Nature & Conservation
The Great Bear Rainforest
One of the world's last great wilderness areas — ancient, alive, and irreplaceable.
Stretching along nearly 400 kilometres of British Columbia's central and north coast, the Great Bear Rainforest is one of the largest remaining tracts of temperate rainforest on Earth. Ancient Sitka spruce and western red cedar rise from a forest floor thick with moss and fern, nourished by rivers running silver with salmon.
It is here that the rare Kermode bear — the Spirit Bear — moves through old-growth groves, a white coat among green shadows.
Explore
Stories from the Forest
Wildlife
The Spirit Bear: Ghost of the Old Growth
The Kermode bear — known to the Gitga'at as moskgm'ol — carries a recessive gene that renders its coat snow-white. In the temperate rainforest, it becomes almost mythological.
Conservation
How the Great Bear Was Saved — For Now
After decades of logging conflicts and First Nations leadership, in 2016 the BC government protected 85% of the Great Bear Rainforest's old-growth forests — a landmark agreement.
Stillness
Forest Bathing in the Great Bear
The Japanese call it shinrin-yoku — forest bathing. It is not hiking, and it is not exercise; it asks only that you enter the forest slowly and pay attention, until the quiet of the old growth becomes the point.
More articles, photography, and field notes from the Great Bear Rainforest are on their way.