STAGE & SCREEN A fundraiser for a better world

International Wildlife Film Festival supports teen trip to restore coral reefs, mangrove forests

By Ben Olson Reader Staff

Anyone worried about how our next generation will take care of the environment should be pleased with the Sandpoint Area Students Outdoor Adventure Club.

The club is raising funds to send its teenage members on a trip to the Dominican Republic to help with coral reef restoration, as well as planting mangrove forests to improve coastlines.

The club is hosting the International Wildlife Film Festival on Friday, Feb. 24 at the Heartwood Center, with proceeds going toward the teen volunteers. The doors will open at 6:15 p.m. and the films will start at 7 p.m.

Group leader John Hastings — a retired local science educator — said that though it might seem weird for a group of teenagers in North Idaho to spend their time improving ocean habitats, it’s a heartwarming sign that we’re all connected.

“Coral reefs make up only 1% of the world’s ocean area, but are home to 25% of the ocean’s biodiversity,”

3 billion people around the world rely on fish as their primary source of protein. If reefs are gone, fish populations will collapse.”

Hastings said watching coral reefs that have been around for more than a million years be nearly destroyed in a couple of decades is a bitter pill to swallow.

“We’ve seen the extinction of species, but to see the collapse of an entire ecosystem — in this case, primarily from human activity — is unprecedented,” Hastings said. “Obviously climate change is what we look at the most, as it both warms the seawater and acidifies the ocean.” in and begin restoring reefs by building metal structures and attaching coral fragments that have fallen off in a process called microfragmentation. Another method is referred to as “assisted evolution.”

The trip has been planned for a few years, but the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted efforts for the original group of teens.

“Some animals cannot adapt fast enough to the way we’re making the world change,” Hastings said. “So we use assisted evolution through breeding programs, identifying fragments that have been able to survive and breed them with one another.”

International Wildlife Film Festival

Friday, Feb. 24; doors at 6:15 p.m., show at 7 p.m.; $20 suggested donation. The Heartwood Center, 615 Oak St., 208-263-8699.

Hastings told the Reader. “It’s a nursery for fish, where all baby fish are born because it’s more protection from predators. About

“Last summer, we got to go to Belize,” Hastings said. “We helped out some Indigenous farmers plant native fruit trees to increase their yields, and we did get two days of snorkeling on the reef, but no restoration. Part of that is because Belize is the leader in the world for coral reef restoration. They have been protecting their reefs years before it was the cool thing to do.”

Working through the Explorica tour company, Hastings and teenagers in the club will literally dive

Aside from outplanting and cleaning the reefs, Hastings said the teens will plant mangrove forests in coastal areas. The dense roots of mangroves help bind and build soils, stabilizing coastlines, encouraging deposition of sediments and reducing erosion.

“They’ll also plant oyster beds, because oysters are great filters of the water,” Hastings said.

While a group of 10 made the environmental trip to Belize last year, Hastings said 20 will be traveling to the Dominican Republic. Each teen must cover their own costs to cover travel, food and lodging, which averages about $3,000 per traveler. But, Hastings said, proceeds from the film festival will help offset a portion of the costs, along with earnings from the silent auction held at the event. Films shown at the International Wildlife Film Festival, based in Missoula, Mont., will include one of particular interest to the teens, as it is a documentary about a woman who is working on the very same coral reef restoration as the students will be in the Dominican Republic.

Other films look at how backcountry skiing has affected the bighorn sheep habitats, the curious migration of tadpoles, films on wolverines and porcupines, and one on fungi and molds, to name a few. Admission is by a suggested donation of $20 and Eichardt’s Pub will have refreshments available for purchase. Those interested in donating items for the silent auction can drop them off at All Seasons Garden and Floral in Ponderay.

A snapshot of notable live music coming up in Sandpoint

Joey Anderson, MickDuff’s Beer Hall, Feb. 24 Jake Rozier and the Implication, 219 Lounge, Feb. 25

Spokane is a long way from Florida, but Joey Anderson has brought his St. Augustine roots with him to the Inland Northwest, where his genre-spanning rock-country sound has found a welcoming home. Case in point: Anderson has collected a total of six Inland Northwest Country Music Association Awards in just the past four years — including Top Newcomer, Top Solo Act and Top Songwriter — and released three self-produced albums since 2020. His honeyed Southern-infused vocals come through clear and smooth — as effective on hip-shaking, toe-tapping rock-country tunes as contemplative, heart-felt ballads — which will be on display Friday, Feb. 24 at MickDuff’s Beer Hall.

It’s safe to say this Floridian is not only a popular performer in his adopted hometown, but a pillar of the regional scene.

— Zach Hagadone

6:30-9:30 p.m., FREE. MickDuff’s Beer Hall, 220 Cedar St., 208-209-6700, mickduffs.com. Listen at joeyandersonmusic.com.

Spokane singer-songwriter

Jake Rozier and his band — the Implication — are billed as a Delta blues outfit, boasting its own spin on rockabilly and new grass. Also key to Rozier’s style is the storytelling tradition of Americana, perfectly exemplified on the most popular track of his 2022 album Hard to Kill a Ghost: “Gravedigger I.”

Rozier’s baritone vocals, complete with a vibrato dripping with both old-school class and new-age confidence, tell the unfortunate story of a lost love at the hands of a stupid friend. The artist is able to make the far-fetched tale one the listener won’t forget.

Hard to Kill a Ghost is peppered with similar gems, each with a distinct, bluesy tone. Rozier’s live show is the chance to enjoy that art in its purest form.

— Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey

9 p.m., FREE, 21+. 219 Lounge, 219 N. First Ave., 208263-5673, 219.bar. Listen on Spotify.

Full disclosure: I have only read the introduction, first chapter and a few pages of Chapter 2 in Spare, the recently published tell-all memoir/400-page sustained Windsor family diss published by estranged Prince Harry, formerly of the U.K., now of Southern California. Ghostwritten by J.R. Moehringer, I can tell you from my limited experience, that it is one of the weirdest, most incendiary things ever written by a “royal,” and will be a godsend to future historians of the monarchy.

I recently spent about a week torturing myself with trying to identify a certain song I overheard while eating lunch at Eichardt’s, and had all but given up when it suddenly played on Publisher Ben Olson’s Spotify playlist in the office. Lo and behold, it was “Blood Red Sentimental Blues” by Maryland-based indie folkster Cotton Jones. Do yourself a favor and get infected by this earworm.

Read Listen Watch

The best mockumentary on the scene right now is Cunk on Earth, which deflates the trope of the self-serious (especially British) “big history” film series via blundering, tragically misinformed and often apathetic host Philomena Cunk (played with deadpan perfection by Diane Morgan). Cunk’s guileless incompetence often arrives at blunt truths, spiced with subversive digs at everything from ancient Rome to the Cold War. Stream all five episodes on Netflix.

From Northern Idaho News, February 17, 1920

WE MAY BATHE IN LAKE PEND D’OREILLE

Mountjoy, King, Gibson and Hitchner were the only members of the council present at the meeting Monday evening.

The recommendations of the Woman’s Civic club with respect to skating on pavement around Central school building for the pupils, the parkings project and the bath house project, were discussed. The roller skating concession was refused on account of possible danger from traffic on the streets, the parking question was left to the city attorney to look up the law in the case, and the bath house proposition is to be investigated with a probability that several hundred dollars will be spent in providing ample accommodations. The council is very favorable to such a public enterprise.

In regard to the proposition of the Civic club and the Sandpoint schools to employ a school and community nurse and have council assist in payment of the salary, council left the matter in the hands of a committee to arrange and will agree to pay one-third of such salary provided the schools will pay a third and the county on the other third. Miss Jupe, a sister of the nurse who was here last summer, is an applicant for the position.

The city clerk read the water report for last year, which gave a very creditable showing. Receipts were $18,834.95 expenses leaving a net profit of $5,856.96.

The street commissioner was instructed to look after the porch of Wilson & Foster’s warehouse, which threatens to fall down.

Cesspools, sewers and alleys are to receive attention and the fire chief is authorized to order these businessmen who have cluttered up back premises to clean up.