Local journalist debuts ‘Ocean to Idaho’ film on salmon migration
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - An Idaho Falls outdoor journalist is debuting a new film where she follows the migration of salmon from the Pacific coast to the Idaho wilderness.
After years of preparation to film the salmon along their miraculous journey, the pandemic hit making it even harder for Kris Millgate to make the trek.
Millgate had to convince wildlife officials she was alone and was following the COVID-19 safety guidelines to allow her to film at river dams and other places along her journey.
"So I lived out of a truck and camper and I did all of that solo and I followed the fish and stayed on the route. Which for them was a river, but for me it was a road. So, I drove 4,606 miles and I rafted 80 miles to keep up with the fish that swam 850 miles," Millgate said.
The 26-minute film "Ocean to Idaho" documents the 850-mile migration of salmon from the Oregon Coast to the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River.
"But if there is a way I can help people connect with our natural resources, then that's what I want to do," Millgate said. "Because I think what we have on the ground has been around us all this time. What we are starting to key in on is our natural resources. Connecting with something like salmon, swimming from the ocean to Idaho, and still making it back here to Idaho. Even when the numbers are shrinking dramatically. That gives you hope and I think people just want a little hope right now."
The film premiers at the Colonial Theater Thursday evening at 7 p.m.
A second showing hosted by the Idaho Museum of Natural History will take place at Frazier Hall on the Idaho State University Campus on Sept. 2 between 6 to 9 p.m.
