Great Bear Rainforest Reprieve / BC Museum's New Vision

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A step forward

Conservation groups and forest companies have announced an agreement regarding old growth protection and heritage sites in the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia. 

Islands off the south coast of British Columbia, by DG Hudson

After 14 years of negotiations which included bitter fights in the 1990's, a balance was found. First Nations of BC and the B.C. provincial government will have the final say on the agreement. Will it be the last chapter in achieving protection for old growth and other protected heritage sites? 

Saving the forests, in particular the Great Bear Rainforest, is the first step. 

Saving food sources is the second step.(On land, in the waters)

Preventing pollution in advance is the third step. Watchdogs are required.


A Spirit Bear or Kermode, a resident of the Great Bear Rainforest, is shown below.

Spirit Bear, or Kermode Bear, BC, Wiki photo

Reference: Vancouver Sun Article,:Westcoast News, Preservation, Collaboration wins rainforest 'final chapter', by Gordon Hoekstra. Jan. 2014. Update on environmental issues in the Great Bear Rainforest.

Related posts:
Oil and Dirty Water - A Bear Dilemma 

The Spirit Bear and the Great Bear Rainforest


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Our Royal British Columbia Museum is changing. . .

A new CEO for the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, Jack Lohman, has already started assessing the treasures in his care. He's revived museums in England, South Africa, Poland, and Norway. He calls it re-scripting, which in BC, will include taking collections around the province and loaning certain exhibitions to other institutions. Lohman has also written a book about his vision, Museums at the Crossroads, which is about some of the choices that institutions make.

I'm hoping these changes will include making art and history exhibitions more accessible to all, and by that I mean no high ticket prices. Learning about our culture is important. Why don't we have a free day once a month for British Columbia's museums and galleries? 

Paris, France does this, an excellent idea that gives something back to the people. It would also benefit school groups, and help offset high ferry rates that deter many from visiting Vancouver Island as much as we would like. Thank you, Mr. Lohman, I'm looking forward to your revitalizing of our venerable museum; a fresh eye can work wonders.


Reference: Vancouver Sun, Westcoast News-Weekend Edition, Jan.25/14, B.C.'s Museum at the Crossroads, by John Mackie.

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Do you scan your newspapers for issues that are important to you? Are you interested in current events in your own city or local area? How do you get your news? (via a device, a newspaper, or secondhand?)

Please share in the comments and thanks for dropping by. I'm always listening.

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Spirit Bears and Woolly Mammoths

Don't go down to the woods, today. . .

Mother Grizzly Bear and cubs at coastal Dump*, DGH Collection

In the Great Bear Rainforest, a vast area has been purchased to protect grizzly and black bears from trophy hunting enthusiasts. This purchase also protects the Kermode or spirit bears (black bears with white coats). A bear hunt has been banned this year by coastal First Nations from Haida Gwaii down the central coast of British Columbia. Other parts of the Great Bear Rainforest may not have these restrictions, check online for hiking and guide information.

Credit: The Vancouver Sun, Sept. 17, 2012, Environment, NGO buys bear hunting rights, by Judith Lavoie, Victoria Times Colonist. NGO=Non governmental organizations

Good news for the bears: The Raincoast Conservation Foundation now controls hunting in the heart of spirit bear country. (Size=28,000 sq km + 3500 newly acquired sq km.; measurements from news article)

 

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Spirit Bears


The Kermode bear (kerr-MO-dee), or spirit bear is a subspecies of the American Black Bear. It's noted for one-tenth of their population having white or cream coats. The Kermode bear's range includes the north and central coast of British Columbia and inland toward Hazelton, BC.


A male Kermode bear can weigh 500 lb (225 kg) or more and stands 6 feet tall. Females are slightly smaller, weighing in at about 300 lb (135 kg). Spirit bears, because of their ghost-like appearance, hold a prominent place in the oral stories of the Canadian First Nations and Native American lore.
 

National Geographic estimates the spirit bear population to be between 400-1000 individual bears. In their information, they suggest "the spirit bear may owe its survival to the protective traditions of the First Nations, who never hunted the animals or spoke of them to fur trappers".


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermode_bear Kermode Bear


*This photo shown previously in the post The Right Place - Must have been the Write Time on my Rainforest Writing blog.

 

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Woolly Mammoths

 
Mammuthus primigenius: The woolly mammoth, or tundra mammoth is the last species of mammoth.

Woolly mammoth remains, which may contain living cells, have been discovered by an international science team in Siberia. Months of research will be needed before findings are conclusive, but what IF soft tissue DNA is found? Will cloning be far behind? These creatures are believed to have died out around 10,000 years ago, although small groups may have survived longer in Alaska and in Siberia.


Whether climatic change or overhunting by humans caused the mammoth's final demise in Earth's past, it's an amazing find for scientists today. I'll be watching for any news about the cloning part. Woolly mammoths were described in Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear series.


Credit: Vancouver Sun, Science section, Sept. 12, 2012; Associated Press; Mammoth remains found in Siberian permafrost raise hopes for cloning.

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Have you heard of spirit bears? What about cloning of the DNA of long-dead woolly mammoths? Do you remember Jurassic Park? Please share in the comments.


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References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammoth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolly_mammoth

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