Director: Colleen Thurston | Cast: Charlotte Leonard, Sandra Stroud, Lauren Haygood, Kenneth Roberts, Johnna Thurston
6:30 PM - Meet the speakers reception, 7:00 PM - Discussion with Brooke Brown and Landon Gryczkowski, 7:30 PM - Screening of Drowned Land
BROOKE M. BROWN
Brooke Brown has served as the Pemigewasset District Ranger on the White Mountain National Forest for the past decade, overseeing operations across the forest’s western half. She brings more than 25 years of federal land management experience with the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and National Park Service.
She holds a master’s degree in archaeology and bachelor’s degrees in archaeology and history. Before becoming District Ranger, Brooke worked as an archaeologist and tribal liaison, including representing the Bureau of Land Management on a Department of the Interior team evaluating dam removals along the Klamath River in southern Oregon and northern California.
In her current role, Brooke served as the decision-maker for the South Gale River and Wild Ammonoosuc dam removal projects, advancing ecological restoration across the Pemigewasset Ranger District.
LANDON GRYCZKOWSKI, PhD
Landon Gryczkowski is the Watershed Program Manager for the White Mountain National Forest. He specializes in combining advanced technology with an understanding of natural processes to evaluate river systems and design river and floodplain restoration projects. His work includes monitoring water movement, assessing erosion and channel change, mapping beaver habitat, and applying geospatial tools to watershed restoration.
Most notably, Landon co-leads restoration efforts in the Zealand River watershed, helping reconnect the river with its historic floodplain to restore natural form and function. He uses advanced geospatial tools, imagery, and LiDAR analysis to inform ecological restoration and federal land management.
Landon holds a PhD in Water Resources Engineering, integrating hydrologic science with the engineering principles needed to design and restore resilient natural systems.
About Drowned Land
Winding its way through southeastern Oklahoma, the Kiamichi River is a bastion of ecological diversity. Already twice-dammed, the state of Oklahoma and a Texas corporation are now trying to dam and divert the remaining water from the river.. For a group of locals, this isn’t just a fight for a river; it is a lifelong reckoning with the cycle of land theft and displacement that began with the Trail of Tears. Now, in a region where the community relies on the Kiamichi’s ecosystem for subsistence, taking the water out of the watershed could mean yet another relocation.
The narrative arc follows the river as its main character—witnessing the ebb and flow of its life-giving ability through the seasons, and the detrimental impact caused by damming and development projects. The director, Colleen, explores the
effects of her grandfather's work designing dams for the Army Corps of Engineers, her tribe’s ongoing struggles with resource exploitation, and how it shapes her reconciliation of the past with the present.
Interwoven are the stories of the river’s advocates—residents, Choctaw culture- keepers, and scientists—who have come together to save the river and initiate a paradigm shift grounded in ideals of re-matriation and the Rights of Nature, reinforcing a commitment to end the cycle of disconnection from our land.
The New Leaf Series is created in partnership with Ammonoosuc Conservation Trust and is co-sponsored by Forest Society North at The Rocks, Tall Provisions, and Liquid Death
