Watch: Short film makes the case for inclusion and equity on public lands

As a black woman, runner and activist Faith E. Briggs didn’t feel represented in the conservation movement, which is notoriously white. She felt excluded from public lands, too. 

Briggs decided to take matters into her own hands. The short documentary “This Land” captures her efforts to start a movement from the ground-up aimed at allowing everyone to enjoy, protect and learn from our shared lands—no matter their backgrounds. 

The film chronicles Briggs’ “running road trip,” which covered 150 miles across various states from Oregon to New Mexico. The journey took her through three U.S. National Monuments: Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, Grand Staircase-Escalante and Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks. She ran alongside companions who have diverse backgrounds and perspectives.

The trip underscored for Briggs that public lands belong to all of us—and we all have an opportunity and duty to take care of them.

“The realization of being a public landowner means that we do have a say in what the world that we occupy looks like,” she said. “It gives me a huge sense of responsibility to ask more questions and learn how I can say more about what’s happening in my neighborhood, my state and my country.”

Click here to watch the film and a conversation with Briggs about her role in the public lands’ movement, tools that she has created to educate the public and her exciting upcoming projects.