The Emporia Gazette

February 14, 2012

• Headlines
• Sports
• Forums
• Weather
• Classifieds

• Help
• Log in
• Home

• E-mail story
• Post a comment
• iPod friendly version

CHASE COUNTY — William Least Heat-Moon, author of “PrairyErth: A Deep Map,” will appear in a PBS film that will be shot in Chase County this month.

Heat-Moon will appear in the film “Return to PrairyErth,” with Wichita filmmaker John O’Hara. Heat-Moon’s book was published nearly 20 years ago and is based on the author’s trip through Chase County in the 1980s.

“Heat-Moon spent much of the 1980s wandering Chase County by foot, exploring its history, meeting its diverse characters and reporting his thoughts in rich, vivid detail,” a press release from O’Hara stated. “Heat-Moon believed that Chase County lived in a time warp, a still point near the heart of the nation and worried that their 19th-century ways would one day force them to make a harsh transition to the 21st century. But, nine years into the new century, attitudes have changed and the environmental outlook for Chase County is promising.”

In “Return to PrairyErth,” which will be filmed March 30 and 31, Heat-Moon will guide people through today’s Chase County, and he will learn how life has changed to “make this place a front-runner in the environmental and conservation movement.”

Heat-Moon is best known for his road book “Blue Highways.” He is also the author of “River Horse” and “Roads to Quoz.”

“Return to PrairyErth” is O’Hara’s second film shot in the Flint Hills. “Meditations from a Kansas Prairie” aired on regional PBS stations in 2007. The film’s original soundtrack was composed and performed by Chapman Stick artist, Trevor.