Now that the Portland International Film Festival is over, movie lovers can head to Milwaukie for the city's first environmental documentary film festival. The evening of short documentaries from local directors was put together to feature one film especially, or more to the point, to change Clackamas County commissioners' minds.

The idea for the "The Lonely Tree" started simmering years ago when Greg Baartz-Bowman read an article about a place with 100-year-old white oaks that would be paved for a county road. It was the catalyst that moved him from writing for film companies to creating them himself.

The $10 million Sunnybrook Road extension through the

natural area has been on and off the county's priority list for years. At an open house last June, though, Clackamas County Commissioner Jim Bernard

. It still is planned, but has been moved to the backburner. Baartz-Bowman wants it removed from the list forever.

If you go

When: Doors at 7 p.m., showing starts at 7:30, April 13

Pre-screening food and drinks starts at 6 p.m. on Milwaukie's Main Street restaurant row.

Where: Milwaukie Masonic Lodge, 10636 SE Main St.

Cost: Free

Seats available only by reservation, so email

for one.

Watch the trailer for "The Lonely Tree" at

.

The film line-up:

Lonely Tree: Old Growth in Peril at 3 Creeks by Straw Bale Films

Greatest Migration by EP Films

Trout on the Wind by Sam Drevo Production

Of Forest and Men by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

At his first meeting of

, a resident-led group of environmentally conscious Milwaukians, Baartz-Bowman explained his movie idea to photographer Mark Gamba, who quickly asked to help.

They stalked county commissioners, Metro commissioners and city officials. They interviewed scientists, environmentalists and neighbors. They spent most of their time, though, with Chris Runyard and the Tsunami Crew, a volunteer group who restore the natural area and advocate for its protection.

Runyard adopted the Three Creeks area in 2000, and the Tsunami Crew formed a year later. Runyard estimates he's invested more than 3,000 hours of his life in planting native trees and shrubs and removing weeds and garbage.

A handful of the Tsunami Crew is tromping around the 89-acre natural area every Sunday.

"The Three Creeks is so spectacular that the people who come out to volunteer really like to volunteer at that place," Runyard said.

It also suffers from attempts to install electric poles in the wetlands and from homeless camps that leave behind garbage.

"It's a polluted disaster in certain spots," Runyard said. "So the motivation to clean it up is strong."

Baartz-Bowman and Gamba took up the Tsunami Crew's banner quickly. They spent about 50 hours filming "The Lonely Tree," and then three times that editing the 35-minute film. Baartz-Bowman funded the project himself.

After all this work, Baartz-Bowman and Gamba admit they learned a lot of lessons to apply to their next film. They consider it a good start, but Baartz-Bowman still laments that some county staff and officials declined to participate.

"I guess I should understand," he said. "I guess. But I don't."

Milwaukie city officials, neighborhood associations and environmental organizations already spoke out against the Sunnybrook Road extension, citing increased traffic and concerns about destroying an urban natural area. And when the county held a public hearing about it, the Baartz-Bowman accompanied the Tsunami Crew to the meeting with a camera. The filmmakers are as invested in the protection of Three Creeks as the protagonists of their film.

"As long as the road is in these plans, then the possibility of it being built will be hanging over these trees," Baartz-Bowman said.

Gamba joined the project for the same reason he joined the Milwaukie Planning Commission.

"I always assumed to tackle these problems, it was going to take a top-down approach," Gamba said. "I don't know what inspired me, but I started acting locally. Protect these tiny things, change the code to change these little things."

The pair hopes the film achieves the desired result of stopping the Sunnybrook Road extension, and becomes a case study in how to influence local government.

"It's not just here in Clackamas County, but it's everywhere and this is what you have to do," Baartz-Bowman said.

"I see the whole world when I'm at Three Creeks. If we make the needed changes there, we can change the world."

Baartz-Bowman and Gamba are already working on a second film about removing Kellogg Dam so salmon return to the area. After the film festival, "The Lonely Tree" will be available on Baartz-Bowman's film company, Straw Bale Films, website.

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