Can we save our endangered mountain caribou?
Last Stand: The Vanishing Caribou Rainforest, a new film that explores the tragically threatened world of the mountain caribou and their home in our inland temperate rainforest, will be shown at the Castle Theatre in Castlegar on Wednesday, Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m. The film is presented by Wildsight and the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y), in partnership with the West Kootenay EcoSociety, and with door prizes from Arcteryx and Patagonia.
For the fewer than 1,500 mountain caribou left, struggling for survival in only in a small fraction of their former range, time is running out. 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.
“Caribou are in trouble across the Yellowstone to Yukon region,” says Y2Y’s Candace Batycki. “Here in the Kootenay-Columbia, some herds have only a dozen animals left. 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 to explore why the mountain caribou, abundant until not so long ago, are disappearing so quickly — and what we can do to save them.
The film, directed by Colin Arisman and produced by noted wildlife photographer David Moskowitz and Wild Confluence for the Mountain Caribou Initiative, is on a ten-stop Kootenay tour with Wildsight and Y2Y this November and is also being shown in other locations in B.C., Alberta, and the U.S.
The 35-minute film, starting at 7:30 on Wednesday, Nov. 15 at the Castle Theatre in Castlegar, will be followed by a panel discussion with conservationists and caribou experts, including Candace Batycki and Greg Utzig, moderated by Reverend Greg Powell of the West Kootenay EcoSociety.
Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door. The film trailer and tickets are available at https://wildsight.ca/events/laststand/