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08/30/25
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Agence Public Relations and Policy Communications
Filmmaker, Robert Lundahl
415.205.3481
info@studio-rla.com
The Great Forgetting
"Unconquering the Last Frontier” motion picture, playing at the Lincoln in Mt. Vernon, WA, reminds us to take care of our rivers
Robert Lundahl’s film, "Unconquering the Last Frontier," depicts the harm created by damming the Elwha River, from the perspective of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, as told by tribal members Beatrice Charles and Adeline Smith. There’s no running from the conclusion that there was a genocide in their woods, a willfully blind destruction and desecration of everything good, for quick money.
When the wind blows, the woods creak in pain. Out in the far yonder of the American West, Marmots still squeak for a mate. A Golden Eagle glides overhead. It’s a deep, dark rainforest, clouded in mystery yet providing salmon, vegetables, berries, the songs of birds and life, for people. The settlers came and the trees were cut, and cut again, hoisted onto huge trucks with sputtering "Jake brakes," then onto ships, the forest itself annihilated, destined to be chewed up for plywood and veneer. It's a tragedy not easy to forget or cover up, and one explored systematically in Robert Lundahl’s film, "Unconquering the Last Frontier."
And “There, the Indian land lays,” Adeline Smith resolutely intones.
And the rivers. The rivers. Coursing like a fall from the once fully glaciered peaks, seen and described in luscious green and blue film footage from Lundahl’s camera. More facts, more deaths of salmon, predators, scavengers, insects, lichens, ferns, flora and fauna, people damned by development and dammed for a seeming eternity.
The movie is about removing those dams, and restoring what’s left. And on The Elwha River it was a process begun with a 1992 Congressional mandate, avoiding a billion dollar lawsuit with a mitigated solution, then continued with the blasting of concrete in 2011 and 2014, and the commitment of 325 million dollars by a federal government under Republican and Democratic administrations alike.
And the film that was made to never forget, and the stories that were told, and the fiddlehead ferns, once a tasty staple, began to slip away from the palate and from consciousness.
And on the Skagit River out to the East along the slopes of a predominant volcano known today as Mt. Baker, the forgetting decimated the ecosystem and bountiful resources as it did to its western counterpart. Only the Elwha was re-thought, reconnected with her people, and is rebounding, The Skagit on the other hand, supplying power to the heady technology centers of Seattle, is a sacrifice zone, diverted and “dewatered,” stifled by three dams.
In the watershed, in the town of Mt. Vernon, a land of cultivated tulips, hops and strawberries, water may go elsewhere, though not in the river, not supporting salmon, a once fecund terrain, no longer supporting Native people. All that has been removed.
In the town of Mt. Vernon, all that is in the movie theater, the Lincoln, as Robert Lundahl’s film, “Unconquering the Last Frontier” reminds us what was and what could be again. "Unconquering the Last Frontier” screens October 13, 2025, 7:00 pm, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Seattle Times veteran journalist, Lynda Mapes. Tribal citizens and Elders, Linda Wiechman and Vanessa Castle (Elwha Klallam), J.J. Wilbur (Swinomish), and Scott Schuyler (Upper Skagit) answer questions and tell their stories.
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Technical Achievement in Filmmaking
After a six month process, Agence RLA and Robert Lundahl have produced a stunning 4K Digital Projection Master of the 97 minute “Unconquering the Last Frontier.” Created using Topaz Video AI Artificial Intelligence software from Topaz Labs, and struck from a Digital Beta format video master resolved at 720 x 540 dpi (Dots per square inch), the artifact free re-master/reconstruction at 3840 x 2880 dpi (4X3) restores the original edit and is roughly 28 x higher pixel density and resolution in keeping with modern projection systems for theaters.
The multi step process using Topaz AI’s Proteus and INX AI Models and Adobe Premiere was experimental and designed to optimize and improve the original Kodak 7293 16 mm film master quality, contrast, and colorimetry without utilizing the Rank Cintel Flying Spot Scanner optical/analog process, offering a higher level of creative control while saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs involved with archival reprinting of the film from A/B rolls or alternatively, scanning higher contrast projection reels. It’s a technical breakthrough only available since 7/24 and utilized by a very few filmmakers including French documentarian and anthropologist Jean Rouch to revitalize important and timeless documentaries which otherwise might be lost or rendered cost prohibitive in the midst of a digital transition. 2K versions of the film are also available for compatible systems. The results may be seen at https://www.robertlundahl.com/feature-documentaries
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10/24/25
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Agence RLA, LLC
Public Policy Communications
Robert Lundahl
415.205.3481
The Sierra Club. Agence RLA, and Holboy Entertainment Join Forces to Take Viewers Behind the Scenes of Dam Removal In Robert Lundahl’s “Unconquering the Last Frontier” Film.
A video panel discussion held after, reveals concerns about hatcheries, fish passage, and logging, where impacts include forest fires, floods, and loss of biodiversity/extinction.
A recent film screening in Washington state has focused on the “behind the scenes” issues which caused Congress to mandate Dam Removal in the Pacific Northwest. “Unconquering the Last Frontier,” a collaboration between Emmy® Award winning Producer, Filmmaker, Robert Lundahl and Elders from the Coast Salish, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe investigates the impacts of the state’s fish hatchery system on returning wild salmon, and colonial displacement and abuse of Native peoples.
The film finds that the hatchery system is counterintuitive to the inherent natural selection of young salmon, making them more vulnerable to predators.
Furthermore, federal resource managers from Olympic National Park indicate that fish passage through ladders and screens would yield only 12% of returning fish.
With nearly a billion of tax and ratepayer dollars on the line for mitigation in the case of the Skagit River dams’ potential relicensing by FERC, the Federal Energy Regulator Commission alone, some audience members seemed convinced the dams there should be removed, following successful elimination of the salmon killing industrial infrastructure on the Elwha and Klamath rivers.
Other dams harm tribal communities, spawning salmon and sea-running juveniles known as “smolts.” These include the 60 dams on the Columbia and its watershed, The Snake, Kootenay, and the Pend Oreille, many, much discussed for removal.
Industrial dams on rivers are a 19th century technology implementation, trying to compete with the successful German PV and battery storage solar model, and other renewable systems, which define our era, with less damage to the natural environment. For several years Germany has added 500 MW per week to its smart grid.
The collaborating team which included tribal Elders Beatrice Charles and Adeline Smith worked for seven years to shine a light on impediments to successful, fire resistant, healthy ecosystems, including healthy salmon.
Rollout of smart technologies across Europe ranges from 80-98% consumer penetration, so why are we spending necessary billions on obsolete and destructive, gargantuan edifaces.
Filmmaker Lundahl states, “My film isn’t about ‘real dams,’ it’s about the dams in the mind. Whether from trauma, or social convention from another time, we’ve got blocks in our heads. We need a more flexible, faster, more adaptive solution, one based upon. neuro-plasticity, the avoidance of erasure by becoming un-stuck.
Some ask, why are we killing the formerly great runs of salmon? What is the legacy we are leaving for our children?”
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09/15/25
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Agence Public Relations and Policy Communications
Filmmaker, Robert Lundahl
415.205.3481
info@studio-rla.com
"Unconquering the Last Frontier” motion picture, screening at the Lincoln in Mt. Vernon, WA, October 13, 7:00 pm reminds us of the fragility of Washington’s forest ecosystems, vulnerable to devastating fire.
Robert Lundahl’s "Unconquering the Last Frontier," a film depicting “The Epic Drama of the Damming and Undamming of the Elwha River” takes viewers from sea-level at the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the high glaciers of Mount Olympus, near where the river begins in a retreating “snowfinger,” melting in the slow drip of an overheated climate.
This fragility is evidenced downstream as fisheries workers race against time to save the genetics of the last stocks of wild salmon on the Elwha as politics threaten an unraveling of their efforts.
It’s a memory taken for granted today by some, in the years following a 14 year, 325 million dollar process of dam removal and ecosystem restoration, begun in 2011 with the breaching of the Lower Elwha Dam and continuing later in 2014, with the removal of the Glines Canyon Dam.
The salmon and seagoing anadromous trout species including steelhead are now returning in steadily increasing numbers, but not without threats and obstacles of the man-made kind as logging upstream on a major tributary, The Little River, augurs dangers ahead for the spawning fish and young smolts from mudslides and sediment deposition.
Those dangers also include fire, as evidenced by the man-made Bear Gulch inferno, currently blazing in Olympic National Park, only 10% contained.
"Unconquering the Last Frontier," depicts the harm created by damming and logging of the Elwha River watershed, from the perspective of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, as told by tribal members Beatrice Charles and Adeline Smith. In the film, the past comes alive through a remarkable collection of historical photographs. There’s no running from the conclusion there was an ongoing series of atrocities in these woods, culminating in a genocide, a willfully blind destruction and desecration of nature’s bounty and the people who depended on it.
When the wind blows, the woods creak in pain. The settlers came and the trees were cut, and cut again, hoisted onto huge trucks with sputtering "Jake brakes," then onto ships, the forest itself chewed up for plywood, veneer, and easy money, even today. It's a tragedy not easy to forget or cover up, and one explored systematically in Lundahl’s film.
There have been fires before, but today these conflagrations prey on ecosystems weakened by the extraction of old growth, and continuing industrial forest practices which have obliterated biodiversity over time and decimated the water-holding capacity of Western Washington’s forested lands. The evidence is clear.
Bear Gulch warns us of apocalyptic “fire-bombing” to come. According to Wildfire Explorer, “The persistence and growth of the blaze have been significantly influenced by hot, dry weather patterns and prolonged drought in Washington. The current heat wave and lack of significant precipitation have exacerbated the fire’s behavior, leading to increased activity and spread.”
In “Changing wildfire, changing forests: the effects of climate change on fire regimes and vegetation in the Pacific Northwest, USA” by Jessica E. Halofsky et al., climate change has been cited as a leading factor increasing the risk of major wildfires in the region.
The forest is drying out. Logging and replanting “matchstick” monocultures are impacting once-verdant biodiversity-intense forest lands. According to a paper in the Journal of Hydrology by Catalina Segura, et al., converting a mature forest to plantations reduces summertime streamflows by 50 percent, and the effect lasts for decades.
And on the Skagit River, out to the East along the slopes of a predominant volcano known today as Mt. Baker, the forgetting decimated the ecosystem and bountiful resources as it did to its western counterpart. Only the Elwha was re-thought, reconnected with her people, and is rebounding. The Skagit on the other hand, supplying power to the heady technology centers of Seattle, is a cultural and environmental sacrifice zone, diverted and “dewatered,” stifled by three dams.
Referring to the waterless riverbed, Upper Skagit Tribal Elder, Scott Schuyler says, “The tribe would prefer to take out the dams and restore a free-flowing river.”
In the town of Mt. Vernon, all that is in the movie theater, the Lincoln, as Robert Lundahl’s film, “Unconquering the Last Frontier” reminds us what was and could be again.
"Unconquering the Last Frontier” screens October 13, 2025, 7:00 pm, followed by a panel discussion moderated by veteran journalist and author, Lynda Mapes. Tribal citizens and Elders, Linda Wiechman and Vanessa Castle (Lower Elwha Klallam), J.J. Wilbur (Swinomish), and Scott Schuyler (Upper Skagit) answer questions and tell their stories.
###
08/30/25
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Agence Public Relations and Policy Communications
Filmmaker, Robert Lundahl
415.205.3481
info@studio-rla.com
"Unconquering the Last Frontier” motion picture, screening at the Lincoln in Mt. Vernon, WA, October 13, reminds us to take care of our rivers
Robert Lundahl’s "Unconquering the Last Frontier," a film depicting “The Epic Drama of the Damming and Undamming of the Elwha River” takes viewers from sea-level at the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the high glaciers of Mount Olympus near where the river begins in a small “snowfinger” melting in the slow drip of a warming climate.
This fragility is evidenced downstream as fisheries workers race against time to save the genetics of the last stocks of wild salmon on the Elwha as politics threaten an unraveling of their efforts,
It’s a memory taken for granted by some today in the years following a long and expensive process of dam removal and ecosystem restoration which began in 2011 and 2014 with the breaching of the Lower Elwha and Glines Canyon Dams.
The salmon and seagoing anadromous trout species including steelhead are now returning in steadily increasing numbers, but not without threats and obstacles of the man-made kind as logging upstream on a major tributary, The Little River, augurs dangers ahead for the spawning fish and young smolts from mudslides and sediment deposition.
Furthermore, "Unconquering the Last Frontier," depicts the harm created by damming the Elwha River, from the perspective of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, as told by tribal members Beatrice Charles and Adeline Smith. History comes alive in a remarkable collection of historical photographs. There’s no running from the conclusion there was a genocide in these woods, a willfully blind destruction and desecration of nature’s bounty and the people who depended on it.
When the wind blows, the woods creak in pain. The settlers came and the trees were cut, and cut again, hoisted onto huge trucks with sputtering "Jake brakes," then onto ships, the forest itself chewed up for plywood and veneer even today. It's a tragedy not easy to forget or cover up, and one explored systematically in Lundahl’s film.
And on the Skagit River out to the East along the slopes of a predominant volcano known today as Mt. Baker, the forgetting decimated the ecosystem and bountiful resources as it did to its western counterpart. Only the Elwha was re-thought, reconnected with her people, and is rebounding. The Skagit on the other hand, supplying power to the heady technology centers of Seattle, is a sacrifice zone, diverted and “dewatered,” stifled by three dams.
In the town of Mt. Vernon, all that is in the movie theater, the Lincoln, as Robert Lundahl’s film, “Unconquering the Last Frontier” reminds us what was and could be again.
"Unconquering the Last Frontier” screens October 13, 2025, 7:00 pm, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Seattle Times veteran journalist, Lynda Mapes. Tribal citizens and Elders, Linda Wiechman and Vanessa Castle (Elwha Klallam), J.J. Wilbur (Swinomish), and Scott Schuyler (Upper Skagit) answer questions and tell their stories.
###
4/25/25
For Immediate Release
Contacts:
Robert Lundahl
Linda Wiechman (Klallam)
Agence RLA, LLC
415.205.3481
Agence RLA releases **NEW** digital re-master of the film, "Unconquering The Last Frontier" and new website, roberlundahl.com.
Prophetic motion pictures present unassailable arguments for cultural and environmental protection and education
In Recognition of Earth Day/Earth Month, 2025, Agence RLA has released the **NEW** digital re-master of the film, "Unconquering The Last Frontier" and a new website, roberlundahl.com to showcase it.
In the words of Elwha Klallam Elder, Linda Wiechman, "if it wasn’t for (Filmmaker Lundahl) and her aunties (Klallam Elders), Beatrice Charles and Adeline Smith) making the film 'Unconquering and the Last Frontier,' which 'Set in motion' dam removal on the Elwha River, the dams there would not have been removed. She went on to say, '…if it wasn’t for (Filmmaker Lundahl) and her aunties making the film, ‘Unconquering the Last Frontier’, which 'set in motion dam removal on the Elwha River', dams would not have been removed on the Klamath River, either.”
Understanding the importance of the film, Agence has released a series of motion pictures, technically suitable for modern projection systems. They are best described as–
Projection/Theater Ready 2K DCI 1440P AND 1080P Digital Cinema Originals from Emmy® Award winning Filmmaker, Robert Lundahl and Agence RLA, LLC
Four feature length motion picture are available plus a variety of shorts. SEE: https://www.robertlundahl.com/feature-documentaries SEE Also: https://www.robertlundahl.com/
1. Narrated by Gary Farmer, “Unconquering the Last Frontier” explores the causes and effects of the ongoing salmon crisis in the Pacific Northwest, focusing on the Elwha River.
The film tells the story of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe’s struggle to survive in the shadow of hydro-power development. The film has been honored by film festivals around the world, and has been aired nationally on PBS stations and on Free Speech TV.
2.
"Song on the Water” 60 minutes. PBS documentary. In the 1960's Native Americans in the state of Washington were forbidden from fishing in their traditional areas, off the reservations. In what became know as the “Fish Wars,” tribal fishermen were harassed and sometimes beaten by State Police. When the Boalt Decision passed in the U.S. federal courts in 1976, the federal government guaranteed the rights to fish in “usual and accustomed grounds.” But the state often denied access. Finally in a compromise, the state agreed to allow tribes to access traditional fishing grounds if they demonstrated they could access them by traditional means, ocean going canoes.
Lundahl’s award winning ethnographic documentary, “Song on the Water” (2005), takes viewers along with 50 indigenous canoes, their crews, and communities on a modern-day voyage to a traditional potlatch. Filled with beautiful photography and inspiring Coast Salish and Nuu Chah Nulth songs and cultural expressions, the one-hour film explores what the voyage means to the “pullers,” ground crews, and elders who share the waves, the traditions, and a vision of a positive future for Coast Salish youth.
Produced and Directed by Robert Lundahl. Cinematogaphy and Editing by Robert Lundahl. Location Sound, Paul Hawxhurst.
3. “Harvest Dreams.”
Harvest Dreams profiles four farms and four farming families on Washington’s beautiful Olympia Peninsula, as agriculture there transitions from commodity products to niche and organic produce.
The film was shot over the course of a year to reveal activities through the change of seasons. It is at once touching and tragic as generations transition and farming practices in general face competition from increasing land costs and housing development that forces some out of the business forever.
4. “Who Are My People” In the Mojave desert, the world’s energy companies converge to produce power. They’ve destroyed ecosystems, migrating birds, tortoise, and sacred places from ancient civilizations. The picture has been well received in theatrical screenings five states. It focuses on the federal permitting processes, laws and agencies which allow environmentally and culturally destructive energy projects to be developed without adequate vetting or oversight.
The LA Times indicates, we are at a “Flashpoint” between competing value-systems. Bodies have been exhumed, and geoglyphs destroyed, in an area that is a long-term indigenous settlement.
“Who Are My People?” depicts how the world’s energy firms have met their match in a small group of Native American elders, in the hottest desert on the planet.
Produced and Directed by Robert Lundahl. Cinematogaphy and Editing by Robert Lundahl.
Lundahl, a one time veteran of Silicon Valley, had seen it from the inside. He consented to an interview with former Clinton White House writer Lura Lee in this piece titled, ”Hippies Turned Yuppies Turned Billionaires.” https://youtu.be/3lp-kg0GDeU?si=IkpfKcKrAVuz8R5w.
As we face policy uncertainties from the federal government in Washington D.C., these prophetic motion pictures stand out as unassailable arguments for cultural and environmental protection and education.
See short bio here: https://www.robertlundahl.com/introduction. See collection of short films here: https://www.robertlundahl.com/short-films
*Liner Notes, 'Unconquering the Last Frontier’ –On the the occasion of what would have been Grateful Dead occasional keyboardist, and solo rock impresario Merl Saunders’ 75th birthday, the San Francisco music scene converged at the Great American Music Hall to celebrate the noted local.
Saunders had grown up in the city nearby to friend Johnny Mathis and was seduced into the Rock and Roll world. Son, Tony Saunders, the Dead’s Bob Weir, Dino Valente Jr., son of Quicksilver Messenger Service frontman Dino Valente Sr., and others joined up on stage to pay tribute.
Tony Saunders (on bass) had scored the soundtrack to Robert Lundahl’s film, “Unconquering the Last Frontier,” along with members of Oakland’s’Tower of Power, in a remarkable testament to the musicianship and range of styles and capabilities of the Saunders extended family.
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