Fish out of Water
As I crouched down to photograph a pure white banana slug, I was taken aback by how incredible it was to find this small, slow moving, salt-intolerant creature on an outer coastal island.
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Raincoast Outfitters Ltd.
The old saying, “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” has taken on a new meaning here at Raincoast. In an unprecedented move, Raincoast, with the support of coastal First Nations, has successfully purchased one of the largest exclusive commercial trophy hunting tenures in the province. The license area covers over 20,000 square kilometres of…
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Notes from the Office
Inspiration comes in many different forms. With Raincoast, I have found it among schools of migrating salmon and with grizzlies wrestling in the estuaries, and this month I found it in our Victoria office. Raincoast dreams big, and this year we needed the resources to significantly expand our protection efforts with new research, marine resources…
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So long, and thanks for all the fish
“Canada is a great country much too cold for good sense, inhabited by compassionate, intelligent people with bad hairdos.” Yann Martel, Life of Pi Enter: The Aussie marine mammal scientist One train, two busses, three taxis, and five flights later I arrive in Port Hardy, BC, to meet our expedition vessel, Gwaii Haanas. This is…
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Grizzly Politics in British Columbia
Raincoast has attained a copy of a soon-to-be published opinion piece that calls for the grizzly bear to be de-listed from the US Endangered Species Act. The opinion piece is scheduled to appear in the next issue of the International Bear Association’s official publication, urging the association’s membership to support the Bush administration’s proposed grizzly…
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What Comes Around, Goes Around
As I set out, at first all I hear are the drips from my paddle as I enter a secluded lagoon. After several hundred strokes,however, their howls begin to echo along the rolling hills on either side of me. I’m searching for signs of the elusive coastal wolf near an estuary sheltered from the powerful…
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You Are What You Eat
Our grizzly bear field crew canoed leisurely down the winding Koeye River, in search of not only the elusive bear itself, but all the evidence it had left behind. Our paddling became soft and rhythmic, yet our eyes scanned each shadow beneath every cedar, and our ears were tuned to any wrestling of leaves or…
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The Longest Journey
“You only get one propeller,” someone shouts half-jokingly as we head off from his dock towards Roscoe Inlet. We are all excited to finally be starting Raincoast’s juvenile salmon migration project. As we cruise the boat near the shore in search of salmon fry that have recently left their spawning streams for the open ocean,…
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Hope Springs Eternal
Hope springs eternal – at least that’s how it feels right now on BC’s c Central coast. The juncos, warblers and sandhill cranes have returned from their wintering grounds in the south. Hummingbirds are everywhere, searching out the sweet salmonberry blossoms. And grizzly bears have been awake and active for almost a month, gorging themselves…
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Down to the Wire
by Faisal Moola Large Carnivore Projects Coordinator Victoria, BC, March 2005 It’s election time in British Columbia this spring (May 17) and campaigning by the various political parties has already begun in earnest. In addition to the persistent concerns of the electorate on health care and education, the environment could also be a factor in…
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Notes from the Shipyard
The alarm goes off at 6am. It’s still dark and I can hear the rain on Hemisphere Dancer’s aluminum coach house. Stephen and I don our raingear and quietly slip outside without waking Brian. As we walk the footpath along the Fraser River, Vancouver is already humming with the sounds of traffic. We spot a…
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New National Geographic Special “Last Stand of the Great Bear”
Premieres Wednesday, Nov. 3, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on PBS (check local listings for details)Canadian premiere to be announced in early spring 2005 Along the coast of British Columbia lies an enchanted wilderness, where bear-hunting wolves take to the sea, grizzlies clash in titanic battles and wild salmon are the pulsing lifeblood of an entire…
