LA GRANDE — The Grande Ronde Model Watershed is hosting the Wild and Scenic Film Festival, on Nov. 15, 6 p.m. at HQ, 112 Depot St.

Advance tickets for the fundraiser are available at grmw.org for $25 per person.

“This is our second year hosting the Wild and Scenic Film Festival,” said Amanda Coffman, Union County Project Coordinator at GRMW.

The Wild and Scenic Film Festival will show 12 films for a total of 125 minutes of viewing, celebrating the natural world and inspiring the audience to act for the benefit of the GRMW. The 12 films will be shown back-to-back with a brief intermission.

The film festival is a fundraiser to help GRMW continue to publish its newsletter. The newsletter, which is known as “Ripples” today, originated in 1992 with the founding of the Grande Ronde Model Watershed. “Ripples” is part of the GRMW Education Outreach Program and is distributed as an insert with the East Oregonian.

Past “Ripples” publications are archived and can be read on grmw.org.

“Ripples” highlights collaborative projects in the Grande Ronde Basin, and it serves as a media source for other natural resource agencies. It informs the community of what kind of work or restoration is being accomplished and shares water-related information pertinent to Wallowa and Union counties.

Due to increased costs, the GRMW had to reduce the number of times the newsletter was printed and distributed from four times a month to just twice a month. The money raised will help GRMW continue to publish the newsletter.

“The film festival is also an opportunity to host something for the community that we think is beneficial and people would be interested in,” Coffman said.

Speakers at the film festival will be Coffman and Carrie Caselton Lowe, who runs the Grande Ronde Community Science Project.

The event will take about three to four hours, and Coffman said they hope to get enough donations from community partners to host a silent auction.

“Last year’s film festival was very successful, so we’re anticipating the same for this year,” Coffman said.

HQ’s Chris Jones and Jesse Cimon will do all the audio-visual setups, and the public can enjoy free finger foods. Also, beer and wine will be available for purchase.

For additional information, visit GRMW on Facebook or contact Coffman at the GRMW office at 541-663-0570.