Chris Morgan is all smiles on the day of the shoot, but it didn't start out that way...

By Dean Cannon, Assistant Producer

The aerial shoot is coming up soon. This is going to be one of the most exciting parts of the entire show. If we have the right weather, we’ll be able to show off the most stunning coast in all of Alaska — possibly the world, in my opinion. On this shoot we hope to establish the beautiful yet rugged Alaskan wilderness. It has to be everything people expect of Alaska and a whole lot more. This aerial shoot was booked over four months ago. The only problem with that is no one knows what the weather is going to be like that far in advance, and helicopters are expensive things to have laying about.

We also plan to film an air-to-air sequence with an iconic Beaver floatplane based in Kodiak. It will be flown by Josh Schein, a young but experienced bush pilot of Southern stock. He will fly across the Shelikov Straits to the Katmai Coast where he will pick up Chris to take him to a nearby bay. The film helicopter will come from Homer the same day and chase the Beaver floatplane through gorgeous glacial valleys separated by jagged mountain ridges. The company from which we’re renting the Heligimbal (a kind of motion-stabilized helicopter mount) will be flying from the east coast the day before. No breakfasts may be skipped, no irons left on, and a lot of alarm clocks will have to be working perfectly!

The most important factor of course will be the weather. Two days before the shoot, the weather service is predicting rain for all of southwestern Alaska. Weather services are notoriously paranoid though. Folks on the ground are giving slightly better than 50/50 odds. Our boat captain, John Rogers, is a man who errs on the side of caution. He is a seasoned veteran of the Alaskan waters and I take his word as gold. I tell him what I’m seeing on the radar: RAIN// ISOLATED SHOWERS. WIND// 20 KNOTS OR GREATER. “Yeah, It’s supposed to get a tad breezy,” he tells me in an understatement reminiscent of an Australian, “but I think we’ll pull it off.” Meanwhile, the weather satellite’s billion-dollar eye keeps showing that massive “L” bearing down on the coast like a deranged grizzly.

Day Before the Shoot

Everybody is in position, and the meter is running. Four barrels of fuel have been dispatched to the boat for the helicopter. A reschedule at this stage would cost almost a third as much as the actual shoot. I called both aerial teams tonight and told them there is no change in plan. “What’s the weather like up there?” I ask Homer’s new east coast arrivals. “There’s supposed to be a front moving in…” A few hours later Flight Service issues an AIRMET for the Katmai Coast effective until 3pm the next day. I hear Joe’s voice in my head: “If the weather looks shady, call it off and call me.” I scan the help wanted ads in my local paper. A local grocer is hiring. If the shoot goes poorly, I may be looking for work.

It must have been a photographer who came up with the phrase, “When life gives you a lemon, you make lemonade.” The weather is looking unstable in the official world, but local knowledge is still saying different. At this point, even if bad weather is the case, we must still go forward because too many wheels are in motion. Instead of clear heavens and snow-capped mountains, Joe might have gray skies and foggy lowlands to contend with. It will be up to him how best to portray the Alaska he is given. Joe can make changes to the settings on the Heligimbal camera and — with some help in post-production — transform an overcast day into a monochrome masterpiece. However, it would be less spectacular than the blue glaciers perched above lush green forests that we would see on a sunny day. If it’s overcast, there may not be many spectacular wide shots either. Then there’s the greatest of all aerial nemeses to contend with: rain on the lens. Like Bigfoot, rain on the lens is an elusive creature. It is usually only seen in post-production, many miles away and months after the shoot.

All Clear?

A shot from the final aerial sequence

Just got off a conference call with the aerial team. Our helicopter pilot says it’s a great day to “churn up the sky.” Above Homer, he says, the skies are blue with cute little popcorn clouds dancing around the bay. In Kodiak, where the Beaver floatplane is based, it’s low ceiling and drizzle. The crew on the boat says there is a low ceiling too, but maybe it’s fog. If fog, it should burn off by late morning. If it’s an overcast ceiling, the Beaver will have to turn back rather than risk a decent in the clouds. The plane is rented per hour — whether it’s in the air or resting on its floats. We’ve had an intense couple of days, and we’ve planned all we can plan. Now we need to let it happen. The weather service is sticking to its all-day rain predictions.

After the shoot, I get a call from Joe and Chris. The weather has been mostly clear! There was unstable air that first day as the low-pressure system passed through; both aircraft and passengers got knocked around pretty good. Amazingly, the camera was able to zoom in so tight on Chris’s plane they could see the make of his sunglasses. In selecting scenic shots, Joe got to the point that he was being picky! That is a sign of a good day on any film shoot — especially an aerial. At the end of the second day, Joe confidently wrapped the shoot feeling he had what he needed in the can and then some. I’m looking forward to seeing the master tapes, which will be shipped to me once backups have been made. The deliveryman won’t know it, but that will be one expensive box he’s carrying. Joe finally exhausts the caffeine in his system and hangs up the phone. I happily throw away the help wanted section. Thanks, Captain John!

–

Dean Cannon has been traveling and working around the world since leaving his home in Arizona at age 19. Originally from England, Dean has worked from Akureyri, Iceland to Perth, Australia doing numerous jobs as a traveler. In 2002, Dean found his way into filmmaking while living in Japan. Two months after arriving there he found work as a soundman on a documentary shoot in Africa. After working on many film and television projects, Dean joins the crew of Bears of the Last Frontier as assistant producer and 2nd camera.

Humpbacks travel between Hawaii and Alaska every year, guided by their internal compass. The krill-rich waters of Alaska’s Alexander Archipelago are the whales’ summer feeding grounds, an environment very different from the calving grounds they have left behind in Hawaii. Here, more than the water temperature changes, the behavior of the whales changes, as well. While fiercely competitive in the breeding season in Hawaii, fighting for mates and protecting young, the opposite is true in Alaska. Whales cooperate, working in teams to gather food in the most efficient way possible. When the summer ends and the food is gone, mother and baby will head back to Hawaii again.

The young humpback calf has only a year to learn the subtleties of whale society before she is left by her mother to continue her education on her own, learning from observation and experience. It’s an incredible journey between two strikingly different environments that reveals the true complexity of the fellowship of the whales.

NATURE’s Fellowship of the Whales premieres Sunday, November 15 at 8pm (check local listings).

Photo © 2008 (Peggy Stap / Hawaii Whale Research Foundation) under NMFS Research Permit No. 587-1767-01

For more behind-the-scenes photos from base camp, become a fan of NATURE on Facebook.

There’s nothing quite like coming back to your favorite place on Earth. I’ve been bringing people to the coast of Alaska to view brown bears for many years, and I’ve fallen in love with the majesty of this wild area — and with the giant brown bears that call it home. But this trip is a little different, and I can already tell it’s going to be an adventure to remember.

Joe and Chris on a bear trail in search of bears

I’ll be blogging several times about our experiences among the bears on the coast of Alaska, our first location for Bears of the Last Frontier, but this first field entry has to be brief as I am only within internet connectivity for 24 hours before heading into the wild once again. We’re here to film the bears in the early season — a busy time when they are ravenously hungry after emerging from six to seven months in their winter dens. It’s also a time of intense action as the bears pour from the surrounding mountains down to the coastal sedge meadows to court and mate. Situating ourselves in the middle of this action is the plan and it started with locating the perfect spot for our base camp.

We found the perfect location about 1.5 miles from the main sedge meadow where the bears usually gather to court each other during the breeding season. We were told that sometimes dozens of bears can be seen together at this time of year, and we were keen to capture the action on film. My tent was surrounded by an electric fence, which acts as an effective bear deterrent. Have you ever tried licking 6,000 volts? A quick zap from the fence will hopefully keep any unwanted visitors out of my sleeping quarters!

The area is riddled with bear trails — pathways that are used so often by bears that they are often six to eight inches deep in the ground. They make for easier hiking, and of course, usually lead us right to a bear or two!

Bear tracks everywhere

Our anticipation was high — we’ve got several weeks’ worth of supplies. We set up base camp, prepared our camera equipment, and found the perfect sedge meadow (the bears focus a lot of their time on emerging sedges as they are surprisingly packed full of protein).

Now it’s just a case of waiting for the bears to show up!

There is plenty of evidence of bears all around — in fact it’s a tracker’s dream for me. Tracks, scat (droppings), rub trees, and claw markings can all be found nearby. This is one of the densest bear populations in the world — the very reason we are here to film.

One of our first bears grazing near camp

As our journey continues northwards to the harsher climates and bear habitats of Alaska, I know we will look back at the coast and remember it as a paradise for bears.

Bingo! The bears are here! They first arrived about 1.5 miles from camp to feed in the sedge meadows, and before we knew it they were even paying a visit to our base camp on a regular basis.

Watch this space for more entries soon. The bear action has been intense — there is a new, unexpected adventure every day and I’ll look forward to sharing our experiences with you some more very soon.

Meanwhile, I’m heading back into the wild.

- Chris Morgan

Dean’s journey in Alaska as part of the Bears of the Last Frontier crew was about to take an unexpected turn

By Dean Cannon, Assistant Producer

Today I realize Rick and Jessy’s job isn’t a bowl of cherries. It can be deadly.

A 45-year-old woman has been badly injured by a moose cow protecting her calf. What she thought was the sound of an injured child was a calving moose. “Our eyes met,” said the woman. “I could tell it was going to end badly.” As she turned to run, the moose charged and kicked her to the ground. A last kick knocked her unconscious. The woman was taken to the emergency room, where she received stitches to her stomach and forehead.

Back at the scene of the incident, Rick and Jessy arrive on the scene with a dart gun. These are the kind of instances when Rick and Jessy must not only prevent injuries to members of the public, but also to themselves. As we creep into the shaded backyard full of pine trees, it feels like a military operation. Rick and Jessy communicate with hand signals to indicate where they will move next. Rick tells me to find a tree and stay on the other side of it if I get charged. I am mostly looking through the viewfinder of my camera, adjusting focus and making small F stop tweaks for the constantly changing light. If the moose sees me first, I probably won’t know about it until I am on my back. Half an hour later, Rick decides the moose and calf have bolted. The relieved woman thanks Rick and Jessy, and we head off for the day. My arms are covered in mosquito bites, but thanks to fear, I didn’t feel them.

3,000 Miles to the Nearest Service Center (Camera Fail)

Joe called me last night. The big HD camera has gone down. Nightmare! They are on a remote stretch of the Katmai coast a full day’s boat journey from Homer. The nearest repair facility is 3,000 miles away in L.A. He told me I am to abandon my shoot with Fish and Game and get a replacement camera body to him ASAP.

The precious cargo

The body is scheduled to arrive in Anchorage today in the AM, so I booked a commercial flight to Homer for 3pm. No plans on how to get to Katmai yet. Until the camera is in my hands, I can’t risk loosing a $1,200 deposit to hold a floatplane for Katmai. This is the pilot’s peak season and there is no wiggle room on the price. But Joe and Chris have found the youngest cubs they have ever seen out there. The weather is beautiful and the bears are very active. There are also wolves in the area. It’s a case of which is worth more, after all — and a great shot is priceless.

I find myself pacing in front of the local shipping facility like an expectant father. At 9:30am the box finally arrives. Yes! Change the 3pm to a 12pm flight to Homer. Luckily there is space. Joe and Chris’s ship captain has arranged a flight for me at 3pm leaving Homer for Katmai. The schedule is tight. I’m to get off one plane and immediately get on another… one seat left. Lucky.

Our turbo prop covers the 6-hour drive from Anchorage to Homer in 50 minutes. A beautiful view of Kathchemak Bay greets us as we approach Homer.

William Bligh, serving under Captain James Cook, spotted the bay in 1778 while looking for the Great Northwest Passage. He thought the inlet was nothing more than the mouth of a giant River. Cook disagreed and ordered Bligh to explore it anyway. Bligh quickly returned to report the inlet indeed led to a river. A hundred miles north, Bligh was ordered to explore yet another inlet. Bligh’s frustration led to the disingenuous name ‘Turnagain Arm.’

Alaska from the air

Immediately after I land, I am once again back in the air. Our heavy 206 is climbing steadily into the smooth air. They say the mosquito is the state bird of Alaska, but it could easily be any of the General Aviation planes buzzing in the Alaska sky. It is hard to imagine the millions of shades of green in Alaska until you see the landscape from the air. In every direction a giant green carpet hugs the coastline all the way up to the snow-capped peaks. The little fibers of this carpet are trees; from the fluorescent yellows of Alaska birch to the dark umber green of the low conifers. It isn’t long before our single engine plane is surrounded from horizon to horizon by vast blue sea… and it isn’t a floatplane…

–

Dean Cannon has been traveling and working around the world since leaving his home in Arizona at age 19. Originally from England, Dean has worked from Akureyri, Iceland to Perth, Australia doing numerous jobs as a traveler. In 2002, Dean found his way into filmmaking while living in Japan. Two months after arriving there he found work as a soundman on a documentary shoot in Africa. After working on many film and television projects, Dean joins the crew of Bears of the Last Frontier as assistant producer and 2nd camera.

The Steller’s sea lions that populate the Alaskan coastline are powerful, playful, and sometimes rowdy creatures who bump and jostle each other on land but acquire a sublime gracefulness in the water. They are also the subject of a strange and tragic mystery: Steller’s sea lions are rapidly disappearing from one of the last great wildlife strongholds of the world, and no one knows why.

Naturalist filmmaker Shane Moore, who has been working in the Alaskan wilderness for much of the past 10 years, brings a sense of urgency and new understanding to this puzzle in A Mystery in Alaska.

As scientists and environmentalists race the clock to find answers, pressure has been growing on Alaska’s fishing industry to suspend most of its pollock fishing, on the suspicion that it is robbing Steller’s sea lions of an important source of food. But new research illustrated in this film shows that a broad combination of factors could be responsible for the sea lions’ plight.

To order a copy of A Mystery in Alaska, visit the NATURE Shop.

Online content for A Mystery in Alaska was originally posted May 2003.

Mt. Redoubt

By Dean Cannon, Assistant Producer

Clear blue skies greet us today! Anchorage is a cool place, but the Alaska we’ve come to see is around the first bend of Turnagain Arm. Today is a stunner of a day. A lady tells us May has already seen better weather than the entire summer of 2008. As we round the first turn on Highway 1 to Homer, the clear Arctic sky has not a single cloud to put these gigantic mountains into perspective. That job was left to the tiny little RVs trundling at the water’s edge. Four hours into the drive and the still active Mt. Redoubt gives us a glimpse of Earth’s fury below. Looking like a conical hat, it steams silently some 60 miles across hazy Cook Inlet. At the third and last pull-out for miles, we all decided to stop and take pictures. Joe’s left hand is balancing all our cameras while he attempts to shoot with his right hand. It’s a consequence of being the only award-winning cinematographer in our van…

Tomorrow, I drive back to Anchorage. My shoot there deals with problem bears in the city limits. I will be looking for bears milling around houses, rutting through dumpsters and generally being themselves: the bears gone wild of Anchorage. I am really excited to do this, but it dawned on me today I have never seen a bear up close and personal. I’ve also never been around an animal that could eat me. It seems like a good time to ask Chris a few questions. Joe is looking for his coffee grinder. Man, I hope he finds it…

Best Jobs In Town?

On the first day of my shoot, I get the feeling Anchorage doesn’t have a problem with wildlife at all. Many tell me that wildlife make Anchorage the great place to live that it is. Thousands are attracted to the outdoor lifestyle and make the move to the last frontier state on that point alone. I find this easy going way with nature my first day filming a ride-along with Rick and Jessy of the Anchorage Fish and Game. Rick and Jessy are the wildlife “first responders” for Anchorage. Prior to the creation of Rick’s post in 2006, the only option was the Anchorage Police Department. Untrained and unprepared, APD officers were left with little choice but to put down any problem wildlife that posed even the slightest threat. Today a patrol car recognizes Rick’s truck and tells us a moose and calf trotted away from the school ballpark where a large group of people was having a barbeque in the late evening light. It smelled great to me — I wonder what it smells like to a grizzly bear… I have the feeling Rick and Jessy have the best jobs in town. They aren’t holed up in an office all day and get to meet new folks at every turn. The job does not come without controversy, however, as we will see in the film. And today they are getting absolutely ravaged by mosquitoes. Somehow they don’t even flinch. I’m slapping so much I can hardly hold the camera straight! Curse my English blood… They are biting through my Gortex.

Uninvited Guests

The first call of the day was of a young bear “hanging out” on a neighbor’s porch somewhere in Anchorage. The bear had been there two days now and Rick told me this usually means there is a reason for it hanging around. When we arrive at the house, Rick soon discovers what has attracted the bear. A double barrel mistake is committed. The homeowner had left sugary bird feeders up after the April deadline. A forgotten bag of fatty nutrient rich bird seed lay spilled all over the back porch. Bird seed is to bears what candy is to trick-or-treaters. Rick tries chasing the bear away from the porch by shouting, “Shoo bear! Go bear!” But the young black bear is more confused than anything else. He tries waiting us out by climbing a tree. Funny, he almost looks like a giant koala. From the tripod, I film the bear through the zoom lens as he pants in the midday heat. Tired of hanging on, the bear jumps down and takes off into a neighbor’s yard. “I think he’s getting annoyed with us,” says Rick. “Just watch where you are.” The bear leads us on a wild goose chase zipping in and out of backyards. For having such a cumbersome frame the bear is surprisingly agile. Rick introduces himself to half a dozen neighbors as we chase it back into the forest.

At the sixth house, we have it cornered. It goes behind a garden shed. Slowly, we approach, but it’s gone! Surely we would have seen it? It isn’t long before the bear is back gorging on the birdseed; no doubt replacing the energy it had used to elude us. Rick changes tactics now. Soon kids will be filling the streets from a nearby school. Picking up an old broom, Rick bangs on the wooden porch to get the bear to bolt. I find a good camera angle at the bottom of the stairs, and just then the bear makes a bluff charge. The camera is steady but my knees are knocking! “You may want to get out of there, Dean,” Rick says. A second later, I’m behind Rick getting another angle. Two minutes ago this bear was a cute little yearling black bear with sleepy eyes and a drooling, cuddly expression. Now it is a cornered wild animal. The bear bolts back up into the tree and hisses as Rick picks up the bag of birdseed.

Rick tickets the homeowners for attracting the bear. “Being so near a school, you’d think they would know better,” he says as he fills out the fine. So this is what helps to create problem bears, not the forest after all…

Find out what happens on the next leg of the crew’s journey next week on the Bear Blog with Chris Morgan.

–

Dean Cannon has been traveling and working around the world since leaving his home in Arizona at age 19. Originally from England, Dean has worked from Akureyri, Iceland to Perth, Australia doing numerous jobs as a traveler. In 2002, Dean found his way into filmmaking while living in Japan. Two months after arriving there he found work as a soundman on a documentary shoot in Africa. After working on many film and television projects, Dean joins the crew of Bears of the Last Frontier as assistant producer and 2nd camera.

Dean Cannon

My name is Dean Cannon. I am assistant producer and 2nd camera on Bears of The Last Frontier. When Joe asked me if I wanted to be his AP on the project, I immediately took up the offer. Projects with Joe always turn out to be an adventure. Whether it’s on location looking for elusive wildlife in China or the last pearl diver on Con Dao as I have been, Joe’s films are as inspirational to work on as they are to watch. Joe also knows of my desire to “get out of the office” so to speak. And I hoped there might be a chance of seeing Alaska and its amazing wildlife myself!

Early Days

Planning a large documentary film shoot involves heaps of preparation. Months of research, equipment selection, and planning must occur before the camera is even switched on. We also deal with lots of people with very different roles on film shoots. It’s a little like conducting a 100-person ballet on a moving floor while the stage is being built. The producer must be intimately familiar with the macro as well as the micro. Many big decisions are made in the moment that impact results downstream. Weather, broken equipment, or a change in someone’s availability can affect the outcome of a shoot, but not always for the worse. A clerical error may mean an extra day camping while searching for an elusive animal. Often it is on that extra day the animal is spotted. There is a fluidity to filmmaking where sometimes inertia can end up being the guiding force on a shoot. Gut feelings compete with reason. It is the producer’s job to know which one is right. My job is to man the phones and keep the lines of communication flowing. The cameraman’s office is the world. An AP’s office is virtual.

By now (early May 2009), almost three months of pre-production have gone into Bears of the Last Frontier. The ‘A’ film crew will be flying to Anchorage next month on one-way tickets. The other day though, Joe called me up to tell me there had been a change to the plan… I’d be going with them!

Have We Got Everything?

Our van

We arrived in Anchorage with 22 pieces of luggage. Some checked bags weigh as little as one pound (like our Cine Saddle), while a camera jib-arm might weigh in at over a hundred pounds with all its odds and sods. Film crews roaming airports with trolleys full of gear must look like the most indecisive people in the world. No exception here in Anchorage! Outside the airport, our cavernous rental van sags over its rear axle as we load all 600 pounds of film gear into the back. For the fifth time since leaving the baggage carousel, Joe and I count all our cases. In this game a missing bag is a costly business — not only for the item lost, but for the delay it will inevitably create. Coffee and wi-fi at the hotel for the rest of today. My computer takes my cubicle on the road…

Change of Plan

The schedule has changed. We agreed it was best not to drive to Homer on Day 2 as planned. Most of us had forgotten little essentials, and our day of shopping stretched late into the afternoon. There was an enormous amount of food to be purchased for the Katmai crew. The crew would have a support vessel in Hallo Bay, but bad weather, low tides, or a combination of the two could easily make a four-day camping trip into a ten-day event. Joe and Chris would be carrying everything they needed on their backs into the wild. As Chris loaded a five-pound bag of candies onto the trolley, I wondered whose luggage it would be going in. It’s 6pm. None of us feels like tackling the five-hour drive to Homer; especially with big Moose with bad eyesight crossing the road during twilight! Homer tomorrow.

When making hotel reservations for a film crew I go with the most pleasant people I can find. Constant change is the only true constant on a film shoot, so flexibility is a must. A good deal on a hotel package booked months earlier can become costly if you must change the reservation or deal with unyielding types. I’m a sucker for a friendly greeting on the phone. I also have a thing for owner/operators. Three months ago when peppering Homer’s hotels with phone calls, the owner of this hotel cheerfully answered his phone on the second ring. I booked three rooms for three nights. Luckily, the guy was cool with us changing the reservation.

All of us end up purchasing some last-minute toys after getting the essentials. Chris bought a hard case for his new laptop, Joe a new camping knife. I bought a mono-pod for my shoot. Spending money away from home is like over-eating on holiday—the dollars don’t count.

Find out what happens on the next leg of the crew’s journey next week on the Bear Blog with Chris Morgan.

–

Dean Cannon has been traveling and working around the world since leaving his home in Arizona at age 19. Originally from England, Dean has worked from Akureyri, Iceland to Perth, Australia doing numerous jobs as a traveler. In 2002, Dean found his way into filmmaking while living in Japan. Two months after arriving there he found work as a soundman on a documentary shoot in Africa. After working on many film and television projects, Dean joins the crew of Bears of the Last Frontier as assistant producer and 2nd camera.

Joe Pontecorvo and Chris Morgan

We’re finally here! After a year of busy preparation we’ve arrived at North America’s last frontier – ALASKA. My name is Chris Morgan – I’m a conservation ecologist, and for the last 20 years I’ve worked on bear research and conservation projects all over the world. In places as diverse as northern Spain, Pakistan, Ecuador and the Arctic I’ve come to really love these creatures and the wilderness they represent. I’ve have spent half my life working to conserve them and the places they need to survive. With me here in Alaska is my film-making friend Joe Pontecorvo. His beautiful wildlife films have won international acclaim, and also several awards. His style blends adventure, conservation, and stunning natural history to make for an epic mix.

NATURE asked us to join forces once again to do a film about bears, so naturally we headed here – North America’s last frontier. Of the world’s eight bear species, six are threatened with extinction. They are found from the Arctic to the tropics in the wildest places on earth. And it doesn’t get much wilder than this. Here in Alaska, three of the world’s eight remaining bear species still exist. Like the bears it supports, Alaska is a giant. It covers an area over half a million square miles – around 354,000,000 acres – and it’s bigger than the next three largest states combined. It’s a mind-boggling scale that we’re about to really come to terms with. And here’s why…

Tomorrow we begin an expedition across 2,000 miles from the south to the north of Alaska, through 5 ecosystems, the habitats of 3 bear species, and some of the wildest parts of the state. No other state supports black, grizzly and polar bears, and we are setting out to discover what it takes to be a bear in this northern land. Feared by some, revered by others, bears are an icon of everything wild. But they are complex, intelligent animals that have faced persecution wherever they are found. Only in truly isolated regions like Alaska can they live out their lives the way they always have, and that’s what we are here to experience.

So, for a year Joe and I will immerse ourselves in the bear’s world on a journey that will reveal the true nature of these amazing animals. It’s also a journey that will put us to the test as we hike, camp and live among the biggest brown bears in the world along the Alaska coast (some of them weigh 1,500 pounds!) and track black bears through the streets of Anchorage (yes, you read that right). Northwards across the Arctic Circle we’ll follow grizzly bears as they trail the incredible caribou migration, and then we’ll film the mighty polar bear hunting ringed seals on the pack ice. We’ll also be meeting many colorful Alaskans along the way – I’m sure we’ll be needing their help!

And if that’s not enough excitement for you, I’ll be doing the entire journey on my specially-equipped motorcycle! There’s a lot of road between here and the pack ice and I’m sure it will bring some unexpected surprises! So, hold onto your hats and join us for the ride – this is going to be quite the adventure!

Watch this space – we’ll be blogging whenever we are in range!

- Chris Morgan, submitted from Homer, Alaska

Brace yourself for the ride of a lifetime as adventurer and bear biologist Chris Morgan takes us on a motorcycle odyssey deep into the wilds of Alaska in Bears of the Last Frontier, coming to NATURE in 2011. For more than a year, Chris will live among the wildest creatures on Earth, immerse himself completely in their world, and reveal to us as never witnessed before, an astonishingly intimate portrait of North America’s three bear species: brown bears, black bears, and polar bears.

About Chris Morgan

Chris Morgan

British Ecologist Chris Morgan is no stranger to adventure. Over the last 20 years he has worked as a wildlife researcher and educator on every continent where bears exist. From icy polar bear country at 81° North to tropical Andean bear forests sitting on the equator, Chris has sought adventure among the focus animals of his life – the bears of the world. Carnivore work has also taken him to the Canadian Rocky Mountains, Scotland, the Pakistani Himalayas, northern Spain, Turkey, and Alaska – destinations where his enthusiasm for wild places has rubbed off on others.

Chris owns an ecology and environmental education business in Bellingham, Washington State. He is the creator and Co-Director of the acclaimed Grizzly Bear Outreach Project (GBOP) in the North Cascades. GBOP has been praised as a model for effective outreach and has taken great steps to engage communities in grizzly bear information dissemination since 2002. The approach is now benefiting cougar and wolf conservation in Washington State. Chris is also a frequent lecturer at Western Washington University’s Huxley College of Environmental Science in Bellingham where he teaches ecology and environmental science classes. He has a B.S. in Applied Ecology (East London, UK) and an M.S. in Advanced Ecology (Durham, UK). In 2008 his contributions to grizzly bear conservation in the USA were honored with an award from the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, a government panel responsible for recovery of the great bear. Chris spends much of his time in the North Cascade Mountains one hour from his home. Despite his incredibly varied activities within the realm of wildlife conservation, Chris says that he is never happier than when immersed in bear country – “the real world” as he calls it.