On the west coast of Canada, nestled between high alpine reaches and the Pacific Ocean, lies a thin band of temperate rainforest. This ancient forest is home to thousands of species of plants, birds and animals. In this lush rainforest stand 1,000-year-old cedar trees and 90-meter-tall Sitka spruce. Rich salmon streams weave through valley bottoms that provide food for magnificent creatures such as black bears, grizzlies and eagles.
Over half of the world's temperate rainforests have already been destroyed and more than a quarter of what remains is found on the west coast of British Columbia. The temperate rainforest is only 1.2% of Canada's land. The largest intact area of temperate rainforest left on the coast is the Great Bear Rainforest. This two-million-hectare heartland of the temperate rainforest stretches from just north of Knight Inlet to Princess Royal Island. This unique forest habitat, a result of 10,000 years of post-glacial activity, is being clear cut. Unless we take action now, half of all the unprotected intact rainforest valleys will have roads built into them or be clear cut. Grizzly, black and the rare Kermode, or spirit bear thrive in the temperate rainforest. The grizzly population in North America has decreased by half in the last century and 99 % of their habitat has been destroyed in the United States. British Columbia is home to 50% of Canada's grizzly population. In 1992, grizzly bears were listed as vulnerable to extinction by the federal government's Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Even so, British Columbia has no endangered species act to protect the grizzly bear or the more than 700 other species listed in the province. For more information, please visit www.savegreatbearrainforest.org.
2. spirit bear, or the Kermode bear The spirit bear is a unique subspecies of the North American black bear in which approximately one in every 10 bears is white or cream-coloured. Some have orange or yellow coloration on their backs. Other Kermodes are all black. The scientific name is Ursus americanus kermodei, named after a naturalist and museum curator called Frances Kermode, of the British Columbia Provincial Museum. The term “spirit bear” is possibly attributed to a First Nations tradition, which held that the white bears were to be revered and protected. Today the Tsimshian people call it “moskgm'ol”, which simply means “white bear”.
Kermode bears may have evolved on the coast in the last 10,000 years from black bear stock that became isolated from interior black bears more than 300,000 years ago.
The white colour may be due to inheritance of a single gene for hair colour, but other more complex mechanisms may be involved. Further genetic testing is needed.
The spirit bear is a unique creature. It lives only on the Pacific coast of British Columbia, in Canada. The spirit bear is what scientists call an “umbrella species”, that is, if a large enough suitable habitat can be protected for the spirit bear, many other species sharing the same ecosystem will also be protected under this umbrella. For example, salmon, birds, wolves, deer, grizzly bears, insects, and many others. For more information, please check www.savespiritbear.org.
