I though that you have
seen plenty of photos of Chico and I, so here are some of the flowers
of summer at Kambalnoe Lake.
Kamchatka
rhododendron
Iris
Bear plant
During June and July, before this plant blooms, it is one of the most
important umber in Kamchatka for bear food.
Kamchatka Lily
(Click on any Image to see a higher resolution version)
This is a slightly revised letter I sent to my friend Linda Lopez in New York who works with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
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Of the experiences over the five years we have spent here in our wind swept cabin, I just had the most incredible day of all yesterday. I found Chico in a unfavorable place down the river where she was getting a few salmon but not near the numbers that could be available to her in another creek. This was no big deal because she was likely to soon realize her mistake but I saw it as a chance to push forward our understanding of each other and if you look at our goals on the home page and the 2000 Goals you can see this is what I wanted to spend time doing. If you read the last entry, it was us who showed them the fish in the river.
August is the beginning of a very critical time for all bears to put on weight and Biscuit was getting fat while Chico's feet were getting sore from futilely chasing fish over boulders. I spotted her with the Kolb, landed back at the cabin and then hiked down the river to her and suggested that she follow me to a place she would like much better. After two false starts, she figured out that I was really serious and decided to come. In the process of going to the other creek, we left the river and covered about one and a half miles.
At one place, I had to crawl through some twisted and bent over alder bush on my hands and knees while following a heavily used bear trail and Chico was following with her oversized canines only a foot from my butt. Needless to say I was a bit nervous and thought, this was carrying our trust too far. I rolled to the side and asked her to lead, which she did but rushed through to the clearing ahead and sat waiting for me to extricate myself from the tangle, then we continued across the tundra.
Several times she tried to guess what it was I going to show her and rushed off ahead towards the lake shore or another creek and I had to get her back on track by calling her name in a special way that we have worked out for these purposes. Finally we came to the stream which was full of pink salmon and she could see them but the water was deep there so I called once more and we continued upstream to where a riffle was loaded with spawning fish. She looked at me with her ears up and a wonderful expression of something I could well imagine was appreciation and then jumped in and easily filled up. I saw her eat six salmon in a few minutes before I left.
There was more that happened that day but this gives you an idea of the relationship I have developed with Chico. What I like about what is going on here is the kinship we have been able to sustain over the years. Chico and Biscuit are healthy examples of animals who most experts repeatedly warn will turn against us unpredictably. Many people who talk like this are managing bears for people to shoot for souvenirs. I wish those managers and hunters could experience just one day with our bears, with us there to calm the humans and show them that the ferocious beast that they have been so conditioned to think of as horrible is really an animal with deep feeling and capable of incredible tenderness. They might also see how fear has blocked them from understanding. Yes, I am aware that what I just wrote is a severe case of wishful thinking, however, I have to work with the belief that people are capable of evolving eventually enough to begin to see this animal for what it really is, not what we keep getting told they are. It has already happened with whales, elephants and gorillas only to mention a few examples.
My hike with Chico was not very important in terms of her survival because she usually figures out things far quicker than me and my help is very minimal, but I am learning more about what builds respect and what erodes it. Of course my hope is to work out how it might apply in a broader way to people in general towards the simple yet very complicated goal that would allow bears to share space with us more equitably. A better understanding of a bear's nature will be helpful, for instance, in allowing a few grizzlies to once again live in the state of Idaho. Although, these hypothetical bears of Idaho will hopefully never be fed and they will also need to be afraid of people, our research will help understand how to manage towards these goals without causing conflict. For now, we are rigorously trying to keep this place off limits to those who would not understand grizzlies who have developed a love of people. Unfortunately, we also have to try to keep the area free of even those, who if they did understand, would not know how to respond unless we were there to warn them as to what was about to happen. At this time, that excludes all but perhaps three people in the world.
When this study is over there will probably be hundreds of questions left unanswered but most of those will be concerning whether or not people are capable of conducting themselves in ways that demonstrates respect the grizzly bear is due. We are doing our best to put to rest most of the notions that bears do bad things to people simply because it is in their nature.
-Charlie