Plot

Between the towns of Mendocino and Fort Bragg, on the coast of northern California, you'll find a piece of heaven. What is now a California state park, a beautiful and protected beach, a farm and nature center, and the gateway to the Pygmy forest ecological staircase, was once the site of the miraculous, because a miracle is what it took to save it. This is the story of Jug Handle. Following California's passing of the Environmental Quality Act in 1970, John Olmsted inspired a group of devoted hikers, teachers, artists and landowners towards a landmark showdown with developers over the future of what is now Jug Handle State Park. Told through intimate interviews, archival footage and images, and breathtaking cinematography, The Story of Jug Handle is the story of the modern conservation movement in California, focusing on what is possible when people come together and fight nobly for a common goal. This film is a testament to those fighters, and also to those who continue to keep the Jug Handle Nature Center alive and running, and accessible to all.

At the height of the back-to-the-land movement California Conservationist John Olmsted stumbles upon a forgotten landscape of dwarf trees in Mendocino, CA. A botanist and John Muir disciple, John discovers that this significant forest of stunted trees is in jeopardy from a rushed development, including a planned motel and golf course overlooking the Pacific Ocean. In September of 1972 John springs into action, using the brand new CEQA ruling as his guide, and gathers a cast of impassioned followers who rally together at exactly the right moment to preserve the unique Pygmy Forest and newly named Ecological Staircase. In 1976 Jug Handle State Natural Reserve becomes a California state park.

The redwood forests along California's North Coast paid a heavy price in the state's developing economy, and by the 1950's it showed. Following a resurgent Mendocino courtesy of artist Bill Zacha, the pygmy forest at the top of Jug Handle creek was in danger of being bulldozed in favor of a motel and golf course, when conservationist John Olmsted and his back-to-the-land activist friends came to save the day. The Story of Jug Handle, one of California's smallest state parks, is a classic Capra-esque man vs. machine story, told with archival footage and interviews with people who fought right next to John in this historic battle.