Bella Coola, on British Columbia’s central coast, is famed for its wildlife and outdoor scenery. During salmon season, hundreds of thousands of fish return to the rivers to spawn, attracting grizzlies and the visitors hoping to see them. But a trip through the area found the bears unusually difficult to spot.
The journey from Williams Lake takes about seven hours along Highway 20, including a steep, winding stretch near Heckman Pass. Bella Coola lies roughly 1,000 kilometres north of Vancouver, and its main settlement has about 160 residents. The town is busiest in summer, when visitors head out onto the surrounding waterways.
At a designated bear lookout, visitors waited on a raised, fenced platform but saw no bears. The next morning, lodge owner Shannon described a bear and two cubs rummaging through secured garbage bins overnight. She said bears are usually near the rivers at this time of year, although dominant males may be in the area. Such males avoid mothers with cubs, she said.
Berries may also help explain why bears were not at the river. Wild berries grow throughout the area, and trees were heavy with fruit. The end-of-summer harvest CAN draw bears into settlements, and a pile of droppings outside the lodge contained evidence of a berry-rich diet.
On a boat trip into the fjord, guide Dan Ellis said bears sometimes appear along the shore, but the outing produced sightings of bald eagles instead. A later float down the river with guide Fraser also yielded no grizzlies. Fraser, who has worked on the river for 40 years, said it was unusual not to see bears there during salmon season. He estimated that 150 to 175 grizzlies live in the Bella Coola corridor and said dominant males might be keeping mothers and their cubs away.
About one million salmon make their way into the rivers to spawn, Fraser said. The fish include five Pacific salmon species: chum, pink, sockeye, coho and chinook. Many are badly worn by the time they reach the upper river, where spawning is their final task.
The search for bears also offered a glimpse of the landscape that supports them: waterfalls, hot springs, towering trees and riverbeds strewn with rounded stones. The Nuxalk people, whose land the visitors were travelling through, have lived in the fjord region for thousands of years. The grizzly is a symbol of justice for the Nuxalk, the account notes.
By the time a message arrived saying the mother bear had returned to the village, she had disappeared into the brush. Visitors leaving Bella Coola were reminded not to pack bear spray in their hand luggage. They flew back to Vancouver without seeing a wild grizzly, while the salmon season continued along the rivers.
Sources: FAZ.