Come see a FREE screening of “A Season of Predators” at the nexStage Theatre
STANLEY, IDAHO—The Sawtooth Society along with the Lava Lake Institute and the Idaho Conservation League are pleased to present a FREE screening of the documentary film “A Season of Predators” by Idaho resident Jason D.B. Kauffman at the nexStage Theatre in Ketchum on Thursday, April 17. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. with beer and wine available in the lobby. The film will start at 6 p.m. Following the film, former Wildlife Services Wolf Specialist Rick Williamson will speak on various management tools used throughout the years.
“A Season of Predators” explores collaborative solutions to human-predator conflict in the northern Rockies and takes place in two Montana and Idaho valleys where expanding predator populations have led to conflict. The film was produced, filmed and edited by Kauffman during his graduate studies in the University of Montana’s Master’s of Environmental Science and Natural Resource Journalism program. Filmed between May 2011 and April 2012, Kauffman logged more than 10,000 miles traveling between the Wood River Valley in south-central Idaho, the Blackfoot Valley in northern Montana and Yellowstone National Park in northwest Wyoming.
The film presents the challenges everyday Westerners face living with large predators in the two valleys. It also considers the collaborative, community-based solutions residents of these two landscapes have developed and employed in an effort to address livestock losses to wolves and grizzlies.
In the Blackfoot Valley, trust built up over decades through collaboratively addressing pressing issues like invasive weeds, water quality and stream restoration have, in part, set the stage for successful partnerships related to predators. In the Wood River Valley, sheep ranchers, conservationists and state and federal agencies have partnered to reduce sheep depredations by wolves since 2007.
“A Season of Predators” reveals the successes shown in these two communities and examines whether these types of programs may be viewed as emerging models for other Western communities facing similar predator challenges.
Controversies over predator management have been a constant of western politics for many years. This documentary project is ultimately about seeking examples where people have found a rare thing in these contentious issues: common ground.
Only time will tell if positive examples like these in the Blackfoot and Wood River valleys will help point the way forward.
“We live in a place where the line that separates the urban landscape and the wild landscape is blurred,” said Sawtooth Society Volunteer and Membership Coordinator Dalton Warr. “This film examines what it means to live in this interface and creative ways the conflict can be managed. Anyone living on the border of wildlife habitat or who are interested in human’s interaction with large predators will find this film extremely interesting.”
The Sawtooth Society, formed in 1997, is the only non-profit group dedicated exclusively to serving as an advocate for the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, preserving open space in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area and enhancing its recreation facilities and services. The Sawtooth Society has funded over 160 recreational-related projects throughout the Sawtooth National Recreation Area.
To learn about the Sawtooth Society and it’s membership visit http://www.sawtoothsociety.org. For more details and information, contact Dalton Warr at dalton@sawtoothsociety.org.
