My North Cascades Story - Documentary Producing Moments

By Doug Tolmie, Documentary Producer

I'm a fan of Dan and Dean. No, I don't mean the surf music duo from the 60?s, Jan and Dean. I mean Dan and Dean, you know, Dan the calf and Dean the cattle puppy.  I became fans of theirs while producing the North Cascades: People, Places and Stories documentary for KCTS 9, which airs January 17^th at 10:30 p.m. More on Dan and Dean in a moment.

 While shooting the documentary over a 9-day period in October 2009, two moments stood out. One was when we were shooting a stewardship story at the Diablo Lake Overlook about kids working on a native plant garden. A bald eagle flew directly over our heads during an interview we were doing with a park ranger. Cameraman Bill Strothman, realizing what was happening, swung the camera around to capture the eagle flying and the kids looking up in awe. Re-doing an interview is easy. Capturing an eagle in flight isn't. Seeing the kids react to that eagle was a terrific moment.

 The second moment occurred when we met Dan and Dean. Dean is the cattle puppy of Methow Valley Rancher, Craig Boesel. We were at Craig's ranch near Winthrop talking to him about the return of the wolf to the North Cascades ecosystem. Prior to the interview we wanted to get some shots of Craig working on his ranch. He said he needed to bottle feed a calf named Dan and we could shoot that. The moment occurred when Craig started feeding Dan. Dean, who earns his paycheck herding cattle, was far more interested in trying to lick milk from the bottle and Dan's face. The moment wasn't the comedy duo act of Dan and Dean trying to drink from the same bottle, it was watching the reaction of Craig. He couldn?t help but laugh at the antics of the calf and dog. In Craig's infectious laughter over a seemingly insignificant occurrence, I witnessed a man who genuinely loved what he was doing.

These are two moments I hope to share in the documentary and I am profoundly grateful I was there to witness them.

Photo: Bill Strothman captures a documentary moment, courtesy of Doug Tolmie.