Our belief is that too few people have a grounding, personal connection to the land and, far more troubling, even fewer have been schooled in the relationship between nature and cultural diversity, healthy communities and a strong economy.
We believe that a generational shift is needed in our understanding and appreciation for nature and only in the doing can we unite all Canadians to work toward a common purpose of a better nation for all life.
After all, nature is a fundamental building block of life, transcending politics, geography and age. Canadians need to be inspired to put aside their differences and engage in hard conversations, be open to thinking critically about the problems at hand and, together, rally behind promising solutions that allow innovation to trump compromise.
Ghost Bear Institute was founded to advance this vision and is underpinned by storytelling that provokes thoughtful dialogue and educational efforts that nurture a deeper sense of connection to, and shared ownership of, the issues facing Canada’s biodiversity.
As such, we will strive to share better stories of our natural inheritance, engage all Canadians in direct conversation about how we can work together collaboratively and create immersive experiences that allow for individuals to rethink their role in our nation.
Most critically, we will tie together each of these threads by working diligently to equip teachers with the tools to deconstruct the complex and enliven the obscure; to help students understand that we’re a nation of ecosystems and that each one offers an accessible waypoint to tangibly assess the impact of our behaviour.
We want to help thousands of teachers gain access to critical resources that enable them to deliver better education. We want to help hundreds of thousands of students are learning to understand and appreciate nature – and put that knowledge into practice by designing newer, better ideas for moving forward.
We believe in a Canada that supports nature literacy in the classroom and a country where millions act with a foundation of nature literacy, making our environmental discourse constructive and productive.
We have witnessed some remarkable sights while immersed in nature, documenting the stories that will underpin Nature Labs – a project that seeks to inspire a new generation to better understand and appreciate our natural inheritance.
This week, as part of a larger project with our Nature Labs partners, we had another remarkable opportunity: The chance to capture the story of a bear family’s first emergence from their den.
To respectfully and safely observe the seldom seen, yearly bear ritual is remarkable in its own right, but to witness a cub’s first steps out of the den reminds us of the wonderment and fragility of new life.
The cinnamon black bear sow took several peaks out of her den, before her cub joined her for its first glimpse into its new world, the two of them finally belly-crawling out of what seemed like an impossibly small opening from the space she used throughout the winter months.
At first, their eyes rarely opened – the harsh evening light seemed to be a jarring change from the darkness of the den. But with time, they adjusted and between the many yawns, she would take time to drink from the puddles produced from snowmelt.
The cub didn’t venture from beneath the warmth and safety of its mom’s legs for several minutes – and the sow seemed content with allowing her cub to slowly become more comfortable in the landscape.
Finally, a desire to nurse brought the cub into the open and with this first act of bravery, it seemed to quickly find the energy and resolve to explore. From slow, careful movements to bouncing, joyful jumps, the cub transformed before our eyes. And with its newfound willingness to embrace the habitat that will nourish its existence – what must, at first, have been a sensory overload of excitement and fear – the sow took her cue to shepherd her newborn into the trees and begin the tireless journey of teaching and feeding.
Of North America’s bears, black bear cubs have the greatest likelihood of surviving their first year, but science tells us the odds are still steep, with various recent studies suggesting mortality rates ranging from 30-50%, depending on environmental conditions and the number of cubs in a litter. This isn’t this sow’s first cub, we understand, and given that it is a single cub, these circumstances give it a significantly stronger chance at health and life.
With the photos, videos and observations gathered from this experience, we will be able to bring dry, abstract lessons to life in new and profound ways – across science, socials, art and language – enabling nature to be a real-life lens for curriculum-based high school learning. Through Nature Labs, this content will inform larger stories within a curated virtual learning platform, each accompanied with unit and lesson plans, rubrics and multimedia resources for all learning styles to better aid teachers in the classroom.
* This is an extremely rough cut of imperfect images and videos from our encounter. In order to respect the bears, we had to make some visual sacrifices that were imperative to ethical storytelling – a core value of Nature Labs and those we work with.
For two decades, Simon ran the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition – a non-profit organization that underscored the power of one person to learn, to listen and to act.
The lessons they learned dared them to listen to diverse, divergent perspectives ensuring that their collective voices did more than shine a light on a problem, but offered up solutions of their own.
Their solutions were imperfect, just like the movement, but when all was said and done, they helped create the conditions that saved the bear.
Why?
It was a campaign that never sought to create enemies. By working to heal the wounds that divide, this movement was able to work collaboratively with diverse stakeholders to create a lasting solution that could make every Canadian proud.
With the spirit bear saved, the Youth Coalition was able to put itself out of business, for it completed its mission, but its legacy remains. When we learn, listen and act, anything is possible.
It’s this enduring belief that inspired us to spend nearly a decade immersed in the Canadian landscape, documenting the remarkable stories of the nation’s biodiversity. Throughout our journey, we’ve travelled to small town Saskatchewan and big city Toronto and everywhere in-between to share our tales and listen to what Canadians think about the environment.
The takeaway?
Nature unites us all. By making the seemingly irrelevant relevant, it’s possible to showcase that nothing is black and white and, through better education, a more thoughtful and engaged citizenry is possible – one that intrinsically knows that nature matters.
It’s this journey that transformed a side-of-the-desk passion project into our life’s work and it’s this ideal that has helped inform the next chapter of our journey: the Ghost Bear Institute, a federally incorporated non-profit that, like the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition, seeks to inspire, educate and spark a new generation to foster a better balance between people and nature.
Missed owl week on our social media last week? Not to worry, here’s all of the fun in one post.
We’ve had a spectacular month researching, observing and documenting what we consider to be the most impressive species of owl in North America, one that will be featured prominently in our Nature Labs program. Our time in field began with a search for a particular pair of great greys that we have observed several times over the last few years, but we never could have imagined where they would lead us.
Their quest for food during the everlasting winter that has stretched into spring brought the owl pair into a one square kilometre parcel of land in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Betraying the commonly held belief that owls hate wind and bad weather, we found our pair hunting extensively in extreme winter conditions, including during windstorm gusts that reached 90 km/hour.
And our pair of great greys weren’t alone in loving this landscape. Over the next few weeks, no matter the elements, other great grey owls started showing up. First two pairs joined our owls in hunting the same meadow. Then six. Then eight. And on one amazing night, we counted 16 unique great grey owls visible within one kilometre of one another at the same time.
We have been scrambling to discover any research documenting this type of temporary population density and have struck out. Though we’re sure this isn’t a first – and believe it is the by-product of a record snowpack and a banner year for voles in that particular area – it does reinforce the value of observing one particular habitat or species over a long period of time.
When done respectfully and when fortified by research and learning, citizen science has the ability to document rarely seen behaviour, ask questions about widely held beliefs and identify new knowledge that can inform better strategies for safeguarding biodiversity.
Have you had the chance to observe and document unique great grey owl behaviour? Or have you had a particularly memorable encounter? We encourage you to share your observations and stories with us.
Determining their age
It can be extremely difficult to determine the age of a great grey owl, but not impossible. One method (albeit with mixed results) is to look closely at their feathers.
Great greys molt (shed) their flight feathers annually after their first year of life. As the owl ages, they tend to show more colour variations – from dark brown to lighter grey (the latter being the result of sun bleaching according to some studies). Juveniles, on the other hand, often have light tips at the end of their tail feathers and very little feather variation or barred colouring on their body.
Even with this technique, determining age is difficult and many studies into other methods have been inconclusive. In fact, it’s quite surprising how little research has been done on the Strix nebulosa – an owl that is the largest of its species by wing span in North America and one of the tallest, yet weighs only 2-3lbs.
Determining sex
Determining the sex of the great grey owl is almost impossible. A general rule of thumb is to observe the size, especially in comparison to its mating partner during nesting season. Female great greys are, for the most part, larger than the males, though it’s not a hard and fast rule – age also factors into determining the owl’s heft.
Efficient hunters
Great grey owls are excellent hunters. They feast primarily on voles and pocket gophers, but have also been known to eat squirrels, chipmunks, weasels and – rarely – rabbits and ducks.
They average 6-8 voles a day to maintain their diet and are excellent hunters, as we have observed. In fact, one great grey we documented killed and consumed eleven voles within a three-hour stretch. Sitting atop a perch, they watch and listen for their prey. When they sense movement, they will either hover above their target, waiting for the right moment, or dive directly for the kill.
What’s truly incredible is their ability to break through deep, hard packed snow. Time and again we witnessed great greys use their talons to capture voles and gophers beneath harden snow and on one occasion that we measured, dug to a depth of nearly two feet.
It’s important to note that in observing owls hunting, we have never interfered. We do not bait owls, as it is a practice that can lead to its death (toxins from the baited prey or car strikes due to owls associating vehicles with food) and, obviously, it alters the true behaviour we seek to understand and share. Moreover, we have worked to understand the subtle signs that an owl provides to inform respectful distance to and time spent with a great grey. And this is imperative: some owls can be observed without forcing flight, interrupting rest or scaring them away from their chosen prey; others can’t. Recognizing the difference, in our opinions, is the most important factor in upholding ethical science and storytelling standards.
Great grey owl satellite?
Here’s a fun fact: Great grey owl ears are positioned a bit differently on each side of their head. They possess asymmetrical ears – the right ear opening is slightly lower than the left to enable a type of triangulation assistance that enables them to locate elusive prey beneath deep snow. Paired with their dished face, which acts as a satellite to capture the slightest sound, great grey owls have been using these skills to hunt since before the last ice age – techniques that took humans until the early 20th Century to discover and design for their own use.
Who gives a hoot?
Have you ever heard a great grey owl hoot? It has a very distinctive call, a low whoooo-ooo-ooo-ooo that lasts for about eight seconds and can be repeated every 30 seconds. The call, which marks their territory, can be heard almost a kilometre away. We’ve even heard them growl, when another owl was threatening its space. There’s nothing like camping on a nice summer evening and listening to the great grey call out into the night.
Summer. That’s a novel concept. I think our great greys would agree.
Great grey owl range
The great grey owl is synonymous with the boreal forest – ranging extensively across this landscape in North America from Alaska to Quebec. But it is also a mountain owl, ranging south to northern California and along the Rocky Mountains into Wyoming. Recently, great greys have even been discovered in Utah for the first time in 28 years.
These owls are so well camouflaged it is extremely difficult to spot them. They are most often located in dense pine or fir forests that have openings that provide access to fields, which are critical to hunting. Though they are known for utilizing human structures as perches, great greys are found more commonly in areas with little human disturbance. Why? Development – from logging to agriculture – often creates openings that are too large for a great grey to thrive.
This species of owl in particular requires large live – and dead – trees for nesting from March through June, as well as for roosting. When fledglings first start to leave the nest in early summer, dense forest canopy is imperative for the young owls – each tree provides multiple small perches for the owl to jump between as they learn to fly. And the forest also acts as cover from predators. Adult great grey owls are almost untouchable, but young can become prey for black bears, great horned owls and smaller carnivores, including marten – a member of the weasel family we’ve witnessed harass a great grey nest on multiple occasions.
Protecting the owl
Though great greys aren’t endangered globally, they are recognized as a keystone species is sustaining biodiversity and managing rodent outbreaks. As a result, in our adopted home of Alberta, successive governments have worked to safeguard critical habitat and provided the species with full protection under the law. Even still, more education is needed to ensure owls aren’t killed accidently in the quest to poison rodents and we all need to work together to ensure that the species doesn’t become vulnerable with time. The West Nile Virus is a serious threat to great greys and it will become more common and more widely spread, scientists believe, with climate change.
HELP US BUILD A CANADA WHERE MILLIONS SUPPORT ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY IN THE CLASSROOM AND MILLIONS ACT WITH A FOUNDATION OF NATURE LITERACY.
Our signature project, Nature Labs, seeks to create a virtual high school textbook that uses nature as a real-world example of class lessons. We want to equip teachers with the resources they need to meet existing curriculum guidelines and provide students with a mosaic of stories and real-time connections that can connect their class to their lives.
Why?
We want create a new generation that acts with a foundation of nature literacy in all that they do.
For two decades, Simon ran the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition – a non-profit organization that underscored the power of one person to learn, to listen and to act.
Six million young people from every corner of the globe and from every walk of life chose to learn about the plight of an endangered bear – Canada’s white Kermode, also known as the spirit or ghost bear.
The lessons they learned dared them to listen to diverse, divergent perspectives ensuring that their collective voices did more than shine a light on a problem, but offered up solutions of their own.
Their solutions were imperfect, just like the movement, but when all was said and done, they helped create the conditions that saved the bear.
Why?
It was a campaign that never sought to create enemies. By working to heal the wounds that divide, this movement was able to work collaboratively with diverse stakeholders to create a lasting solution that could make every Canadian proud.
With the spirit bear saved, the Youth Coalition was able to put itself out of business, for it completed its mission, but its legacy remains. When we learn, listen and act, anything is possible.
It’s this enduring belief that inspired us to spend nearly a decade immersed in the Canadian landscape, documenting the remarkable stories of the nation’s biodiversity. Throughout our journey, we’ve travelled to small town Saskatchewan and big city Toronto and everywhere in-between to share our tales and listen to what Canadians think about the environment.
The takeaway?
Nature unites us all. By making the seemingly irrelevant relevant, it’s possible to showcase that nothing is black and white and, through better education, a more thoughtful and engaged citizenry is possible – one that intrinsically knows that nature matters.
It’s this journey that transformed a side-of-the-desk passion project into our life’s work and it’s this ideal that has helped inform the next chapter of our journey: the Ghost Bear Institute, a federally incorporated non-profit that, like the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition, seeks to inspire, educate and spark a new generation to foster a better balance between people and nature.
HELP US BUILD A CANADA WHERE MILLIONS SUPPORT ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY IN THE CLASSROOM AND MILLIONS ACT WITH A FOUNDATION OF NATURE LITERACY.
When we met in 2010, our first shared journey into the wilds of Canada’s Rocky Mountains was centred around our passions for photography and nature, but we never imagined that the trip would be the beginning of something far greater. During the following six summers, we gave up city life and embraced months of living in a tent to document the stories of the animals we encountered and the landscapes we were immersed in, bringing them to life off the sides of our of desks through Ghost Bear Photography.
As the years went by, it was increasingly hard to detach our passion project from our daily lives – and not only because we derived so much joy from sharing our tales. We also started to encounter issues affecting the people, animals and places we love and with our backgrounds in education (Jill) and advocacy (Simon), we couldn’t resist trying to do our small part. Be it our views on the management of our parks or our wildlife; whether it was the discourse surrounding the fate of grizzly bears Blaze, Scarface, 148 or the orphaned black bears in Banff, we tried to make a difference where we could, as imperfect as it was. Yet, for every action we took, we ultimately knew our efforts were unsustainable – as was Ghost Bear Photography – for we weren’t tackling the root of the problem.
2016 was an unquestionably hard year, where much changed without us having a say in the matter. That’s life. But the byproduct was a move from Toronto to Calgary and a chance to spend more time in Canada’s mountain parks. And it was during one of our trips we began to reevaluate our lives, reaching a critical decision. Jill would not return to the classroom and Simon would start his post-Spirit Bear Youth Coalition journey in a very different way than he intended. We elected to re-invent Ghost Bear and launch a new signature project that combines what we love with the chance to make system-level change, the heart of the issues we feel we can address.
And, today, we present to you the new Ghost Bear.
We’re dropping the ‘photography’ and changing our website site to GhostBear.org. Why? The new Ghost Bear isn’t just about documenting nature, sharing its stories and offering commentary on the issues of the day. That element will live on, but the focus will be on building a hub that allows us to showcase and advance ideas we feel can create a better balance between people and nature. As such, in addition to sharing our images, we will be placing a spotlight on Simon’s efforts to visit communities from coast to coast to coast to discuss a newer vision for nature – emphasizing what unites us, rather than what divides. We will be offering new opportunities to join us in the Canadian Rockies, where we hope to provide you with the chance to learn and think critically about what you see in order to equip you to be nature’s voice back home. Think of it as field trips for adults. But most critically, Ghost Bear will be launching a new signature project: Nature Labs. By combining the best of our skills with our love for nature and our desire to affect change, we’re creating a new program for Canada’s high schools. Nature Labs will use impactful and immersive storytelling to bring to life an innovative digital classroom of curated resources designed for inquiry-based, exploratory learning. Across four subjects, Nature Labs will use biodiversity as a real-world example of course lessons in order to strengthen interdisciplinary education and foster a new generation of environmentally literate citizens.
Though audacious, our goal is nothing short of creating a more thoughtful discourse that can move us away from the polarity we’re now experiencing. As more young people take ownership of our shared challenges, they will have the chance, through this program, to find their voice in proposing their solutions that can lead to a better balance between all life. We hope you’ll join us for this, our next journey. If you follow us on social media, nothing will change other than you’ll have the chance to see more than photos and learn about the work we’re undertaking. If you’ve subscribed to Ghost Bear Photography’s blog by email, you will need to re-sign up at GhostBear.org (or see the sign up field to the right of this post). Though we won’t be writing as many magazine-style essays about our time in the field – that effort will be spent on developing multi-media content for students – we will still weigh in on the issues of the day, offer short stories and even, with time, highlight resources that illustrate how to impact the issues that matter to you. Like our first camping trip together, we have no idea where this will all take us or if our ambitions will be realized. But we’re going to try our best and, as ever, we’re grateful for your interest and support. Mostly, we thank you for all you do to create a better world. Indeed, we know each one of us works each day to make a difference and know that it will be in the sum total of all our acts that will inform the history of our generation. Hopefully, for our chapter of that history, we can write a story that leads to a better understanding and appreciation of nature.
Though the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition concluded its two decades of work in 2014, here are a few of the organization’s many key achievements:
* The Spirit Bear Youth Coalition was built from scratch and brought together a coalition of more than six million supporters in 87 countries, including diverse support domestically that bridged political, geographic, ethnic and ideological divides. * Helped bring an obscure issue to the forefront of the public eye, designing a communication plan that created broad awareness amongst 500 million plus people, based on ratings/readership/hits. * Created a grassroots outreach campaign that engaged and retained the interest of the public, leading the issue to become the most supported conservation initiative in Canadian history, receiving 92% support in BC, and having Time magazine recognize it as one of the most pressing global environmental debates. * Developed and implemented multiple strategic plans that helped navigate the issue through challenging political waters, ultimately helping the organization reach its stated goal of protecting the habitat of the spirit bear. * Led diverse programs and projects – including education, outreach and engagement tools – that ensured membership retention, meaningful community engagement and sustained brand recognition. * Executed numerous successful and financially viable public events, including a 2500 person fundraising celebration with Dr. Jane Goodall and former BC Premier Gordon Campbell, as well as three national speaking tours, the latter of which directly reached 100,000 students in three months. * Established multiple, lasting partnerships with non-profit organizations and businesses that allowed the Youth Coalition to increase efficiency, develop capacity and encourage strategic convergence, facilitating the growth and reach of the organization and its mandate. * Proposed and successfully led the campaign to see the spirit bear named as one of the mascots for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and secured the spirit bear as the Official Mammal of BC. * Maintained a positive public image during a contentious time for environmental issues in Canada and was able to grow the larger base of support for the environment, using pro-economic and solution-based messaging. * Demonstrated the ability to facilitate negotiations between diverse stakeholders in helping lead talks that created one of the first consensus land-use agreements in history and the largest land protection measure in North America. * The story inspired CTV’s award-winning, movie-of-the-week Spirit Bear: The Simon Jackson Story.
Awards & Recognitions
For Simon’s efforts to save the spirit bear and build the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition, he has received numerous honours. The following is a partial list of his awards and recognitions:
* Time Magazine’s Sixty Heroes for the Planet * UNESCO & Founding Green Games Congress 100 Guardian Angels of the Planet * Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal * Explore Magazine’s Top Green Leader * MacLean’s Magazine’s Top 25 Canadian Up and Comers * Province of British Columbia’s Community Achievement Award * Roger Hammill Award for Environmental Education * Fellow, International League of Conservation Writers * Institute for Ethical Leadership’s Ethical Leadership Award * YTV Achievement Award * CTV/Banff Mountain Film Festival Award for Environmental Stewardship * TD Canada Trust Scholarship for Outstanding Community Service * The Vancouver Province’s Top 25 British Columbian Up and Comers * Explore Magazine’s Top 30 Under 30 * Government of Canada’s Canada Day Youth Award * Van City Credit Union Individual Youth Service Award * Community Care Foundation Youth Award * Jonovision’s Jonovisionary Award * International Wildlife Film Festival Award for Best Education Film * International Wildlife Film Festival Award for Best Film in the Youth Category * The Vancouver Sun’s Top 100 Canadians * The Vancouver Sun’s 10 Most Inspiring People of the Decade: 2001-2010
Spirit Bear Movie
Simon Jackson’s life work is the inspiration for the award winning and internationally televised movie, Spirit Bear: The Simon Jackson Story.
An Olympic Bear
Through the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition, Simon Jackson was instrumental in having the spirit bear named as the mascot for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver (including being prominently featured in the opening ceremony of the 2010 Games) and the Official Mammal of British Columbia. The goal behind the high profile recognitions was to help cultivate the eco-tourism industry in the land of the spirit bear, helping off-set the costs associated with protecting this bears’ wilderness home.
Read Simon’s farewell speech for the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition.
Today I awoke knowing that a rare, remarkable and ecologically important bear will forever fish for salmon, sleep in the hollows of ancient trees and walk through the mist shrouded forests it has known since time began. For the first time in two decades, it can be said with confidence that the spirit bear is not just safe, but saved.
On February 1st, 2016, the government of British Columbia announced yet another land use agreement for Canada’s west coast – or what is now officially known as the Great Bear Rainforest. Built upon the 2001 foundational agreement between multiple stakeholders – including the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition – and advanced through a series of subsequent deals, this latest proclamation truly is news worthy, especially as it protects the Green watershed – the final piece of the puzzle needed to save the white Kermode or spirit bear.
Two decade journey to save the spirit bear
When I began my work on behalf of the spirit bear at the age of 13, I was an impassioned teenager amazed that a creature as unique as the spirit bear could exist in my home province, while equally shocked by the plans to log their last intact habitat, thereby threatening their future. The issue quickly became a hornet’s nest of complex politics, with the spirit bear acting as the pawn for more agendas than one could rationally imagine.
What started, for me, as a high school letter writing campaign grew into the largest youth-led environmental initiative in the world, with the creation of the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition and its more than six million supporters. While we were far from being the only environmental advocate involved in this issue, we sought to focus on a few specific, unique strategies that we hoped would add up to saving the bear.
And why is the Green important? On top of being a remote, roadless wilderness that is home to an incredible diversity of life, this watershed is basically the donut hole in the ring of protected areas around it. Without its protection, sustaining the genetic equilibrium of the Kermode (a subspecies of the black bear that is found only on the BC coast and requires a healthy gene pool to survive) becomes more challenging. Logging the area could displace bears – grizzlies and non-Kermode black bears – and force them into places where the white bear lives, creating an unnatural predator (grizzlies) or leading to the dilution of the gene pool (non-Kermode black bears mating with Kermode black and white bears).
So while the decision to dissolve the Youth Coalition was far from easy, it was the obvious choice if it meant helping truly save the spirit bear for good.
Thanks to the hard work of many stakeholders – some of who stood on stage with BC premier Christy Clark on February 1st – that agreement has now come to pass. The Green watershed and, along with it, the spirit bear, are now saved.
Is it a perfect deal? No, but nothing is. In the premier’s remarks, she said it was the byproduct of compromise, a very Canadian ideal. Yet I’ve never been a fan of compromise, as I believe too often it leads to a politically expedient result that forces too many to sacrifice their bottom lines. I’m more of a believer in balance and though the difference between balance and compromise is small, it’s important. Balance allows for innovation and patience to win the day, and usually ensures bottom lines are upheld. On the whole, this agreement is more about balance than compromise.
I also know of a few other areas that I, personally, would like to have seen protected, but all areas in this particular ecosystem will be managed with the Kermode in mind, including pledges to protect den sites and retain significant tree canopy. So in many ways, a buffer zone has been established around the core protected land.
And though the premier promised an end to trophy hunting in the Great Bear Rainforest, that’s not actually quite true. The good news is that licenses that have or will be purchased from guide outfitters at market value by First Nations and environmental organizations will be honoured. Up until now, the government could take licenses purchased for conservation away – without financial compensation – unless a minimum number of bears were killed. This important policy change is one that the Youth Coalition had fought to see become a reality – and one we were told would be in this deal. And it’s a policy change that does help the spirit bear, creating a quasi-sanctuary in the areas we helped to save.
However, the BC government hasn’t taken bold leadership to stop all trophy hunting in this environmentally sensitive region or in the Great Bear Rainforest or in BC, as the premier suggested and as was reported by the BBC and Washington Post. While the government seems to finally accept the concept of wildlife sanctuaries and while they have taken steps to help safeguard the white Kermode from trophy hunting, it falls short of what 90% of the BC public demands and what science dictates should happen for the coast as a whole. This isn’t about being anti-hunting, but about recognizing that while humans should have places where they come first, wildlife also deserves to have their space – one free from human interference and, in this case, flawed management. (You can take action here and here.)
Bottom line for the spirit bear
Yet there is room to tweak and enhance the vision for the coast now that some of the biggest issues have been addressed, including the newly imposed tanker moratorium in place for the waterways around the spirit bear’s habitat. As the Youth Coalition always stated, the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, which would have triggered tanker travel through the narrow passages of this area, was never going to be built with the current route given the lack of social license, its legal failure to negotiate with First Nations, and the reality that the federal government (who had championed the project) would eventually change.
The most difficult obstacle to saving the spirit bear and creating a successful Great Bear Rainforest agreement, in my eyes, was getting the Green protected. Now that this hurdle has been overcome, it does seem like anything is possible. While it’s rare to get absolutely everything you want, the spirit bear got a balanced deal that delivers what it needs. And then some.
But there was a cost to this success. This agreement should have been reached in 2006 and created more goodwill and established more funds for environmentally friendly economic development projects. Yet because of the actions of a few (and I’m not referring to anyone on stage for this announcement, nor the vast majority working behind the scenes), a decade was lost and instead of using time and funds to create additional wins for nature in other areas of the world, too many advocates were forced to double down to continue fighting for something so obvious to so many. The ramifications of these actions can still be felt by many – personally and professionally – and it diminishes, to some degree, this teachable moment for our world.
Still, we can’t lose sight of the fact that what seemed impossible for so much of the last twenty years is now a reality. And while the Youth Coalition is gone, from its ashes has risen two very different projects: CoalitionWILD (which seeks to help emerging leaders to create a wilder world) and GhostBearPhotography.com (an education platform that seeks to use storytelling to inspire people to look at nature differently – and give it a voice). Small chunks of our once vast network linger within these new entities and, for that reason, I want to reach out to you to say one thing: Thank-you.
Thank-you
Millions – yes, millions – cared enough to take a stand for a bear that they didn’t know and will likely never see. You gave a voice to the bear – and the Green watershed – in many different and personal ways. For that, I am forever grateful.
I’m grateful to people like Maleea Abel from Utah who handmade spirit bear ornaments to help raise funds for the Youth Coalition; and to Alison Wright, my high school’s business manager, who would allow me to make long distance phone calls to decision makers during school time – and would then pay the bills.
I remain thankful to Erin Andreychuk for spending many of her weekends as a teenager stuffing envelopes and licking stamps for Youth Coalition mail-outs, and to Paul George, for giving us the space, printer and stamps to mail our letters.
We succeeded because people like Joe Margetson would skip school to drive me to speeches in transit dead-zones; and because of people like Elano Ferraz Rodrigues who, at 16, helped organize students from across Brazil to write letters to save the spirit bear.
I still can’t get over the selflessness of people like Dawna Robertson or Judi Wild – two artists who would constantly find new ways to create profound work to bring the issue to life, donate their art to the cause and organize events to mobilize those in their communities. Or the dedication and compassion of people like Andy Wright, a tireless advocate to stop the trophy hunt, who always found time to be a sounding board and a friend.
I’ll never forget people like the teenage girl I once met in Montreal who was homeless, but wanted (and did) help save the bear, or the young children diagnosed with terminal cancer at Canuck Place who, in spite of their overwhelming situations, wanted to learn about and help save the Kermode.
I think about the extraordinary time and advice Willard and Gail Sparrow gave the Youth Coalition, and how former environment minister Ian Waddell went out of his way to expand protected areas for the spirit bear by a hectare here or there with minutes to spare before order papers hit the cabinet table.
And then there is Italia Gandolfo who has given up so much more than anyone will ever know to help find an innovative way to get the Green saved.
Of course, I’ll always be touched by the generosity of Bud Norquist, a gentleman I never met, who always wrote us a note of support, along with a donation, at the most remarkable times – just when it seemed like we were losing hope. Equally, I’ll never forget the kindness of the Norquist family – especially LaVey and Wendy – who, after losing Bud to cancer, rallied behind us time and again – without any recognition – in order to see Bud’s dream of saving the spirit bear become reality.
There are just so many stories, so many people. They all inspire. They all had an impact. A profound impact. On the campaign. On me.
A special thank-you
Of course, I’m endlessly grateful to have wonderful friends and an incredible family who loved and supported me on the few good days and, more importantly, on the many bad days. Any success I’ve had is because of them.
And, indeed, any success enjoyed by the Youth Coalition is a byproduct of the many emerging and established leaders we were fortunate to work with. From champions like Dr. Jane Goodall, to volunteer staff like Kerrie Blaise and Justin McElroy and Lauriel LeBlanc, to board members like Dev Aujla and Nina Bast and Larissa Vingilis-Jaremko: They made saving the spirit bear possible. Of course, one student I met in 1999, Salimah Ebrahim, would become a founding member of the board and stay with me on this roller-coaster ride until the very end. Her passion and stick-with-it-ness was what the Youth Coalition was all about.
The media spotlight will shine, rightfully, on those who carried the baton across this marathon’s finish line and the world owes a thank-you to the premier, the environmental groups, the members of industry and the many First Nation communities who came together to agree the Green is worth saving after all.
But the media spotlight will likely forget to thank three very important people and, without them, the world may never have even known about this remarkable part of the world.
Wayne McCrory and the Valhalla Wilderness Society first put lines on the map to save the spirit bear. It was Wayne’s science and vision that gave birth to this campaign that would eventually grow into a movement. Wayne was my early mentor and taught me everything I know about bears. No one deserves more credit for this victory than him.
Charlie Russell wrote the first book on the spirit bear and it was through his storytelling that the world first began to learn of this magical creature and its rainforest home. For a long time, his tales underpinned the narrative of this campaign.
And Ian and Karen McAllister – and their families – were the ones that navigated every watershed of the Great Bear Rainforest, documenting what was to be lost and grew the vision from saving the spirit bear into saving the Great Bear Rainforest. Their frontline appreciation for the land was always personal and passionate and it gave hope to what has now been realized: A massive swath of interconnected, protected wilderness up and down the coast that saves far more than just the spirit bear. And their work, through Pacific Wild, continues.
One last note
Though a campaign requires sacrifice and often becomes intensely personal for those on the frontlines, it should never be forgotten that the only successful issues are the ones that outgrow the advocates and become owned by the world as movements. You did that. You made this movement. You gave this bear a voice. You saved the spirit bear.
Though I wrote two years ago that the Youth Coalition’s journey had ended, today is when the journey to save the spirit bear ends for me personally and, I know, for so many of you. It’s been a long road and we all did our best. Indeed, we can be judged by watersheds protected and lost and the bears that will always be wild and free.
The true gift of waking up today is knowing that any one of us, at any time, forever, can go to the land of the spirit bear and see an animal just as nature intended, in a land time forgot. In other words, today is just as it should be.
With appreciation and thanks for helping save the spirit bear,
The end of an era: Addressing the 10th World Wilderness Congress and supporters from around the world, Simon Jackson announces the successful conclusion to the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition’s two decade journey to save the spirit bear.
For almost two decades, the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition helped give a voice to an animal that few people knew existed, and empowered young people to put forward a vision to protect the rare white Kermode or spirit bear.
Today, it can be said with confidence, that while the spirit bear is not saved, it is safe.
My belief that this remarkable bear will endure is grounded in the successes so many have worked hard to create, and the realization that this campaign is now far bigger than one person, or one organization.
The campaign to save the spirit bear is a full-fledged movement, owned not by the Youth Coalition, but by each of you and millions around the world. And having done all we can to take the issue this far, it is up to all of us, as individuals, to take on the responsibility of continuing to make sure that the spirit bear isn’t just safe, but will forever be wild and free.
For this reason, when the world gathered in Salamanca, Spain for the 10th World Wilderness Congress (WILD10), I announced with pride that the Youth Coalition served our mission and lived up to our promise of putting ourselves out of business; I announced the end of the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition and the start of something much bigger.
An Imperfect, Remarkable Journey
The Youth Coalition’s work helped forge what was the largest land protection measure in North American history, advanced the idea of creating British Columbia’s first wildlife sanctuary, and generated overwhelming support for alternative routes to an oil pipeline that would have threatened the spirit bear with potential oil spills. And yet these accomplishments are imperfect.
While we now strongly believe that oil tanker traffic will never pass through spirit bear waters, there will be years of debate ahead surrounding Northern Gateway and how Canada, as a nation, strikes a balance between our need for oil, and our obligation to protect the environment.
Though select sanctuaries have been established through hunting license buy-outs, there still is a need to create the legal framework that enshrines areas for hunters and areas for animals, preventing an impending and unnecessary culture war in BC.
And even with large swaths of land protected from logging and new measures in place to reduce the volume of trees cut and roads built into the unprotected third of the spirit bear’s last intact habitat, there remains lingering concerns. Without saving this watershed outright, we will be leaving no margin for error in our efforts to sustain the gene pool of this subspecies.
Yet the Youth Coalition’s campaign began with the idealistic dream of a kid who loved bears and believed this bear deserved a voice; the movement grew with the singular, but powerful idea that one person could make a difference. And after almost twenty years, the Youth Coalition achieved ninety percent of what we set out to accomplish for the spirit bear.
The unconquered ten percent of our original goal remains critical. But in a time when there is far too much inefficiency and redundancy in the non-profit sector as a whole and far too few resources to go around, we had to ask ourselves: is going forward as an organization the best decision? And what is the best decision for the bears?
What is Best for the Bears?
We could spend another twenty years fighting for that final ten percent, but the reality is that an advocacy group is no longer best positioned to bring about the change that is needed in this issue.
For starters, to save the final watershed, it comes down to economics and First Nation land claims. It’s complex politics and the best path forward remains the proposed Hollywood animated movie, long-stalled in production due to a lack of political leadership and unreasonable demands from some constituencies who want to have their cake and eat it too.
Ultimately breaking this logjam will require a clean slate and fresh faces, not the spotlight and pressure that an organization brings to negotiations.
Additionally, to create a legal sanctuary from trophy hunting, quiet diplomacy will be a must to bridge the divide between disparate parties. Increasingly in our social media age, it’s impossible to be both an honourable diplomat and an open institution.
More importantly though, the signature of a successful movement is when a cause outgrows its founding organization.
For the second time, the Youth Coalition has helped make the spirit bear one of the top policy issues in Canada, this time thanks to the pipeline debate. With more groups and people engaged in this issue than ever before, this movement no longer needs us to lead, but rather it needs the Youth Coalition – and other advocates – to move aside and allow individuals to step forward with new, bold ideas that can produce new solutions.
The Human Element
But possibly this is the most important point: the Youth Coalition, our team and me in particular have been at this for a long time.
Throughout this journey, we’ve been nothing more than volunteers, and though we’ve made our fair share of mistakes, we’ve tried to always act with integrity; to do right by the bear. And in attempting to lead by example, we’ve worked hard to push forward a new brand of environmentalism – one that unites, rather than divides; one built on pragmatic idealism, not idealistic pessimism.
We were young and naïve when we started, but as the years have past by, we’ve become aware that there is always the danger of staying too long at the fair.
New voices and new ideas – like the Youth Coalition, at one time – must come forward and challenge the blinders that inevitably grow with time. And we, as humans, must ensure we don’t slip into the embrace of ugly politics and its natural companion, bitterness. After all, negativity breeds failure and there is always the risk of doing more harm than good to a cause, no matter how passionate one is about it.
For these reasons, we know it is time to say goodbye and in ending our campaign, we hope it can be a teachable moment to demonstrate to all advocates that our goal should always be to put ourselves out of business.
The Power of One
In saying goodbye, most critically, we must also say thank you. After all, for all we have accomplished for the spirit bear, our greatest success wasn’t protected areas or awareness generated, it was our ability to show more than six million young people that they matter.
Each voice counted. And each voice amplified by the next not only made this organization grow and thrive, but helped protect a subspecies and acted as a role model to our world, proving, yet again, the power of one.
Over the last year, the Youth Coalition tried to reinforce this message to 100,000 students through our speaking tour and millions more through the newly launched CoalitionWILD – a social movement of rising leaders creating a wilder world, founded, in part, by the Youth Coalition.
As CoalitionWILD officially launches and as the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition writes our final chapter, the organization will transition our network into this new movement for a wilder world. Truly, this is the end of one journey and the start of another.
Never has there been a more urgent need to create a new vision for nature – one that is fueled by passion, built with integrity and grounded in innovation. We need a 21st Century environmental movement that is positive and forward-looking, but equally understanding of the human condition. Simply put: we need rising leaders to step forward with new ideas that can showcase through action that the environment is a family values, multi-partisan, geographically and ethnically diverse, human right issue that must unite every single person.
Each young person I have encountered through this campaign is a rising leader, with a personal passion and a brilliant idea for creating a wilder world. CoalitionWILD wants to give each of them a platform, the social network and the mentorship to make their impossible dream a reality.
The Spirit Bear Youth Coalition is far from perfect, but we hope that by weaving our network into CoalitionWILD’s network, we can create six million new ideas – in business, in politics, in education, and, yes, in advocacy – to help nature, giving each the tools and skills to succeed. Because succeed they will. After all, we began with just one person, with no remarkable intellect, skills or money, but armed simply with a passion.
A Final Note
This crazy, long, exhausting, tumultuous, inspiring and powerful journey began almost two decades ago and, today, in a movement that rarely gets to celebrate, we can say we did what we always wanted to do: put ourselves out of business because the spirit bear doesn’t need us anymore.
While there are hills to climb – for the bears, for the world – it won’t be the Youth Coalition writing this next chapter. It will be you.
After all, each of you has written a bright future for this undeniably, irreplaceable bear because of your passion, your donations, your letters, your time, your ideas, and your unwavering support.
With each act you take on for the spirit bear, for any issue that you believe in, you will be continuing to write the history of our generation. And I, for one, am proud of this generation for what we have achieved together and what we will continue to achieve as we work to create a wilder world.
As the kid who dreamed that impossible dream, thank you for sharing in my passion, for being part of this adventure and for safeguarding the future of the spirit bear.
