Skunked in Bear Country
Skunked: a fishing trip where no fish were caught.
When people start to tug at the threads that hold the web of life together, the consequences of our actions extend far beyond the lines we like to draw between us and the natural world. Paul Nicklen Canadian Wildlife Photographer
“Ride with me this afternoon I have good bear juju”, I said to a woman who had yet to see a grizzly. Ha! Such false bravado. The fact I’d seen a bear on each outing from camp had more to do with bears’ behaviour than any magical attraction I possessed.
Wildlife photographers align with nature and hope for the best in terms of sightings. Sometimes good fortune plays a role, but mostly it’s about being in the right place at the right time. When the salmon run, the bears come. I was looking for salmon as much as I was looking for bears.
We weren’t the only ones looking for salmon. Bald eagles congregate during the salmon run too. They are excellent fishers and take advantage of the abundant and messy leftovers from the bears’ feeding frenzy. However, on this trip eagles were few and far between. No fish = fewer eagles. One entertained us with an eagle version of “spa day” preening fastidiously while waiting for some action. It was a slow day on the river.
So many feather to clean!
So hard to keep those tail feathers white!
The guides did their best, detouring for herons and countless merganser duck photo ops. We were in BC’s beautiful wilderness, a boon to anyone’s spirit. Yet, it was hard to ignore a growing sense of doom. The likelihood of bears showing up on our last day was as empty as the river flowing beneath our boats. This bear trip was becoming a story about climate change not bear encounters.
Grizzly and brown bears depend on the high fat, high protein diet of wild salmon to survive a 6 – 8 month fast during hibernation. Their summer diet of grass, berries, roots and small mammals cannot sustain them through the winter months. Bears lose up to one third of their body weight during hibernation. The high caloric fall diet (up to 20,000 calories a day) is essential to their survival. How would the bears make it through the winter?
Day 4 – skunked. Not one bear sighting. What if the salmon never showed up? Grizzlies are a keystone species. They fulfill a critical role in the environment that no other species can. Without them an entire ecosystem will radically change, a sobering thought to consider in the vastness of BC’s wilderness.
Grizzlies keep forests healthy by dispersing critical nutrients from the salmon into the woods. The salmon carcasses act as fertilizer enriching the soil and promoting healthy plant growth. Forests keep the climate in balance by absorbing carbon. And that’s on a macro level. On a micro level grizzly feeding habits support plants and small organisms essential to keeping nature in balance.
I’m changed by my experience at Bear Camp. I haven’t eaten salmon since I’ve been home. I have no appetite for it. I’m privileged, I have other choices for my protein source. For years I self-righteously boycotted farmed salmon because it pollutes the water and wild populations. However, I did buy wild caught salmon. Now I don’t want to be responsible for taking one salmon out of the ecosystem. A small step perhaps, but the intention encourages me to be more conscious about the role I can play in preserving life on our beautiful planet.
Some good news: I learned from a photographer friend that a small run of sockeye showed up on the Chilko river a few weeks later. I’m heartened by this news and hope the grizzlies I saw benefitted from the run. There is hope, change is possible.
