Journey into Canada's Great Bear Rainforest with Ian McAllister

I am so excited about Ian McAllister's upcoming presentations in Seattle at REI on the Great Bear Rainforest. He will be at the Redmond REI on 1/27 and at the Seattle REI on 1/29. The Great Bear Rainforest is the only coastal rainforest where the wildlife, environment, and aboriginal cultures exist as they did many, many, many years ago. In California, there are still remnants of the coastal rainforest but the grizzly, that is on the California flag, no longer exists in that region. The salmon runs down there is close to seeing a similar fate. But, up along the coast of British Columbia, the rainforest continues as-is, relatively speaking of course, but we all know that it's a precarious balance. So far, the bears still exist, the wolves continue to roam, the marine life thrives, and the salmon returns. Ian McAllister, an award-winning author and amazing photographer, is one of the most vocal people for protecting the rainforest along the coast of British Columbia. He heads a non-profit organization called Pacific Wild whose main goal is protecting the Great Bear Rainforest. They work closely with all communities, businesses, and individuals in the area to ensure biodiversity protection is the forefront of decisions and actions. I hope you get to attend this lecture because you will be blown away by the pictures he has taken. There is also a DVD produced by National Geographic on the Great Bear Rainforest that includes a lot of footage with Ian. Look for it at your local library!

One of the best ways to experience this region is by sea kayak. Tantalus Adventures is one of a handful of outfitters that can guide you on this special journey. Here is a link to one of my previous post about the Great Bear Rainforest that contains some pictures that I took up on my trip to the area. The article also features Norm Hann, the owner and lead guide for Tantalus Adventures. We guarantee that this trip will be special and one like no other. In fact, the picture that I use at the heading for my blog is from one of the beaches we camped at overnight (Home Bay on Princess Royal Island). Breathtakingly beautiful. You may contact Norm at norm@tantalus-adventures.com or myself at jocelyn@adventurecontact.com for more information. We hope you can join us.

In the meantime, enjoy this 10-minute video from Pacific Wild showing a lone wolf eating salmon in the Great Bear Rainforest.

(Video source: YouTube, Pacific Wild)