About The Film

An uplifting story of how water connects all life on Earth. Journey back to when mammoths, camels and saber-toothed cats roamed the ancient shores of Lake Bonneville and witness its transformation into Great Salt Lake, caused by one of the largest floods in history!

Be immersed in a rare ecosystem where unusual creatures thrive in waters five times saltier than the ocean. Yet, the source of the Lake is freshwater! It comes from high up in the snowpack of the Rockies where mountain lions raise their cubs, and Olympic skiers hone their skills on the greatest snow on Earth, flowing into rivers and streams past aspen trees that form the world’s largest living organism, and down to the basin below where grebes dance on water in a wildlife refuge that supports millions of birds, and onwards into the Lake and its islands, where herds of pronghorn and bison roam. Meet the inspiring community of dedicated scientists, indigenous leaders, farmers, and youth determined to sustain this vital Lake and surrounding watershed for the benefit of all.

Cast
Mike Rowe
Narrator
Mike Rowe

Mike Rowe is an Emmy award-winning TV host, producer, narrator, podcaster, spokesman, bestselling author, recording artist, and America’s leading advocate for the skilled trades. As the CEO of the mikeroweWORKS Foundation, he’s awarded nearly seven million dollars in work-ethic scholarships and led a national effort to reintroduce shop class into high schools, which he’s delighted to report seems to be working.

Best known as the creator and host of Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs, Mike has traveled to every state multiple times and worked alongside hundreds of Americans in more than 350 different vocations. Dirty Jobs has not only aired every week for the last 20 years, but it has served as an incubator for dozens of similar programs and launched a new genre of work-related television. Mike has also hosted and produced Somebody’s Gotta Do It for CNN, Six Degrees for Discovery, The Story Behind the Story for TBN, and Returning the Favor for Facebook. He’s narrated dozens of series and documentaries, including How the Universe Works, Bearing Sea Gold, Planet Earth, and Deadliest Catch. If you’ve ever seen a Wildebeest get eaten by a crocodile or hyaena on National Geographic, it was probably Mike who told you about it.

As a spokesman, Mike has represented Ford, Hewlett Packard, Caterpillar, Motorola, and lots of other Fortune 500 companies, including those most responsible for providing America with the energy we need. His podcast, The Way I Heard It, has been downloaded nearly 300 million times, and it features original short stories as well as extended interviews with dirty jobbers, mad scientists, serial entrepreneurs, bloody-do-gooders and other people that Mike believes you should know. Most recently, he’s introduced a line of Tennessee whiskey called Knobel, named after his grandfather, Carl Knobel, a skilled tradesman to whom Dirty Jobs was dedicated. Online proceeds benefit the mikeroweWORKS Foundation, and Mike sincerely hopes you’ll order a bottle immediately, since it is, in fact, delicious.

Against his better judgment, Mike still posts regularly on Facebook, where over 6 million people claim to be his friend. This year, he’s vowed to take YouTube more seriously and promised to do better on Instagram as well. He knows he should be on TikTok but remains hesitant, thanks to the clear and present nosiness of the Chinese government.

Prior to Dirty Jobs, Mike freelanced in the entertainment business for nearly 20 years. His career began when he crashed an audition for the Baltimore Opera Company, where he wound up singing for seven seasons and then, very nearly ended when he was fired from the QVC Cable Shopping Channel, for reasons he now admits were “entirely justifiable.”

He lives today in Northern California, which he hopes you won’t hold against him.

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Filmmakers
Tyler Mifflin
Director / Producer / D.O.P
Tyler Mifflin

Tyler Mifflin began working for SK Films over 16 years ago but his passion for the Giant Screen/IMAX medium and its immersive power began at a young age when he went to see his first Giant Screen film at the Ontario Science Centre which sparked in him a boundless curiosity about how the natural world works.

That curiosity led Tyler to become a documentary filmmaker who has now produced, directed and filmed dozens of projects in over 35 countries. Tyler most recently directed, produced and shot the 3D Giant Screen film Secrets of Great Salt Lake, and is also the co-creator, co-host, and director of the award-winning eco-adventure documentary TV series, The Water Brothers, which explores the world’s biggest environmental challenges and solutions. The 5th season of the show was recently awarded the Best Science & Nature Series at the 2024 Canadian Screen Awards.

As the Managing Director of SK Films, Tyler has a wealth of experience in film production and a passion for creating exciting educational content. Tyler has worked on numerous award-winning Giant Screen films including Blue Whales, Wings Over Water, Flight of the Butterflies, Amazon Adventure, Backyard Wilderness and Volcanoes.

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Wendy MacKeigan
Producer / Writer
Wendy MacKeigan

With a successful and dynamic career in the film and television industry spanning more than three decades, Wendy brings a tremendous amount of experience and leadership in her role as CEO of SK Films. Wendy has produced, executive-produced and written numerous award-winning Giant Screen/IMAX films including Secrets of Great Salt Lake, Blue Whales: Return of the Giants, Wings over Water, Flight of the Butterflies, Amazon Adventure, Backyard Wilderness, and Volcanoes for which SK is also the worldwide distributor. She has also worked on a variety of acclaimed broadcast productions and feature films.

Wendy has collaborated with prestigious science and natural history organizations like the U.S National Science Foundation, Tangled Bank Studios/Howard Hughes Medical Institute, BBC Earth, CBC, Netflix, TVO, Participant Media, Knowledge Network and and hundreds of science centers and natural history museums around the world.

Wendy has a passion for understanding how the natural world works and is dedicated to bringing interesting stories to international audiences about our planet, its incredible wildlife and ecosystems and the scientists who study them.

Prior to joining SK Films, Wendy was the Chair/CEO of the feature film development/TV production investment arm of Astral Media (Bell Media) and has served on numerous Boards in the media industry.

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Alex Mifflin
Producer / Writer
Alex Mifflin

As the V.P. of Creative at SK Films Alex brings a wealth of experience producing and screenwriting for Giant Screen/IMAX films and award-winning TV documentaries. As a director and TV host, Alex has interviewed many of the world’s top science and conservation experts for The Water Brothers, a documentary television series he created alongside his brother. Alex has won many awards for his work including the coveted BBC Earth Panda Award for Best Newcomers at Wildscreen, the 2024 Canadian Screen Award for Best Science or Nature Documentary Program as well as the Best Film For Lifelong Learning GSCA Achievement award for his writing on Wings Over Water. Alex has a keen understanding of environmental science and conservation and passion to entertain and inspire audiences on the wonders of the natural world.

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Charlie S. Potter Jr.
Executive Producer
Charlie S. Potter Jr.

Charlie is president and CEO of the McGraw Center for Conservation Leadership and of the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation. He is well known throughout the United States for his leadership in the conservation arena. Charlie has also successfully started and operated businesses in the outdoor recreation industry and has been engaged in the world of agriculture investing to create agriculture properties that benefit conservation and natural resource interests. He has served as CEO of the North American Wildlife Foundation (now Delta Waterfowl Foundation), and has worked on projects to enhance wetlands, habitat, open space and the efficiency of conservation funding throughout the U.S. and Canada. He is a past chair of the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission and is a past or current board member of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Advisory Board, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Delta Waterfowl Foundation, National Land Trust Alliance, Mississippi Wildlife Federation Sand County Foundation, the Property and Environment Research Center, Lake Forest (Ill.) Open Lands, and The Wetlands Initiative. He is a life sponsor of Ducks Unlimited, Delta Waterfowl Foundation and the National Rifle Association. Among his honors: Induction into the Illinois Outdoor Hall of Fame, the Chevron/Times Mirror Conservationist of the Year Award, and Reader’s Digest “Heroes of The Land.” Charlie is a passionate waterfowler; his book Following the Flight chronicled the migration of ducks and geese from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. For more than 15 years, he has hosted WGN Radio’s “Great Outdoors Show,” America’s most listened to radio show on conservation issues. Charlie graduated from Northwestern University.

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Chris Dorsey
Executive Producer
Chris Dorsey

Chris Dorsey, CEO of Dorsey Pictures (a Red Arrow Studios company), is a long-time industry executive with well-over 1500 hours of programming at Dorsey Pictures, including 150+ hours leading the frontier movement in Alaska-centric programming, successful programming in true crime and a thriving branded entertainment division that will celebrate its 20-year anniversary in 2021. Rather than being limited to one sector of media, Dorsey’s extensive personal dealmaking extends to networks, syndicators, and some of the biggest brands in the world. Prior to launching Dorsey Pictures, Dorsey spent 17 years producing more than 50 series in the outdoor adventure genre for ESPN, ESPN2, NBC Sports Network and many more. Before beginning his career in television, Dorsey was a publishing executive, running some of the largest magazine titles in America. His work has appeared in a wide variety of national publications including The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Television Week, National Geographic, Writer’s Digest, and scores of outdoor adventure periodicals. He is the author of seven books on adventure, natural history, and business subjects.

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