BEHIND THE SCENES

An Interview With Stephen Fisher,
writer and producer of
The Battle For Mono Lake

Q What inspired you to make a film about Mono Lake?

A I first camped by Mono Lake in 1959. Since then I have watched the lake drop nearly thirty feet. I got the idea for a Mono Lake film when I was hiking near the lake in 1990. I thought that such an unusual place must have a fascinating and important story behind it. The more I inquired, the larger the story got. I made the film because I fear the day Mono Lake is forgotten; it brings alive a larger vision of who we are as Californians; that we are all connected, our places are connected.

Q Once you decided to tell Mono Lake's story, how did you proceed?

A The filming took five years because funding is so hard to get these days. But with that long passage of time, you get to see the Mono Lake story unfold. The film shows the lake shrinking, the spring bird count, huge dust storms in the summer, the fall Bike-A-Thons, and culminates with the public hearings and the final vote of the State Water Resources Control Board.

Q How did you decide who would appear on camera?

A I've never seen so much and so varied talent converge in a single issue. We interviewed more people that would fit into our allotted 57 minutes. One of the most eloquent speakers in the program, and a defender of the rights of ordinary people, is Joseph Sax. He is the Clinton Administration's top water consultant. Another is Jessie Durant, a Kuzedika Paiute who grew up on the bank of Rush Creek at Mono Lake.

Q Why did you choose Richard Hatch as the program's host?

A Richard's curiosity, openness -- he's a great listener as well as a talker.

Richard Hatch is everyman, not a scientist or an environmentalist, but an ordinary person who is curious about an unusual and beautiful place. His role is to go with the viewer, discovering Mono Lake together. I know the filming experience moved him deeply.

Q Do you have any anecdotes about making the film that you would like to share?

A The filming got off to a bad start. The first day, the first time the crew assembled, the first interview and my wife and I stepped on a yellow jacket nest while we were along, scouting for a location. She was stung about 40 times on the head and face. We had to jump into Rush Creek and swim under water to escape.

But the most frightening experience was getting caught in a Mono Lake windstorm when we were filming from a little boat near Paoha Island. Most of us and the heavy equipment became drenched with briny water. I thought we'd never get back to shore, and then it took hours to clean the equipment.

The longest and most tiring experience was hiking with crew and heavy equipment across the exposed lake bed to Negit Island on a bitterly cold October day. I was afraid the crew would freeze before we got out of there. But we did show how easy it was for predators to get to Negit Island, making it unsafe for nesting gulls.

Not everything was difficult. One of the high points of our filming occurred while hiking on Paoha Island. It felt as if you were the first human to walk on the island. Paoha's steaming volcanic vents made it feel like the creation of the world.

Q How would you describe, "The Battle For Mono Lake?"

A This is a Jimmy Stewart story where democracy triumphs and the people are heard. And it's a love story about people's need to pour out their hearts to save a beautiful place. No one will ever be able to count the hours, the days it took to save Mono Lake. People gave whole chunks of their lives for this cause.

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