WHITE SPIRIT BEAR

or

What’s white in the morning, black in the evening,
and black and white in between?

The day began spectacularly, Thomas waking Elizabeth at first light with “Quick! White bear on the beach!” Year after year we’ve been looking for the Kermode or White Spirit Bear. And finally this beautiful morning in Butedale on our way north, we were given this gift. We watched through binoculars as – I’ll use the inclusive she - she ambled along the rocks towards a distant beach, looking here and there and under rocks for things to eat.

When she arrived at the beach we hopped in the dinghy with the camera. She didn’t seem too worried about us, just kept on her morning walk. After walking inside the woods for a while she came out onto the nearer beach, where there is debris left from the former cannery. Here she is eating sedges by an old boiler

Kermode bears are a special variety of black bear found only in certain isolated places. Princess Royal Island is the mist shrouded magical island most known for the Kermode Bear.

Princess Royal Island

The falls at Butedale, a former cannery located on Princess Royal.
These days often the only person here is Lou, the dedicated caretaker.

There have been white bear sightings in other places - Gribbel Island, Roderick Island, and our Aunt Chris saw the one that was sometimes around the dump in Terrace, BC, until somebody shot it. Environmentalists have been sharing the story of the Spirit Bear as a way to raise awareness of another wonder of creation, and increase public will to protect habitat. Although Princess Royal Island has been protected, there is still much logging and habitat is threatened.

We’ve learned much about the Spirit Bear in The Great Bear Rainforest, by Ian and Karen McAllister, and The Spirit Bear, by Charles Russell.

A bear researcher we met in Klemtu some years ago told us places where he’d seen the white bear. This estuary in Bottleneck Inlet, Roderick Island, is where we’d hoped to find her.

skunk cabbage and devil’s club

following a bear trail
Here a bear has been scratching on a tree

We found signs of what she may have been eating.

These sedges have been munched on by bear or maybe geese.
This is Lyngby's sedge, important for bears in spring
as they contain 25% raw protein.

silverweed roots, dug and chewed
- another staple in a bear's spring diet

remains of a salmon dinner

Salmon are the lifeblood of the coast. Spawning salmon carcasses are carried for miles up the creeks and into the forest, nourishing many species

We didn’t find our spirit bear in this beautiful inlet and estuary, but when we did see her, she carried the awe and wonder of her environment with her.

And the wonder continued that day. White bear in the morning, black in the evening…

Before the evening fell we saw a big black bear in Lowe Inlet,

where we anchored by Verny Falls.

…and black and white in between.

2 orcas

We traveled for a while in the afternoon with a pod of orcas in Grenville Channel

a large male orca
female orca

orca family

INTO THE WILDERNESS

We were pretty discouraged as we left the lower mainland to sail north this year. It was just after the BC election. There was so much at stake that affects our coast. Privatization of our rivers is a serious threat. Click this link : http://www.saveourrivers.ca/
And then the threat to wild salmon on the coast. See Alexandra Morton’s site about the sea lice from fish farms problem and a letter signed by 14,000 people. click here: http://www.adopt-a-fry.org
Here is another good website about the dangers of fish farms, and more sustainable options: http://www.farmedanddangerous.org/

The newly re-elected government plans to lift the moratorium on oil tanker traffic. Here are the folks, the Dogwood initiative, who have been working so hard on this issue: www.notankers.ca.
We see clear-cut logging everywhere on the coast, with local forest workers out of work and raw logs heading south. Cuts to hospitals, schools, seniors’ care, no minimum wage, tuition increases and loss of education grants, cuts to environment and public transit and plans for mega highway projects…what is the matter with our electorate?

So it was with heavy hearts that we set our northward course .We did what we know – head for the wilderness. I was reading Grey Owl’s book, Sajo and the Beaver People, and can appreciate his choice to live far away from civilization in the wild, lonely country. It must have been the same back in the 30’s with its flawed governments and institutions.

At this point we are seeking to be part a different community. To back off politics for a while, continue to work on living simply and locally, and to learn from our non-human neighbours who live by a different reality—the animals, birds and sea creatures, the plants, the rivers, the ocean and shore. We will find our place in the infinite and varied unfolding of creation.

We welcomed aboard a young family that shares our dream of the simple life, and have their own experience in foraging and food preserving. We introduced them to some of our favourite neighbours along the way, human and non-human.

kayak family

collecting wild greens

Canada geese family
learning to swim?
female merganser

Lief says hello to our catch

In Tiber Bay on Cortez Island we stopped to visit our artist friend Irene. Her co-operative that bought this bay together was having their annual meeting and we were invited to the potluck after. Beautiful homes, interesting people, living in harmony with their eco-system these 20-some years.

oyster catcher eggs
oyster catcher mom

Pictographs in Cordero Channel

First Nations neighbours from long ago

For the last 12 years our friend Ed Zeemel has lived just inside Tuna Point, near Blenkinsop Bay, and loves to have visitors

Tea with Ed

Ed works away at enhancing the place he cares for. One goal has been to bring back the Canada geese by clearing and planting again the natural reeds and grasses. A goose met us this year as we arrived.

welcome, geese!

He is creating camping areas and view spots. From what the sea brings, what he can dig, clear, enhance, Ed is making a park.

Ed at work
Lief in the beachcomber's park

As he moves things around, he plants garden beds where they want to be. We brought him an apple tree from Saturna Island.

He is also clearing out a natural spring from below a cliff, bit at a time.

Ed has been digging down from below the moss on the big rock.

In the Broughton Archpelago

On our way to Echo Bay to visit Billy Proctor we stopped to see a 3700 year-old cedar tree in Watson Cove, Tribune Channel.

You can read about the long life of this tree in Heart of the Raincoast, Alexandra Morton and Billy Proctor, TouchWood Editions, 1998

Another book we use as a guide to the Broughton Archipelago: Full Moon Flood Tide, Bill Protor’s Raincoast, Bill Protor and Yvonne Maximchuk, Harbour Publishing, 2004

As we travel along the coast we see a lot of fish farms and clear cuts. Fishing and logging was once the economic base that made it possible for people to live on the coast. It’s not that way anymore.

blowdowns and stumps on a logged point

fish farm with salmon pens

At least these farms are fallow this season – good thing

Billy reminded us of some of the successful environmental efforts he and his neighbours have made over the years. One he mentions in this book is the story of Wahkana Creek. From major historic runs of coho, chum and pinks, stocks had been depleted down to nothing. DFO refused to act. From 1986 to ‘98 volunteers planted thousands of coho fry in the lake that feeds this creek. Then they cleared the huge log-jams. Now there is gravel for spawning, and since 1999 the salmon are back, along with the bears, eagles, ravens and beavers that depend on them. Billy says this story could be repeated hundreds of times along our coast.


Billy’s daughter’s land is for sale, 86 acres adjacent to Billy’s place for $800,000. Likely the only people who could afford to buy it would sell all the lumber or subdivide. Billy says someone could sustainably log it forever. I know Billy is hoping that its buyer will be able to appreciate the neighbourhood, the local ecosystem. Be a part of the resourceful and beautiful heritage of this special place.

View from Nikki's cabin, Billy’s new neighbour

We met Nikki some years back and admired how she was learning traditional skills. We were sorry we missed her this time as we had hoped to introduce her to Angie and Aaron. Angie uses the cedar basket she made for collecting all kinds of things.

While with us she gathered a new supply of bark.

And here is her creation

We’ve been looking forward to introducing Aaron and Angie to our friends Carol and Jerry.

They have recently moved from Echo Bay to Shawl Bay, they just towed their floats over.

Carol’s new greenhouse

Jerry is able to build and fix anything – the skills that make their lifestyle possible.
Carol, who is proud of her Metis heritage, is a craftsperson--Carol the Bead Lady. People come from miles around for her amazing creations. She has a new shop now in Shawl Bay, and hopes that people will find their way over.

And here is another family we visit each year, complete with aunts, uncles, second cousins, what-have-you!