New Short Film Celebrates Nation's Public Lands

A new film celebrates the joy of running in America's public lands — including at an Arizona event recently featured in Arizona Highways.

Balance, a short film produced by Your Forests Your Future, focuses on the Canyon de Chelly Ultra, a 55-kilometer race through Canyon de Chelly National Monument on the Navajo Nation. As we reported in our November issue, the race is open to only 150 runners per year and typically sells out in less than a minute.

Balance follows Liz Townley, an Idaho resident and U.S. Forest Service employee who ran some 500 miles in preparation for the race. In the seven-minute film, Townley discusses her love of public lands and their capacity for peace and healing.

Your Forests Your Future is a Forest Service project designed to get people engaged in how public lands will be managed going forward. For more information or to watch the film, visit the project's website.