The documentary takes the audience into a breathtaking world, far in the icy north and wild west of Canada. In Canada, a country full of natural beauty and infinite space, national parks have been preserving unique natural landscapes for 140 years and are supposed to ensure a natural coexistence of people and animals. A German-Canadian team of authors spent a year in Banff National Park in the Rocky Mountains. The film tells the fascinating stories of those who were magically attracted by the park, those who stayed and those who get to know it better and better. It is a modern explorer scene, often with German roots, that tells of wanderlust and a thirst for adventure. The result is a moving picture of the power of nature and the daily struggle of rangers, scientists and adventurers to preserve the wilderness where the earth is most beautiful for them. Together with them, the ZDF team succeeds in taking a look behind the scenes of this protected natural area in a legendary region of Canada: the Rocky Mountains.
The "National Parks" series is dedicated to one jewel of the natural wonders of North America in each episode. For one year each, the filmmakers accompany the rangers and scientists who have dedicated themselves to the preservation and exploration of this unique nature in the US or Canada. Since 1916, the American national parks - as well as most of the other sites and areas worthy of protection - have been managed by the National Park Service (NPS). The Service states "conservation, preservation and recreation" as its primary goals. Its task is more topical than ever. The parks are threatened, especially by climate change: in Alaska, glaciers are melting, in Florida, protected species are being displaced by immigrant animals, and in California, rare rodents freeze to death because they are not sufficiently prepared for winter due to warmer temperatures.
On the border between the USA and Canada, a large project unites very different actors: they want to enlarge a national park in order to save it. The Waterton-Glacier Peace Park is a unique natural region. Large parts of the almost 5,000 square kilometers of the protected area are untouched by human intervention. But the uniqueness of the cross-border ecosystem is in danger. In the northwest, a large wedge of unprotected land juts out into the middle of the park. One of Canada's most important highways runs through the region, massive logging is being carried out - and hunting is allowed. The hunter lobby is powerful. The most important wildlife corridor of North America is brutally cut up here. The national park could become an island without the connection to more northerly protected areas such as Banff National Park - the slow extinction and the end of one of the most important natural areas on the planet would thus be pre-programmed. Activists, scientists and nature lovers have declared war on this threat. For them, there is only one solution: the park must be enlarged.
For the ZDF documentary, a camera team travelled to the spectacular Denali National Park several times during the year. Behind the scenes of the park, the filmmakers were able to accompany people who dedicate their lives to nature, who work or research in Denali, or who come here to enjoy it - rangers, scientists, adventurers. It takes every viewer's breath away. Visible from afar, the Denali rises out of the Alaska Range at almost 6200 meters. The highest mountain in North America is the eponym for one of the most spectacular national parks in the world. President Barack Obama has just given the huge peak back its original name: Mount McKinley became Denali again, which in the language of the Athabasque Indians means "the high one". More than 100 years ago, the idea of national parks was born in America's West. At that time, one billion people lived on earth and the parks invited them to enjoy the beauty of creation. Today, with over 7 billion people on earth, the role of the parks is changing. The filmmakers accompany one year behind the scenes of Denali NP and ask about the future of the big parks. And they meet people who want to preserve the creation of nature for a new millennium and its challenges.
Yellowstone, the oldest National Park on earth: famous for its diverse wildlife and a massive magma chamber in the depths that characterizes its distinctive landscapes. The National Park in the western United States reminds us of the importance of protected areas - and at the same time impressively demonstrates that wilderness knows no boundaries. Bison and wolves, almost extinct and lost, have returned to this area. But wild animals want to migrate, further north than ever before, when the earth's climate changes. Yellowstone offers ideas. For a year, a team traveled to the Rocky Mountains and accompanied rangers, explorers and adventurers in their incredible daily lives, which are otherwise hidden from visitors. It is an excursion to one of the most beautiful and wildest areas on earth between deep snow and Indian summer.
