Showing of new Isle Royale documentary opens Earth Week on campus

GREEN BAY – Documentary filmmaker George Desort will visit the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Monday evening (April 20) to host the first Fox Valley showing of his new wilderness film about remote Isle Royale, ecological balance and the island’s famous predator-and-prey (wolves and moose) case study.

“Fortunate Wilderness” will be screened at 7 p.m. in Room 208 of Mary Ann Cofrin Hall on the campus at 2420 Nicolet Drive. Admission is free.

The 63-minute film tells the story of one of America’s last remaining wild places and of a long-term scientific study of the moose-wolf relationship by field biologists Rolf Peterson and John Vucetich. The filmmaker followed the two men over parts of four years to record their observations on the delicate balance involving wolf, moose and climate.

Wolves arrived on moose-rich Isle Royale one winter in the late 1940s, when they crossed a rare icebridge connecting the island —a U.S. National Park in northern Lake Superior — to the Canadian mainland about 15 miles away. Some naturalists at the time wondered if the new predators would eradicate the island’s moose, but both populations adapted. With intensive scientific research dating to the 1950s, the Isle Royale ecosystem is said to be the longest study ever of a predator-prey relationship.

Desort, of Hope, Mich., will introduce the film, lead discussion and respond to questions. More information is available at the “Fortunate Wilderness” web site at www.fortunatewilderness.com/.

The film screening and discussion mark the first public event of Earth Week 2009 on campus. When the United States celebrated the initial Earth Day on April 22, 1970, the new UW-Green Bay was concluding its first full academic year. This year’s campus observation will mark the 39th anniversary and 40th consecutive year of Earth Day and Earth Week activities at UW-Green Bay. Most events are scheduled to take place Wednesday, April 22.

#09-95