The public is invited to a free community event focused on the conservation and management of local bighorn sheep herds. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department, the Draper Museum of Natural History and the Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation are co-hosting “Managing for Resilience: Bighorn Sheep Film and Forum” on April 23 from 5:30-8 p.m. at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody.

This special event offers a unique, behind-the-scenes look at wildlife management through film screening and face-to-face discussion with experts. The evening aims to foster a dialogue about how management tools, including hunting and targeted ewe harvest, are vital for keeping bighorn sheep populations healthy and resilient against disease.

The evening features a welcome reception with heavy hors d’oeuvres, a screening of the new short film, “Carrying Capacity: The Hunt for Resilience,” which explores the challenges and management of the Ferris-Seminoe and Jackson bighorn sheep herds, a presentation by local Wildlife Biologist Sam Stephens on the Devils Canyon herd titled, “What goes up: the challenge of exceeding carrying capacity in an isolated and re-introduced Wyoming bighorn sheep herd,” and a panel discussion and Q&A with local biologists, wildlife disease specialists, a bighorn sheep hunter and a representative from the Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation.