A Thousand Words - Alaska

Photo Date: July 2019

Photo Location: Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska

 The Background:

Katmai National Park and Preserve is located less than 300 miles southwest of Anchorage, Alaska, but it might as well be a different world. Katmai has been a place of abundance for visitors as far back as the 1800s when the Russians and then the Americans hunted and trapped near the park’s most famous landmarks: Brooks River and Brooks Falls.  To this day, Brooks River has a huge population of sockeye salmon and, consequently, a large population (estimated to be more than 2,000) of Alaskan brown bears, also known as grizzly bears, that show up each summer to feed on the salmon. In this world, the grizzly bear is king. 

 The Picture:

This picture is a close up - don't worry we used a LOT of zoom - of a young brown bear cub taking a break from fishing. (Fun fact: grizzly bears routinely weigh up to 1,200 pounds, can stand 5 feet on all fours, and have paws up to 12 inches long... so we weren’t taking any chances with getting too close.)  This little guy is one of the upwards of 40 brown bears we saw on our day trip to Katmai from Anchorage. From as close as 20 feet away from us, we spent the day watching these beautiful animals swim, fish, rest, play fight, and even strike a pose like this fella.

 The Why:

The first reason I love this picture is the most superficial - this little bear cub is adorable! Aside from all the fuzzy, huggable qualities he possesses, I love the human-like look of guilt. (PSA: brown bears are in fact not huggable - please do not try to hug them.)

 Another reason I love this picture is because it contextualizes the insanity of a day trip to Katmai. If you've been to Katmai, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you haven't, just watch Jurassic Park and it's pretty much the exact same thing. There are parts of Katmai with fenced off walkways and super sturdy, velociraptor-proof gates on both ends. And then there are parts where you leave the walkways and you are literally walking open trails through a wildlife preserve with thousands of brown bears! Oh, but don't worry, the park rangers provide a 7-minute "Bear Education" class before you can start exploring on your own. What could go wrong? 

 Anyway, my dad (who failed Bear Education), my wife, and I ended up lagging behind the rest of our group because we couldn't get over watching the bears swim for fish (another fun fact: bears hate getting their ears wet so they swim around with their bodies submerged except for their ears. The park rangers call it "snorkeling". Did I mention how adorable these guys are?!).  We looked up from being immersed in the show to realize that we now had to make a roughly mile and a half walk from gate to gate, fully exposed, just the three of us. “Walk with purpose,” the park rangers had said. “Don't walk too fast or you'll trigger the bears' predatory sense,” they had also said. Well heck. We nervously walked the trail, taking care to speak and laugh extra loudly so at least the bears would know we were friendly when they ate us. To cope with this stress, my dad would point out bear scat every time we saw it to remind us how close they could be... not helpful. Somehow, remarkably, we were not eaten and we made it to the gate.

 Reflecting on the experience later, I felt the common tension that exists within wildlife tourism. Katmai is a natural preserve with the largest concentrated population of brown bears on Earth. It is also an American national park that brings in float planes of visitors throughout the summer months to experience these bears in their natural habitat. Arguments can be made that set-ups like these inhibit the bears' natural environment by disrupting their natural order and adding potentially harmful human impact to their homes. However, I think there are many positives to be gained from a preservation like Katmai that is built to respect the animals and minimize its impact on their lives.  The abundance of opportunities for wildlife interaction at Katmai allows generation of an extremely high level of awareness and funding needed to ensure these types of environments are preserved and maintained for the bears to thrive in for the foreseeable future. This preserve also allows the bears to be studied in their natural environment and allows them to have the necessary social awareness to prevent greater, more permanent devastation to the environment. I understand both arguments, but I think Katmai is in better hands because of the awareness generated from the national park.  And for my part, I felt extremely lucky and fortunate to have the memories and the increased appreciation for grizzlies.

 These animals truly are giant apex predators - no doubt about that. But if you're ever having a bad day, just think of a bear cub "snorkeling".