The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests has collaborated with conservation photographer and filmmaker Jerry Monkman on a documentary entitled The Merrimack: River at Risk. The film explores the fragility of the Merrimack River and its watershed, the health of which is critical to New Hampshire’s livelihood. The film airs on New Hampshire PBS, Channel 11, on July 23, 2020 at 8 PM.

The Merrimack River is the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in America. During the nineteenth century, mills in cities such as Manchester, New Hampshire, and Lowell, Massachusetts, harnessed the power of the river to become the largest manufacturing plants in the world. Like many rivers in America, the Merrimack was heavily polluted as a result of industrial growth, but due to the Clean Water Act of 1972, the Merrimack has been cleaned up considerably over the last 50 years. Remarkably, more than 80 percent of the Merrimack watershed is still undeveloped and largely forested, yet in 2016, it was named one of the most endangered rivers in the United States by the nonprofit American Rivers.

Hosted by conservationist and New Hampshire native Leah Hart, the documentary spotlights the threats the river and the watershed face now and in the future.