THE FILM ––––

A Wilderness on the edge.

High in Washington's Cascade Mountains, the Alpine Lakes Wilderness once stood pristine and untrammeled, a breathtaking cathedral of stone, water, and solitude. Now, its beauty has become its undoing.

Viral images and soaring visitation have turned fragile lakes into community pools and lonely trails into highways. At the same time, federal budget cuts last year left a single ranger to defend nearly half a million acres of wild country.

As alpine ecosystems erode and unprepared visitors fuel a surge in dangerous rescues, local organizations are attempting to step up, transforming rising visitation into an opportunity to educate, advocate, and protect.

Set against sweeping mountain landscapes and frontline advocacy, The Dis-Enchantments follows the race to protect one of America's most treasured wild places while confronting a deeper question: Can we, as a nation in this digitally mediated age, honor the mandate of the Wilderness Act before the damage becomes irreversible?

The Dis-Enchantments asks difficult but necessary questions: How long can short-term, stopgap solutions continue to fall on the shoulders of local community volunteers striving to uphold wilderness protections that federal agencies can no longer fully support? How much access is too much? And can Wilderness survive the age of social media?

Through the personal journeys of Wilderness guardians and the social media influencers who have “discovered” the Enchantments, the film conveys the urgency of this moment. It is designed to inspire viewers to take action, to demand the investment of the resources needed to meet wilderness mandates, to support access limits in the most threatened ecosystems, and to join local conservation efforts before it's too late.