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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.

Wildlife filmmaker Shane Moore has been documenting the natural world for nearly three decades, producing distinctive and detailed studies of complex ecological problems around the world. In NATURE’s The Good, the Bad, and the Grizzly, Moore turns his lens on the mighty grizzly bears that inhabit Yellowstone National Park and surrounding lands. Once threatened with extinction, Yellowstone’s grizzlies have now rebounded — a success that has brought its own set of problems, from conflicts with people to the need for adequate room to roam. Moore recently discussed these and other grizzly bear issues from his home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming:

You’ve filmed grizzly bears a great deal in the past. Did anything surprise you while making this film?

I was surprised by the level of conflict with grizzlies that people in the area are dealing with on a regular basis. I knew there were problems, but I didn’t think they were so widespread. But the bears are everywhere now. [Government biologists] recently had to capture six bears involved in conflict situations in a single day — that’s some kind of a record, and the problem seems to be growing.

What happens to these “problem” bears?

Well, female bears are very valued, so they get “three strikes.” The biologists will try to move them out of conflict situations three times. But males typically get two strikes, and just one if they are doing something considered very dangerous to humans. If it is a serious problem, those bears will be euthanized.

How have these conflicts influenced local views on the proposal to delist the grizzly as endangered?

A lot of locals are looking at this trend and saying: “These bears are endangered? Give me a break.” But if you look at the issue from the other side and consider the potential problems with the future food supply for the bears, the picture looks pretty grim. So there are strong views on both sides.

What would you do?

I want to see bears do well, but I’m not certain about how to do that. If you don’t delist them, the local frustration level is going to reach the breaking point. There is going to be a lot of “shooting, shoveling, and shutting up” going on [illegally killing bears and burying them]. So it’s a really tough call. I don’t think delisting would be the end of the world, since the states will continue to work together, and they have put a lot of thought into protection plans. But there could be problems [such as] greater development, logging, and limited hunting. That is hot button issue for a lot of people.

Outside of the policy issues, what captured your attention in making this film?

Well, the moth story still blows me away. I hadn’t seen any footage of [the bears foraging on mountain peaks for the army cutworm moths]. I’m still astounded at how the bears aggregate on these mountain peaks, sometimes coming from about a thousand miles away to feed on these insects.

How did you find those places?

It wasn’t easy. These sites are top secret, nobody divulges them for good reason — you don’t want lots of people there disrupting the bears. So we had to do a lot of our own exploration. We’d climb up with heavy backpacks loaded with all of our equipment, and start looking. Soon, we figured out what makes a moth site work. But it was hard to get the search image right; you are looking for a bear on these big, virtually lifeless rocky slopes. They hole up during the day, and then start coming out in the evening. And when they do… Whew! We saw 15 bears on a single peak. It was hard to capture that on film.

Could you get close?

About a quarter of a mile away. And we’d always stay downwind. But I think it’s worth backing off and being happy with yourself for not causing a big disturbance for the bears. It feels like a sanctuary up there.

Any other surprises besides the moths?

The elk hunting story continues to fascinate me — that the carcasses hunters leave behind can be such a key source of food was really interesting.

Anything you weren’t able to capture the way you wanted to?

Well, I wanted to film the bears eating the four key foods, and we did pretty well. But I wanted to do a little better with the white bark pine seed story. It is so challenging to work in those thick forests; they are very difficult places to work. In the backcountry the biggest challenge is not to frighten the bears.

Before visiting Yellowstone National Park or “bear country” familiarize yourself with safety precautions in order to avoid bear encounters. “Run for your life” may seem like common sense if a grizzly approaches you, but such action is highly unlikely to foil an attack. The recommended steps are not easy to follow, but they offer the best chance for survival. Here’s what the experts say:

If you encounter a grizzly, do not run.

Avoid direct eye contact.

Walk away slowly, if the bear is not approaching.

If the bear charges, stand your ground (you cannot outrun it).

Don’t scream or yell. Speak in a soft monotone voice and wave your arms to let the animal know you are human. If you have pepper spray, prepare to use it.

If the grizzly charges to within 25 feet of where you’re standing, use the spray.

If the animal makes contact, curl up into a ball on your side, or lie flat on your stomach.

Try not to panic; remain as quiet as possible until the attack ends.

While in bear country, be aware that you may encounter a bear at any time.

Be sure the bear has left the area before getting up to seek help.

While in bear country, be aware that you may encounter a bear at any time.

Some other interesting things about grizzlies:

• Most human injuries from grizzly bears are caused by females acting aggressively to protect their young.

• Grizzlies are omnivores; they will eat almost anything. Although a large part of their diet is vegetation, grizzlies will also kill and eat large and small animals.

• Fewer than 1,100 grizzlies exist in the lower 48 states, in 5 populations in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Washington. An estimated 500 to 600 grizzlies populate the Greater Yellowstone area.

• Grizzlies are North America’s slowest reproducing land mammal. A female may not have her first litter until she is 5 or 6 years old, after which she will then typically produce two cubs every 2.5 years. Cubs from the same litter can be from different fathers. Grizzlies have a natural life span of 30 years or more.

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.

After a decades-long comeback, the grizzly bears of Yellowstone National Park appear to be thriving. Should they now be removed from the protection of the Endangered Species Act? This question has provoked one of the most emotionally charged wildlife controversies in America today.

In the mid-20th century, Yellowstone’s grizzlies had been reduced to a relatively small number of bears that had stopped hunting and were living on trash intentionally left by the park’s attendants. In 1972, park officials reversed their policy, and the garbage dumps were closed.

Today, after 30 years of protection under the Endangered Species Act, grizzlies have learned to hunt once again, and have made a resounding return, with an estimated 600 thriving in the 17,000 square miles that comprise the Greater Yellowstone area.

With the rising bear population, however, comes conflict, as the grizzlies interact more and more with encroaching humanity — roaming in residential areas, raiding dumpsters, attacking livestock, and unknowingly inspiring tourists to take chances on roads and trails so they can glimpse the great bear.

In short, the success of grizzly restoration has spawned a complex web of social and environmental issues that many disagree upon. While some lawmakers argue that grizzlies should be delisted as an endangered species, others believe this would be a premature maneuver.

Discover the complex issue of grizzly bear management and conservation from ranchers, conservationists, and government officials who share their stories and insights on The Good, the Bad, and the Grizzly.

To order a copy of The Good, the Bad, and the Grizzly, visit the NATURE Shop.

Online content for The Good, the Bad, and the Grizzly was originally posted November, 2004.

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.

The Arctic is changing. As temperatures slowly rise and the ice recedes, the shore is getting further away. Food sources that the polar bear have come to rely on are becoming less plentiful. In this changing climate, the polar bear is already showing signs of distress.

While polar bears struggle, opportunistic grizzlies fare well, as they benefit from the melting Arctic’s effects on its ecosystem. While the grizzly moves into newly opened territories, the polar bear can only wait for the freezing of its one-time kingdom. If the changing world proclaims the grizzly the new king of the Arctic, what will become of the polar bear?

To order a copy of Arctic Bears, visit the NATURE Shop.

Online content for Arctic Bears was originally posted February 2008.