In timing with the federal government’s recent report on dwindling caribou herds and habitats, Wildsight is announcing the debut of the film Last Stand: The Vanishing Caribou Rainforest.
The film explores the threatened world of the mountain caribou and their home in the inland temperate rainforest.
It will be shown in Kimberley on Thursday, Nov. 9 and Cranbrook on Friday, Nov. 10, presented by Wildsight and Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative.
“With fewer than 1500 caribou left, struggling for survival in only a small fraction of their range of just a century ago, we don’t have much time left to save the mountain caribou,” said Wildsight. “In the wet old-growth forests that mountain caribou call home, logging, industrial activity and recreation have left tiny caribou herds roaming over a deeply altered landscape that would be nearly unrecognizable to their ancestors. With little old-growth forest left and our changing climate reducing snowpacks that caribou rely on to feed and escape predators, the future for mountain caribou is precarious.”
Wildsight’s Eddie Petryshen says the film looks at our impact on the caribou’s habitat.
“With caribou herds in the Kootenays dwindling and only a dozen or so caribou left in our southern herds, we need to take a hard look at our impact on the unique rainforest ecosystems that they call home - and that’s exactly what this film does.
“Last Stand gives voice to First Nations, scientists, foresters, conservationists, and recreationists trying to chart a new path forward for mountain caribou before it’s too late. The film journeys into the inland rainforest, among thousand year old trees, to explore why the mountain caribou, abundant until not so long ago, are disappearing so quickly—and what we can do to save them.
“Mountain caribou are the canary in the coal mine for our temperate rainforest ecosystem. The choices we make today will decide the fate of this stunning ecosystem for centuries.”
The film, produced by noted wildlife photographer David Moskowitz and Wild Confluence for the Mountain Caribou Initiative, is on a twelve-stop Kootenay tour with Wildsight and Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative this November. It is also being shown across BC, Alberta, the US Pacific Northwest and beyond.
The 35-minute film, starting at 7:30pm on Thursday, November 9th at Centre 64 in Kimberley and on Friday, November 10th at the College of the Rockies Lecture Theatre in Cranbrook, will be followed by a Q&A with conservationists and caribou experts, including Wildsight’s John Bergenske and Dave Quinn and Trevor Kinley, Parks Canada wildlife biologist. Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door. The film trailer and tickets are available at wildsight.ca/laststand.