The series is presented by WGTE and Metroparks Toledo to educate and entertain
TOLEDO – WGTE Public Media and Metroparks Toledo are putting out an exciting collaboration titled Nature in Action, a storytelling initiative on multiple platforms that educates and inspires the community to explore regional treasures.
This project features three multi-episode series that will be featured on YouTube and social media platforms. These series are titled The Living Wild, A Walk in the Park and Nature Clash.
Shane Potgieter, the executive producer and content and creative services officer at WGTE, said the series started based on a conversation with Matthew Killam, the chief external relations officer for Metroparks Toledo.
“We were talking about how difficult it is to reach the middle school audience, and how do you get kids into our kind of content and into Metroparks again?” Potgieter said. “We had something in common, and we were like, ‘Hey why don’t we see if there is something we could do to work together?’ And that’s kind of where the project started.”
Potgieter said he wanted to do something similar to MrBeast challenges, as well as come up with other ideas that could attract other age groups and demographics through their programming and the Metroparks.
Scott Carpenter, the director of public relations for Metroparks Toledo, said the goal of this collaboration is to “spread the good word about Metroparks and the benefits of nature.”
The Living Wild is a series of short-form documentaries containing five episodes that focus on conservation in the Metroparks. Carpenter said the series will show not only what the Metroparks do, but why they do it, and why that work is so important.
“It will focus on various aspects of our natural resources management in the Metroparks,” Carpenter said. “It will include things like the prescribed fires that we use, the way we’ve restored and managed wetlands, and some of our research and monitoring that our volunteers do.”
Potgieter said The Living Wild is targeted to an older audience, as well as the latest edition, A Walk in the Park.
A Walk in the Park is a 10-episode podcast series that explores the intersections of work, nature and wellness. Potgieter said Erin Holden, the editor-in-chief of the Toledo Free Press, will host the podcast.
“It’s her walking in the park with somebody who’s just an ordinary Metropark-goer, just to showcase the different kinds of people that use the parks,” Potgieter said. “Erin is sort of like our Bridget Jones, who goes in the field, speaks to different people who use the park and tries out different things too.”
Nature Clash is a high-energy series of eight episodes featuring middle-school kids who will participate in a series of mental and physical challenges. These skills include climbing, paddling and other activities that people do in the Metroparks.
Potgieter said they have a few strong contenders for the host of Nature Clash, and the options will be narrowed down in the next couple of weeks.
“We have someone who is a biologist who worked on a Netflix program, a UT student who was also very promising and somebody in the community who’s a comedian, so there are quite a few options for us to go through,” Potgieter said.
Carpenter said he hopes Nature in Action will encourage people to come out to a park they haven’t visited before or try a new activity.
Potgieter said the big thing is the value of the park system Toledo has and how lucky the community is to have this on its doorstep.
“It’s uniquely northwest Ohio, and it’s amongst the best in the nation,” he said. “In terms of our mission at WGTE to educate and entertain, I’m hoping that we are able to marry those two ideals and come up with something that is uniquely engaging for all our audiences.”
