U.S. Forest Service scientists’ work featured in Netflix documentary

A rusty brown bark beetle, the length of a grain of rice, lands on a ponderosa pine. Tiny insect legs make a clicking sound, as the beetle scales the tree. Twitching its antennae, the miniature assassin readies itself to bore into the pine, often the tree’s death knell.

This scene is from Episode 3 Breaking Point of the Netflix documentary Our Living World, which explores how climate change is upending the natural world. U.S. Forest Service scientists Chris Fettig, Danny Cluck and Leif Mortenson served among the film’s scientific consultants, sharing their knowledge and research on bark beetles and, in the case of Cluck and Mortenson, taking the camera crew into the forest for filming. 

“Even though the bark beetle scene only lasts four minutes (from about 33:00 to 37:00), it took days of filming,” Fettig stated.

The scientists were careful to choose an area of the Tahoe National Forest where tree mortality was already high. They were essentially signing the trees’ death certificates, so they didn’t want beetles attacking healthy pines.

“We were thoughtful about where we were attracting beetles and also made sure the trees we used were not located near communities,” Cluck stated.

Cluck has worked as an entomologist for the Modoc, Lassen, Plumas and Tahoe national forests, and the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit for over 20 years. Corralling beetles for this documentary was not his first rodeo.

“I took staff from San Francisco’s KQED NPR-affiliate out into California forests to film beetle infestations for their ‘science shorts.’  I think those films helped capture the attention of Our Living World’s producers,” Cluck stated.

The Filming Process

The executive producer for the UK-based Wild Space Productions first approached Fettig about assisting with the documentary in 2019, to which he gave a resounding ‘yes!’

“I thought it was a great opportunity to amplify our work to a public audience,” Fettig stated. 

Five years later, in April 2024, the documentary went live. It features breathtaking footage that transports viewers to far-flung destinations, including the Tahoe National Forest. Aerial footage with drones gives viewers a beetle’s eye view of flying. For this scene, the scientists summoned their inner beetles.

“No one truly knows how beetles actually fly, but we gave it our best, educated guess,” Mortenson said.

After capturing beetles boring into pines, the documentary pans to a forest engulfed in towering flames. Although bark beetle outbreaks alter forest fuels by killing large numbers of trees Fettig cautions that they don’t always cause or worsen wildfires.

“Bark beetles are only one factor influencing wildfires. Dense forests from a history of fire suppression, the location of a fire, weather during the fire, and other factors also affect wildfire severity,” Fettig stated. 

Ironically, after filming a wildfire scorched an area of the Tahoe National Forest featured in the documentary.

“That was especially sad,” Mortenson stated.

Interconnected Natural and Human Partnerships

The documentary opens with the quote: “Realize that everything connects to everything else,” attributed to Leonardo Da Vinci. The scientists see parallels between the documentary’s theme of the interconnectedness of nature and that of their interdependent partnerships. 

“We rely heavily on our partners across the Forest Service and often work together as a team,” Fettig stated.

Some of those partners include the Pacific Southwest Region, Forest Health Protection, the National Forest System, academia and more.

“Had it not been for the support of Tahoe National Forest staff, we never would have had acquired the film permits to shoot the documentary. We’re grateful for that,” Cluck added.

Reason for Hope

In that spirit of teamwork, the scientists are working together to make forests more resilient in the future. And they’ve made strides.

Fettig and fellow scientists, for instance, have had success in repelling beetles from trees using a pheromone called verbenone and other repellents. Like a flashing ‘no vacancy’ sign, verbenone tells the beetles that “this tree is full and closed for business.”

“The documentary is powerful and has a valuable message. But we also want those who watch it to believe that there’s reason for hope in the fight against climate change,” Fettig stated.