The whole story of the Irate Birdwatcher film

The Irate Birdwatcher - a rose by any name

By JAKE LYNCH
Issaquah Reporter Editor

The clearly stated purpose of the film itself is to remind us all why the conservation of these areas is so important, and why champions of nature like Manning must be remembered and thanked by continuing efforts to preserve and maintain what limited areas of unspoiled beauty we have left.
For those few not familiar with the “Issaquah Wildman,” as he was known, Manning was a charismatic outdoorsman, author of trails guides, and one-time editor of Mountaineer books. It was he who first used the term “Issaquah Alps,” and he co-founded the trails club there that has since picked up where he left off.
But he is known particularly as a dogged and colorful advocate of many wilderness areas and trails, including the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River, Little Si, Big Si, Rattlesnake Mountain, Tiger Mountain, Cougar Mountain, the North Cascades National Park, and the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area. He was also instrumental in getting the Washington Wilderness Act of 1984 passed.
Though most hikers today, myself included, often take it for granted that these are places free from the threat of development, this was not always the case, and it is thanks entirely to the, often unpopular and misunderstood, efforts of people like Manning that this future feels at least somewhat secure.
When he died in 2006, he was mourned, far and wide. In his home town of Issaquah, they built a life-sized bronze statue of the man.
“So long as there are ancient forests wanted by loggers, wild rivers wanted by dammers, and flower meadows wanted by miners, the crusade must continue to put more hikers, more defenders, more crusaders on the fragile land,” Manning once wrote.
It is sentiments like these that we hear in “The Irate Birdwatcher,” given voice by actor Earl Prebezac and illustrated by the stunning videography of Robert Chrestensen.

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NOTE - this article appears to mis-state the TIME of the showing today on KCTS-9 as 10:30 AM. KCTS's schedule shows it as 10:30 PM.