Tonight: Red Gold, Freedom Riders

Jackson Hole, Wyo. – Alaska's Bristol Bay is a life-source for salmon fishers and a potential treasure trove for precious metal miners. The conflict between these two groups is the topic of Red Gold, screening for free, 7 p.m., Thursday, at the Center Theater in the Center for the Arts.

Alaskans who subsist off the Kvichak and Nushagak rivers, there, fear that open-pit and underground mines atthe headwaters of those systems will threaten the sockeye salmon run. They point to the decidedly checkered past of hard-rock mining.

Northern Dynasty Minerals andAnglo American, the companies that have proposed the mines, say the project will be clean. They also say the site could be the second largest deposit ofcopper, gold and molybdenum ever discovered - estimated value of $300 billion.

Awarded the Audience Choice award at the Banff Mountain Film Festival and Mountainfilm in Telluride, Red Gold is presented by JacksonHole Trout Unlimited and the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival with a Q&A session.

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Teton Freedom Riders build, maintain and sustain public trails throughout the Greater Teton Area, and often on their own time.

To help them out and thank them, Hoback Sports and Sidewinders will host a fundraiser, 7 p.m., Thursday, at Sidewinders Tavern.

The event costs $5 and will premier two movies, Never Enough and Redbull Rampage.

A raffle between the films will feature a Felt BMX Bike as the grand prize.

All proceeds will benefit Teton Freedom Riders and Bridger-Teton National Forest's professional trail crew, which works on the Greater Snow King Area and Teton Pass Area trail systems. PJH