Ice Bears

When the temperatures plunge in Canada’s Yukon so do the grizzlies – into the Fishing Branch River to catch salmon.

- Isabelle Groc

Stanley has a unique hunting strategy. He walks into the river and simply dives down to retrieve a spawning salmon at the bottom. Over the years, this 16-year-old grizzly has become one of Phil Timpany’s favourite bears to watch. “When he was eight, he started moving his mouth around, showing his teeth and making noises,” says Phil, a bear-viewing guide with Bear Cave Mountain Eco-Adventures. “It just looks like he is talking to himself… it’s quite comical.”

Stanley is one of many grizzly bears that visit the Fishing Branch River at Bear Cave Mountain each year. This remote wilderness area is located in the mountainous Ni’iinlii Njik Territorial Park, in northern Yukon, the Canadian territory that borders Alaska.

Between September and November the bears come here to feast on a chum salmon run. It helps them build their fat reserves for winter. At this time of the year, their presence is an unusual sight so far north. Elsewhere in Yukon, plummeting temperatures freeze rivers and slow down wildlife, and grizzlies are getting ready to hibernate. But at Bear Cave Mountain, the Fishing Branch River is still flowing freely and teeming with life, and the grizzlies are galloping into the water, chasing fish.

The chum salmon are drawn from the Bering Sea and undertake a journey over 2,000km long to spawn and die in this area. The limestone karst topography provides warm groundwater that percolates from the gravel bed and allows the river to stay ice-free year-round. The groundwater keeps the gravel beds well-oxygenated, creating the perfect conditions for salmon to spawn and for the eggs to survive.

WILDLIFE HOT SPOT

Three salmon species come here to spawn. Chinook salmon are first, in the summer, then come the chum salmon, and finally the coho, which spawn as late as December.