Remote cameras spy on wildife in the Great Bear Rainforest

I got such a kick out of seeing wildlife through remote cameras, and these videos from coastal British Columbia are great. They were taken in the "Great Bear Rainforest" (aka BC's Central and North Coast), a huge stretch of temperate rainforest on Canada's west coast running from northern Vancouver Island to southeast Alaska. Wildlife are plentiful and people have lived there for millennia, but the region really sprang onto the world stage in the last decade or so. It's an amazing place - and it's where I hope to do postdoctoral research!

Remote cameras let scientists study wildlife from afar. Using these and other non-invasive methods of research, we can minimize the impact of research on animal behaviour. But Remote cameras aren't entirely without impact - they can inadvertently affect animals - so we need to be careful how, when, and where they are used.

Grizzly rubbing and scratching on a tree

Wolves fishing for salmon

Using a remote camera set up on a river in the Great Bear Rainforest, an environmental group has captured rare video footage of wolves fishing for salmon on British Columbia’s rugged Central Coast. Conservation group Pacific Wild is monitoring animal behaviour on the central coast and other remote parts of BC, including the Great Bear Rainforest. 

Above text from Globe & Mail article

Together with the Wuikinuxv First Nation, scientists from the University of Victoria's Applied Conservation Science Lab are monitoring grizzly bears.  

Hair is collected by wrapping barbed wire low around trees, with liquid bait poured nearby. Bears step over the wire to check out the smell and some hair is snagged on the wire. Scientists study DNA and "stable isotopes" in the hair. DNA helps them learn about the relatedness and size of the bear population, whilestable istopes reveal what the bears have been eating (even months before!). 

See more videos or read about their research.

A rare glimpse of a cougar

The silent ghost of the rainforest is finally captured on a remote video camera. Though cougars are relatively common here, they are extremely difficult to see due to their nocturnal habits and elusive behaviour. We have recorded several individuals using remote cameras. We have seen their tracks right behind the lodge during winter. This video is black & white due to the low light during this dusk encounter with this female.

Above text from Great Bear Tours (click to see other videos, including otters playing in the snow and bears rubbing on trees and wallowing in mud!)

Support remote cameras!

If you liked those videos, consider supporting the Great Bear Rainforest Remote Camera project. Pacific Wild needs to raise $36,000 to install more cameras (including a night-vision camera that would show what animals fish for salmon at night, like cougars and wolverines!). 

I enjoyed these videos so much, and I think the project gathers important data about the area - so I donated $40 to keep the project running.

Standup4Greatbear documentary

This last video isn't about remote cameras - it's about Norm Hann's stand-up paddleboard trip through the Great Bear Rainforest, following the route of the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines project. His goal was to highlight First Nations culture and traditional food harvest and the threat that an oil spill would have on local people, wildlife, and the environment. (Go to 32:00 to see my friend Chris Williamson's project making cedar stand-up paddleboards with students at the Bella Bella Community School - also covered by National Geographic!)