Studio Day at Dirt Floor with Jake Klar

On November 7th, Jake Klar recorded his Songscape: Great Mountain Forest song at Dirt Floor in Haddam, CT. Both Klar and Dirt Floor are Green Roster members, dedicated to upholding environmental practices in their businesses. 

Left to Right: Eric Lichter, Max Wareham, Jake Klar.

Klar brought along Amherst-area musician and friend, Max Wareham, to play another layer of guitar. Eric Lichter, founder of Dirt Floor, had a cozy set up for them in the log cabin studio overlooking the Connecticut River. He even had a fire going, which you can hear crackling along to some of the tracks. It's an appropriate addition to Klar's song, which is inspired by Great Mountain Forest's history as a working forest. Great Mountain Forest provided timber-turned-charcoal to the iron industry of northwest Connecticut, which fueled the spread of railroad infrastructure in the 1800's. At a later date, Harrison Goodale, will likely be adding saw to the song, in keeping with Great Mountain Forests' heritage of sustainable forestry.

As always, it is a pleasure working with Dirt Floor. Eric Lichter is one of Sustain's strongest supporters and we could not bring you Songscapes without him. He donated this recording session to Sustain, which is incredibly generous. Thank you Dirt Floor!

See our short Facebook Live session at Dirt Floor (and a sneak peak at the song!):

Recording Songscape: Great Mountain Forest

On Monday (Nov. 7), Jake Klar will be recording the song he wrote while staying at Great Mountain Forest as part of this summer's Songscape program. We've heard the rough cut and it's wonderful! Really brings in the working forest history of the landscape.

The song will be recorded at Dirt Floor, one of our Green Roster member studios. Eric Lichter has donated a free day of recording for this project and we couldn't be more grateful for his support.

Songscape Featured by National Geographic Explorers

Thanks to our amazing videographer, Corey Robinson, National Geographic Explorers featured live footage from Songscape: Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge on their Facebook page. Learn more about the refuge, Corey, the band, and their explorations in the video below. Thank you also to Tom Koerner for being cameraman.

Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge

Photos by Tom Koerner.

Sustain's next Songscape has River Whyless headed to Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), a gem among America's 500+ refuges devoted to conserving wildlife and their habitats. Seedskadee NWR is twice the size of Manhattan and is located in the southwest corner of Wyoming. It is used by over 250 species of wildlife, which depend on the high desert sagebrush plains, and the oasis of the Green River which runs through the heart of the refuge. One of the star residents of the refuge is the Greater Sage-Grouse, a chicken-like bird dependent on sage and wide open spaces for survival. This unique bird, with the funniest mating dance you've ever seen, has been declining as the sagebrush landscape grows scarce due to development, oil and gas industry, and invasive species encroachment. That's why it's important we highlight the work Seedskadee NWR does to protect sagebrush habitat, and the wildlife that depend on it."

Learn more, and see beautiful photos at their website.

Songscape Updates

It's been a busy few weeks for Sustain! We have two Songscapes going this month. Songscape: Great Mountain Forest with Jake Klar just wrapped up and Songscape: Seedskadee NWR with River Whyless starts on July 30.

Songscape: Great Mountain Forest

Klar just finished his residency at Great Mountain Forest. The week kicked off with a potluck at the Great Mountain Forest farmhouse, alongside GMF's board members, staff, interns, friends and family. After a delicious dinner outside with the crickets and pines, we watched Green Fire, a documentary about Aldo Leopold, the father of conservation and the Land Ethic. To top off the night we had maple syrup sundaes, made with GMF's own syrup made on site. Forest products for the win.

Jake has completed his song, filmed a music video, and now we're in the process of arranging recording and video editing. We'll let you know the release dates soon.

Songscape: Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge

We are tired of making you tired with the requests for donations for Songscape: Seedskadee NWR! We're sorry. However, we still need funding! Luckily we had a great grant come in from Clif GreenNotes (of Clif bar) but we're still a few thousand short of being able to have Corey Robinson, National Geographic videographer, do the music video. Please consider donating here: https://www.generosity.com/volunteer-fundraising/songscape-seedskadee-national-wildlife-refuge

With that necessity out of the way, we're excited for the kick off Welcome Campfire on July 30. We have the great pleasure of receiving a beer donation from Storm Peak Brewing, a craft brewery out of Steamboat Springs. Awesome outdoor gear company, Stio, has also donated gear to River Whyless to help outfit them on their float trip on the Green River through the refuge. 

Crowdfunding for Songscape: Seedskadee NWR!

Hey folks! We have a great opportunity to work with National Geographic videographer, Corey Robinson, for Songscape: Seedskadee NWR. If we can raise the money, he'll be filming the music video of River Whyless at the wildlife refuge! This would be a great opportunity to raise Sustain's visibility and impact, show off the sage-steppe ecosystem and promote Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge and all their important conservation work.

Songscape: Seedskadee NWR Crowdfunding Campaign

We REALLY need your help, and we've come up with some great perks to say thank you for donating to Sustain. Particularly exciting is if you donate $500, Simon Roosevelt (Teddy Roosevelt's great-great-grandson, and conservationist in his own right) will personally inscribe a book of T.R. quotes to you. Even donating $25 gets you pre-access to the song!

Please support our efforts to make music a force for nature and consider donating towards Songscape: Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge!!

Katahdin Woods & Waters Releases Video Featuring KTAADN

Katahdin Woods & Waters has just released a video featuring beautiful footage of the landscape that might become the next National Parks unit. As part of the Songscape project, public land hosts get to use the band's song in their marketing materials. I'd say Parsonsfield's song, KTAADN, fits the landscape perfectly.  Check it out!

North Woods Monument video shows the tremendously beautiful natural resources and exceptional recreational opportunities. The hope is that viewers will be inspired to come visit and advocate for a designation as a National Park Unit in 2016, the 100th anniversary of of the Park Servce.