A documentary on B.C.'s Great Bear Rainforest is coming to a Vancouver science centre next week.
Aptly titled "Great Bear Rainforest," the film will be playing in the OMNIMAX dome at Science World starting Feb. 15.
For a month, the IMAX film will be screened at noon and 2 p.m. on weekdays, and at noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on weekends. It will also play at IMAX Victoria starting the same day.
Narrated by Vancouver-born Ryan Reynolds, the film documents the last intact temperate rainforest in the world. The Great Bear Rainforest located along B.C.'s central coast is about the size of Ireland, and accounts for one-quarter of the world's coastal rainforests.
"Journey to a land of grizzlies, coastal wolves, sea otters and the all-white spirit bear," the documentary's website says.
"Hidden from the outside world, the Great Bear Rainforest is one of the wildest places left on earth."
The documentary explores the ancient rainforest, but also features Indigenous "guardians" who are working to protect it.
While some of the forest is protected by conservation efforts, much of the land is private, and some is available for logging.
Several endangered or threatened species live in the rainforest, including some of the most dense populations of black and grizzly bears, as well as Kermode or spirit bears.
The region was previously popular with trophy hunters, and while the province says habitat degradation is a larger concern, two years ago the government announced it would ban all grizzly hunting within the forest's boundaries.
The forest also faces the threat of pollution. Two years ago crews raced to clean up the area when a tug sunk off its coast.
A local first nation filed a lawsuit against the tug firm last fall.
With files from The Canadian Press
