|
T-Pack pups playing with an aluminum can on June 29, 2017.
BOISE, ID – An SEJ member has organized a fundraiser to start production on an Idaho-based documentary about the explosive subject of wolves in the state. The story is part of a larger conversation about the presence of wolves in the American West.
CHILDREN OF THE WOLVES will chronicle the physical and emotional journey of a group of Boise-area high school students as they address the lack of federal and state protection of gray wolves. The goal of the film, director Barb Kuensting said, “is to raise awareness about the current management of gray wolves in Idaho — and spark a nation-wide conversation about whether they belong to the landscape, and in what capacity they should be managed.”
Kuensting originally had the idea for the film at SEJ’s annual conference that took place in Boise in April 2023. That’s where she took an all-day tour of Idaho meant to teach the participants about the history of Canis lupus in the state, and heard the high schoolers speak about the issue.
For reference, wolves used to inhabit a third of the US. The species was previously listed as federally endangered, but management was transferred to the state level when they were delisted in 2008. Since then, Idaho has permitted unlimited hunting of the species. Montana and Wyoming have similar management strategies.
The goal of the crowdfunding campaign is to raise $20,000 for early production, accompanied by grants and other donations as production continues, Kuensting said.
“The money will go toward securing access to equipment, paying production and crew members, and funding a trip for the teens and crew members to track wolves in Yellowstone as part of the storyline,” executive producer Seth Randal said.
CHILDREN OF THE WOLVES, Kuensting said, will be a plot-driven documentary film following Timberline’s Teens Restoring Earth’s Environment (TREE club), supported by interviews from field experts, local ranchers, Nez Perce tribal members, Idaho Fish and Game employees, and others. “We want to cover as much of the wolf story as possible, but within the context of what the children are interested in,” she said.
A St. Louis, Missouri native, Kuensting graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in 2022 and moved to Boise earlier this year to document the controversy. “Wildlife stories have always been a passion of mine, especially when they intersect with human ones,” she said.
The film’s production team is led by Kuensting and includes Randal, who directed THE FALL OF ‘55, a 2006 documentary about the “boys of Boise” scandal. A former journalist, Randal is an Emmy nominee and produced news coverage honored with a national Edward R. Murrow award. The film’s other executive producer is Matt Podolsky, who co-directed and produced SEA OF SHADOWS – a film that won the audience choice award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019. He also co-produced the Emmy-nominated BLUEBIRD MAN.
The film is being co-produced by Wild Lens Collective, a national wildlife filmmaking nonprofit based in Boise that assists projects like SEA OF SHADOWS and CHILDREN OF THE WOLVES through production and distribution.
Kuensting and the team hope to screen the film at local and national film festivals in 2025 and make it available to stream soon after that. Collectively, they want to platform voices of a generation they feel “deserve more say in the politics of wildlife management,” Kuensting said.
Journalists and the public are invited to follow the film’s production at www.childrenofthewolves.com.
| 
