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The Tsimshian Legend of the Moksgm’ol (Spirit Bear) as told by the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition 2009

Long ago, when the earth was covered in ice, Raven - the creator - decided to change the earth to a beautiful green land. But as a reminder of when the world was pure and clean, covered with snow and ice, Raven went among the black bear people and turned every tenth bear white.

Raven promised that these unique bears would have unique powers: they would lead special people to special places and have the ability to dive deep in the ocean in search of fish.

Raven then set aside a rainforest home for the bears where he decreed that they would live forever in peace and harmony.

A history of the Spirit Bear and the need for habitat preservation, as summarized from The SBYC (2009):

For over a century, Moksgm'ol was known only to the Tsimshian and First Nations people of British Columbia's north coast. After British Columbia joined confederation, settlers that began to arrive in the territory of Moksgm’ol started to whisper of a “Spirit Bear” haunting the forest. Most thought the Spirit Bear was a myth or a misplaced polar bear despite the odd white pelt that occasionally showed up at trading posts. W.T. Hornaday, a naturalist, decided to investigate these “whispers” of the spirit of the rainforest.

After several years searching for the elusive white bear Hornaday brought in Francis Kermode, Director of the BC Museum of Natural History. Kermode traversed the woods and searched trading posts, while Hornaday coordinated searches from New York. In 1905 Hornaday had collected enough pelt samples to declare a new species. He named it the Kermode bear, in honour of Francis Kermode, who had managed to live capture one of the white cubs. In 1924, studies by other scientists revealed that the Kermode bear was actually a subspecies of the North American black bear Ursus americanus, which, occurs in just one small corner of the world.

The BC government banned hunting white bears, but afforded them no protected habitat and offered no protection to their black bear relatives. As time passed it became apparent that the once untouched forests of the north coast were quickly disappearing and habitat for the Spirit Bear was becoming scarce. With over 100 years of development into its habitat the numbers are declining in areas where the Spirit bear once flourished.

The bear’s last fully intact habitat is an area known as the “land of the Spirit Bear” or the “Great Bear Rainforest”. It is composed of Princess Royal Island, Pooley Island, and the adjacent mainland watersheds.  Princess Royal Island and the adjacent mainland are separated by a very narrow waterway, the Graham Reach, which allows for the bear population to have the perfect mix of genetic viability. It is home to approximately one thousand black bears, where one out of every ten, like the legend are white.

At present there are fewer than 400 white Kermode bears remaining in the wild. The BC Government established a foundation for the conservation of the spirit bear through successive land use agreements that protected two-thirds of the white bear’s last 250,000 hectare intact habitat. However, saving the Spirit bear requires protecting a large enough ecosystem that will sustain the gene pool of this genetically unique subspecies.  The Kermode bear is not only part of our environmental and cultural heritage but is a global treasure. It is one of the three mascots for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games and is the official mammal of BC.

The Spirit Bear Youth Coalition is the largest youth led environmental initiative in the world. It is an international coalition of more than 6 million people in over 65 countries. It has made its goal to save the Kermode bear and campaigns the Provincial Government to hold their promise to have the best sustainable environmental management. This means protection for the Green Sheep Passage/Tolmie Option Area. For more information about the Kermode Bear or to help out with our cause please visit the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition's website, www.spiritbearyouth.org.