You may think deserts are pretty much lifeless. Think again. Arid landscapes are bursting with life—you just have to know where to look for it.
You don’t have to look far. One of the most fruitful places to look is at the surface. In the desert surrounding Moab, Utah, the soil surface is alive with organisms known as biocrusts (also referred to as cryptogamic or biological soil crusts).
It turns out that biocrusts hold everything together, literally.
These communities of lichens, mosses, cyanobacteria and other soil-dwelling organisms thrive in the open spaces between plants, anchoring the desert sands in place since time immemorial. The film project From Biocrust, with Love examines this underappreciated ecosystem and the consequences of disturbing it through unsustainable recreation.
Join dryland ecologist Dr. Kristina Young on a bike tour around the desert landscapes surrounding Moab, encountering biocrusts in nearly every corner, while also addressing the human disturbances that jeopardize the resilience of this beloved region with its iconic mountain bike and hiking trails.
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“Throughout the creation of the film, Kristina and I worked on the Shred Lightly Principles,” writes executive producer John Watson in The Radavist. “These tenets are meant to expand on the existing Leave No Trace Principles, to add additional recommendations for proper behaviors in desert landscapes where biocrusts are present.
As a desert rat, I know that ecology is intrinsically linked to responsible outdoor recreation and part of our job is to educate people on the proper ways to engage with this fragile landscape.”
Amidst the expansive vistas and surprising biodiversity, the friendships forged between John, Dr. Young, and director Sinuhe Xavier, anchor this cinematic ode to biocrusts and their central role in preserving the desert’s equilibrium.
Perhaps the film will remind us to shred with care, whatever landscape we find ourselves in.
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