The scenic and scientific glories of the NRS will grace TV airwaves next Sunday, July 24, on an episode of Open Road with Doug McConnell. The longtime Bay Area television host takes viewers on journeys to explore the natural, historical and cultural treasures of the Bay Area and California. The show focuses on parks and open spaces protected by the public and made accessible to all people for all time.
In next Sunday’s episode, “we’ll discover one of our state’s crown jewels few of us know anything about, a system of nearly forty pristine preserves protected for nature, science and education by the University of California,” McConnell says.
Those featured in the NRS segment will include NRS Director Peggy Fiedler; aquatic food webs researcher Mary Power; marine mammal researcher Dan Costa; Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center Director Al Muth; and UC climate science institute leader Barry Sinervo, not to mention the kangaroo rats, ancient pines, island foxes, and other native wildlife.
Documentary roots
The segment grew out of an existing collaboration between the NRS and McConnell’s colleagues at ConvergenceMedia Productions. McConnell and cameraman Jordan Plotsky have been visiting different reserves since last spring to obtain footage for an NRS documentary. McConnell and his producer Carl Bidleman agreed that the NRS would make an ideal topic for an Open Road episode this summer.
“It’s been a real privilege working with such consummate professionals,” Fiedler says. “They worked tremendously hard, from dawn to dusk, to capture the beauty of the land and the excitement of discovery that happens every day at the NRS. We’re very excited to see their work onscreen.”
Other stories featured in this Sunday’s show include the accessible trails of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, prime wildlife watching locales in northern California, and photography in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Air times
Sunday, July 24, 6:30 p.m., NBC
Saturday, Sept. 3, 7:30 p.m., NBC
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