The Rainforest and Bears

This article was written by Ivy

The rainforests in British Columbia are

magical places. In the forests the air is damp

and the light is dim because branches of the

huge cedar trees block out most of the light.

It is very quiet, often with just the sound of

water dripping or rushing along in the

streams. It is cool but not cold. The trees are

draped in strands of lichen and moss grows

over everything. The ground is covered with

a tangle of ferns, small trees and fallen

branches that animals can easily get over,

under and through although travel for

humans is difficult.

Many different animals – fish, insects, frogs,

birds and mammals - live in and around the

rainforest. The largest fish is the salmon while

the Bald Eagle rules the sky but the bears are

king on the ground.

The biggest rainforest area is on the mainland

of BC - the Great Bear Rainforest - but there

are rainforests on Vancouver Island and on

Haida Gwaii. Black bears are found in all the

rainforest areas. The bears on Haida Gwaii

are much larger than other black bears, with

huge heads and enormous teeth.

Grizzly bears too can be found in the

Great Bear Rainforest, which is also the

only place where the very special white

Spirit Bears live.

The rainforest gives bears a

home, and in return, the bears

look after the forest. How?

It happens in the fall when the

salmon come swimming up

the rivers and streams to spawn.

Generally bears like to live by

themselves but when the

salmon come they all go down

to the river to fish. Bears love

salmon. The bigger bears may

push the smaller bears and cubs

away from the best fishing spots,

but usually there is plenty for everyone.

The bears drag the salmon away from the

water to eat them. What they leave on

the ground feeds insects and other small

creatures and eventually decomposes into

fish fertilizer for the trees. This is how the bears

take care of the forest.

The Rainforest and Bears

Legend of the White

Spirit Bear

Raven and Spirit Bear

A legend of the Gitga’at and

Kitasoo Native Peoples tells

about the White Spirit Bear.

The legend tells of a time in

the beginning when Mother

Earth was white with ice and

snow.

Then Raven, the creator, made

everything green. He decided that

one in ten black bears would have white fur.

The white bears would remind people of the time

of the glaciers. Raven said these bears would live in

a special place.

They would live in the Great Bear Rainforest and Raven

promised to keep the Spirit Bears living in peace.

Rainforest Conservation –

the Power of One

On a family camping trip when he was 7 years old,

Simon Jackson saw a grizzly bear. When he learned

that grizzlies could be hunted, he was determined to try

and save them. That year he set up a lemonade stand

and raised $60 to protect grizzly bears. In 1995, when

he was 13, he saw the endangered white Kermode

bear, also called the Spirit Bear or Ghost Bear. When he

learned there was no protection for Spirit Bears and

that the rainforest they lived in could be logged,

he was determined to change that. “The Spirit Bear

is as special to Canada as the Panda bear in China.

It lives only in my home province, British Columbia,”

he said.

Simon started the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition (SBYC)

and got 700 kids to write letters asking the government

to keep logging companies out of the bear’s habitat.

With the help of 6 million SBCY’ers including heads

of state, rock stars and environmentalists like Jane

Goodall and David Suzuki, in 2016 - after 20 years of

campaigning - most of the Great Bear Rainforest was

protected from logging.

The Rainforest and Bears