One 100 12 miles. Seven days. Two friends. One epic journey.
In outpouring of 2025, biologist Alex Harper and filmmaker Austin Williams acceptable retired connected a hike on Las Vegas’ earthy waterways—starting astatine the apical of Griffith Peak successful the Spring Mountains, pursuing the Flamingo lavation done town, and ending connected the banks of the Colorado River.
The movie they made, The Great Depletion, is disposable connected YouTube. It tells a communicative of the duo’s adventure, the delicate ecosystem surrounding the metropolis and however h2o is cardinal to beingness successful the desert.
“I consciousness similar there’s a wide accusation disconnect betwixt the truly astute radical who recognize what’s happening with our clime and our ecosystems, and past idiosyncratic similar myself who’s the wide public,” Williams tells the Weekly. “The wide consciousness that enters my sphere is quality articles: ‘Lake Mead hits caller lows.’ There’s drought, the accrued temperatures, and it benignant of feels similar to maine a replay of everything [that’s] truthful casual to tune out.
“And astatine the aforesaid time, these topics are truly sad. They’re frightening. They’re terrifying. And I deliberation arsenic humans, erstwhile we go terrified, we tin go paralyzed.”
Harper and Williams’ extremity successful making the movie was to animate consciousness and action, but not successful a mode that was preachy oregon catastrophic. It’s a bully premix of camping shenanigans, overcoming the challenges that a agelong hike presents, lessons connected godforsaken biology and hydrology, and raising consciousness of h2o issues—namely overallocation of the Colorado River, the impacts of clime alteration and onset of aridification successful the region.
Here are 3 reasons you should get to the section screenings happening this week.
THE CHALLENGE
As though hiking 112 miles wasn’t enough, the duo allowed themselves to portion h2o from lone escaped sources similar springs, parks, libraries and assemblage centers. Following that regularisation presents an accidental to sermon h2o infrastructure and the interaction of development.
While it’s existent that Las Vegas’ conservation efforts person reduced per capita h2o usage adjacent arsenic the colonisation has grown, Harper and Williams research however lawns, play courses and adjacent the iconic Bellagio h2o amusement are portion of the depletion of the astir precious resource.
As the Colorado River continues to dwindle and arsenic Lake Mead’s level continues to plummet, adjustments indispensable beryllium made. “We indispensable inactive adapt, arsenic different neighboring cities indispensable do, if we privation to mitigate the vigor land effect, support an municipality canopy, and person h2o near implicit for amusive worldly similar splash pads,” Harper says.
THE WILDLIFE
Throughout the people of the hike, Harper documented 110 vertebrate species. Thanks to National Geographic-level videography from Red Rock Audubon’s Dave Anderson, galore of those are connected afloat show successful the film, successful summation to sheep, rabbits, lizards, insects and adjacent amphibians.
“We truly hoped to propulsion astatine the heartstrings by connecting radical with the wildlife that lives retired here, whether it’s mule cervid oregon birds oregon bobcats,” Williams says.
Harper uses the pinyon jay arsenic 1 illustration of life’s interconnectedness successful the desert. The species—which has seen its colonisation diminution by 80%, according to Harper—is indispensable to spreading pinyon conifer seeds and providing nutrient for pollinators.
THE UNFOLDING NARRATIVE
The task doesn’t extremity successful Southern Nevada. Harper and Williams are presently raising funds to proceed tracking and showing the interaction of h2o systems successful the godforsaken Southwest (helpthewest.org). The adjacent stop? New Mexico.
“In the adjacent film, we’re going to the Rio Grande [where] we’re seeing the aforesaid issues arsenic the Colorado River, but determination are immense sections that are already moving wholly adust and having a immense interaction connected wildlife retired there,” Williams says, adding that they’re moving with the conservation radical Friends of Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge to get a laic of the land.
“I deliberation we each get to beryllium doing our portion … whether that’s done conscionable mindful h2o usage, removing writer [or] planting autochthonal plants and trees to assistance these struggling species. I deliberation connected the different broadside of that, arsenic individuals, we get to beryllium alert of this problem, to beryllium capable to advocator for it, and to really recognize wherever this h2o is going and wherever we request to beryllium raising our voice,” helium says.
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