, along with its partners, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, the Pacific NW Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management, is looking for films under ten minutes long that focus on the human, ecological and capital benefits of whole watershed restoration in Oregon, Idaho, and Washington. “The film contest is about cutting edge restoration of an entire watershed, not just a stream or river,” says Walker. “We want to shed light on the fact that there needs to be a holistic approach to watershed restoration, including economic and social, not just environmental.”

The Northwest is a particularly good place for a video contest because it has a large independent filmmaking population and many other artists and producers, says Walker. “Film is a big thing here, so we thought, why not try and engage that demographic in what is clearly one of the world’s fast communication mediums,” says Walker. The growth of youtube and other amateur video websites in the past five years indicate how popular amateur films have become.

According to Walker, Ecotrust hopes to target younger people by using a site like youtube. “America’s largest ever generation is 25 and under,” says Walker. “It is an incredibly creative class of individuals who have known creative, personal, web-based communication for most of their lives.” This contest could be the perfect opportunity for many people just out of college who are looking for work and are passionate about restoration, says Walker.

But unlike many youtube videos, Ecotrust’s contest entrees will hopefully tell a meaningful story that encourages people to get back in touch with the land and promote watershed restoration, says Walker. “The narrative about people and their connection to the land is an ancient storytelling form that has progressed throughout human history through different mediums,” says Walker. Walker hopes the video contest will take something that is really old in human history – the connection between people and place – and bring it to a modern medium.

According to Walker, any effective film entree will integrate all three sources of human wellbeing, including economic, social, and environmental health. “Many people inaccurately believe that restoration efforts do not provide economic or social benefits, and only provide benefits to the environment,” says Walker. “We want to see the walls come down between them.” For example, tourism economies, creation of community space, and stronger community involvement can all result from holistic watershed restoration efforts. “There are lots of really amazing restoration projects that are going on that people do not know about,” says Walker. “Hopefully this video contest will shed some light on what is going on.”