Moose Tracks Under Water - Ontario, Canada and Minnesota, USA (August 2023 / Feb 2024)
As part of a larger film, photography and written project destined to finish in early 2025 Ian Finch has embarked on a journey to Northern Minnesota and southern Canada to learn about the drastic decline of Moose over the last decade. The greater narrative of this project is to explore the reasons why moose have been declining each year for decades, the impact of warming winters on eco-system health and the impact on the Grand Portage Band of Chippewa who have relied on the moose as a subsistence species for many years.
Part 1 (August 2023) - Ian Finch, Martin Trahan, filmmaker Jamie Barnes and Moose Biologist Seth Moore undertook the first stage of a journey into understanding the declining populations of Moose in far northern Minnesota and southern Ontario. The initial 9 day canoe expedition (featured below) in Ontario was to access remote wilderness area to attempt to film and photograph moose in their natural habitat and immerse the group into the knowledge provided by Seth Moore. Seths deep and passionate knowledge and admiration for Moose made way for the expedition to experience first hand, the immense and incredible natural habitat of the species. Following the canoe expedition, project lead Ian Finch and film maker Barnes conducted the first of many interviews with biologists and tribal members of the Grand Portage Band of Chippewa.
Part 2 (Feb 2024) - In the second part of our written, photographic and film story, we took part and witnessed the vital conservation efforts, from native and non native biologists to study the alarming decline in Moose in the last decade. This process, via helicopter surveys and intervention, was to collar the moose, take blood, tick and body data whilst releasing it carefully to continue on into the wild tangled habitat it resides. What we learnt was overshadowed by the warmest day on record in the region of Grand Portage, ultimately a factor deeply at the heart of the overall issue. Our story follows Seth Moore and other biologist alongside members of the Grand Portage Ojibwe and their right to protect the moose and their ancestral right to hunt and gather sustainably.
Project is supported by Sidetracked Magazine, Fjallraven and Branches Branches. Photography by Ian Finch / Moose photography Seth Moore Phd
