As seen through the Maliseet, Mi'kmaq and Passamoquoddy First Nations people, the documentary film A Beautiful Forest takes you on a journey about a mixed old growth forest in New Brunswick, Canada, known as The Acadian Forest, and what has happened to it since the last ice age.
Trailer: http://vimeo.com/70651909
Nine Short Films About the Acadian Forest
The web site for A Beautiful Forest includes the following short films photographed and edited by Kent Martin and produced by Lloyd Salomone about research in the Acadian Forest by aboriginal and non-aboriginal scientists:
An Introduction to Medicinal Plants 15:36
With Cecelia Brooks, the Samaqan Nuhkomoss
The Maliseet and Mi'kmaq people went to the Forest for many medicinal plants. Cecelia Brooks has been interested in plants and their healing properties since childhood. She has combined her studies as a scientist with teachings about the uses of plants and their sacredness from her elders.
Watch: http://vimeo.com/53367799
Beneath The Forest Floor 16:00
With soil archaeologist Elena Ponomarenko, Ph.D
Elena Ponomarenko, Ph.D is a renowned scientist. Among other things she has proven through charcoal sampling that fire was a rare occurrence in the Acadian Forest before European settlement.
Watch: http://vimeo.com/53369238
Fungi in the Forest 15:31
With naturalist Anthony Brooks
You don't have to have a doctorate to be a naturalist. In fact some of the great discoveries of Natural History have been made by so-called amateurs. Anthony Brooks has a passion for the study of fungi. Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of a vast network of mycelium that can stretch for kilometres under the forest floor.
Watch: http://vimeo.com/53369236
The Caledonia Gorge 13:45
With zoologist Donald McAlpine, Ph.D & botanist Stephen Clayden, Ph.D
The Caledonia Gorge is one of sixty Protected Natural Areas in New Brunswick. Donald McAlpine and Stephen Clayden of the New Brunswick Museum explain why these areas are so vital and show during a day trip to the forest that there are always new discoveries to be made by scientists.
Watch: http://vimeo.com/53370771
The MAD Lab 15:20
With geographer Colin Laroque, Ph.D
Dendrochronology is the study of tree rings and what those rings tell us about climate change, weather, fire and infestations. Since most of the old growth forest was gone, Colin Laroque discovered that he had to come up with a whole new methodology to examine the past history of the Acadian Forest.
Watch: http://vimeo.com/53367801
The Records of Change 23:52
A visual tour of the New Brunswick Museum with Donald McAlpine, Stephen Clayden and Peter Larocque
The New Brunswick Museum in Saint John is Canada’s oldest continuing museum. Its roots go back to the 19th century with the early collections of the New Brunswick Philosophical Society and the Natural History Society. The Museum’s collections are vast and among other things document the human cultural history and the natural history of the lands, coastlines and waterways of the Acadian Forest.
Watch: https://vimeo.com/64067962
The Secrets of the Rings 21:19
With artist and scientist Ben Phillips
Artist and scientist, Ben Phillips, has spent time in the forest since he was a boy. He now works withthe Fundy Biosphere Reserve. A few years back he found the oldest known Red Spruce tree growing in a protected area of the Acadian Forest. A study of its rings shows that these venerable trees can live for centuries.
Watch: http://vimeo.com/53367800
Twelve Thousand Years Ago 15:00
With geologist Randall Miller, Ph.D
Twelve thousand years ago a glacier more than a kilometre thick began to retreat. It had scraped the Maritime region clean to the bedrock. The shoreline at the edge of the retreating glacier reveals how vegetation returned to the land and eventually became the Acadian Forest.
Watch: http://vimeo.com/53369239
Witness Trees 19:52
With forest ecologist Donna Crossland
Forest ecologist Donna Crossland was asked to come up with a vegetative management plan for Kouchibouquac National Park. Her groundbreaking research into "Witness Trees" produced evidence of what the Acadian Forest once was and its sad demise to what it is today.
Watch: http://vimeo.com/53369235