BEARTREK

Bellingham ecologist makes bear documentary to save wild places

Bellingham ecologist Chris Morgan is taking his BMW motorcycle on a journey to four continents in search of the world's endangered bears - an epic adventure being made into a feature-length documentary called "Beartrek."

In 2006, we made a decision to move to northern British Columbia. Much of it had to do with the political conditions in the United States. But we were also very much interested in the recent development of the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia by the Canadian government and a number of environmental groups. It was a way to give protection to a large area of habitat for wild animals including the white spirit bears called Kermodi. We also wanted to live off the grid. The first cabin we looked at was a complete wreck. No way was it going to work. But… as we walked up the faint trace of a road to the cabin, there was a rustling to our left. There was still snow on the ground and a lot of dry winter brush. A small black bear sat on the bank above the road. I don’t think he was really awake yet, just sort of dozing in the sun. But we were excited. This was our first wild bear, and of course we did everything we were not supposed to do. I grabbed my camera and moved closer to it… we were supposed to quietly back away. It was probably confused by my inappropriate behavior, and just waddled away.

We fell in love with the second cabin we found on the backroad of the Skeena River. One Hundred twenty three acres of wilderness, and mountain views everywhere. Now our lives were filled with not only bears, but grey wolves, cougars, moose, lynx, and grizzly bears. Not to mention a beaver pond next to the log cabin. That first summer we watched the black bears climb the big crab apple tree in the meadow, inching out to the very thin branches to nab ripe apples. They were like ballet dancers in their efforts, but once in a while they fell out of the tree too… with quite a surprised look on their faces.

On a spring morning in 2007, we watched as a grizzly mom and her cub started down our driveway. They didn’t come far and by the time I got my telephoto camera out, they were already leaving, but I love the way their rounded rumps seemed to match. One big, one small.

On our drives into Kitwanga and Terrace, Bob always watched the sides of the roads for bear, except in winter when they were hibernating. We kept count for a long time, at one time reaching twenty-two sightings in one week. So we will be following Beartrek as it makes it way around the world and look forward to the documentary.



… P. L. Morningstar (photos by Morningstar)