Dear Friends of the Spirit Bear,

There are two major preventable threats to the spirit bear: an urgent need for a meaningful sanctuary in their last intact ecosystem and the long term concern of oil spills from tanker traffic in the waters within this wilderness.

Today, we need your help on both fronts to save the spirit bear.

1. URGENT REQUEST: Sign the petition to create sanctuary for the spirit bear and be part of a unique book being delivered to BC Premier Clark.

2. URGENT REQUEST: Register by October 6th to have your voice heard by the Canadian government review panel that will decide if tanker traffic will be allowed in spirit bear waters. You don’t have to attend the panel in person and you don’t have to live in Canada, but this will be the best forum to be heard on this issue.

SANCTUARY FOR THE SPIRIT BEAR

The fall coastal bear trophy hunt has begun. With its start, the future of the spirit bear is in jeopardy.

While it is illegal to hunt the white Kermode bear, within 98% of its range – including protected areas – it is legal to hunt the black Kermode bear that carries and produces the unique white gene. A loss of either bear is devastating to the genetic diversity of this subspecies.

Moreover, the excessive trophy hunting of grizzly bears is forcing these bruins into Kermode habitat and creating new predators for the white bear.

Our goal is to create a sanctuary for the spirit bear by conserving the final, unprotected third of its last intact habitat (the Green-Sheep Passage/Tolmie Operating Area) and ensuring this entire wilderness is a true sanctuary, free from trophy hunting.

The Spirit Bear Youth Coalition is asking everyone who cares about the future of this remarkable creature to please take a moment to write British Columbia Premier Christy Clark and, if you live in BC, your MLA in order to voice your support for the creation of a sanctuary for the Kermode.

We believe that this issue is a family values issue and a priority for BC families and, indeed, families globally: Our decision makers need to know that you agree.

For more information: The Case to Stop the Coastal Bear Trophy Hunt

THREAT OF OIL SPILLS IN SPIRIT BEAR WATERS

The long term threat to both the spirit bear and the Great Bear Rainforest as a whole is a proposed new oil pipeline that would send oil tanker traffic through the dangerous and ecologically sensitive waters of the spirit bear’s last intact ecosystem.

To be clear: the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition is not against the proposed Enbridge pipeline – we are in favor of shifting the pipeline route so oil tanker traffic does not travel through spirit bear waters.

If the Exxon Valdez tanker-caused oil spill in Alaska or the BP oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico taught us anything, it’s that unthinkable accidents happen and, when they do, the consequences can be both devastating and beyond repair.

Two major shipping accidents have happened in recent years in the narrow passages surrounding the spirit bear’s habitat – the same exact waters Enbridge oil tankers will travel.

Given the spirit bear’s dependence on its marine ecosystem – salmon, the region’s lifeblood, especially – any oil spill will almost certainly wipe out the genetically unique subspecies.

As global citizens, we all have a stake in the future of this globally critical wilderness. Your voice must be heard in this debate and we need everyone to work with Canada to find a reasonable balance that creates jobs, increases the nation’s economic potential, and protects a bear far to important to the world to lose.

Help the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition articulate our balanced position. Pipeline and oil exports: YES. Pipeline and oil exports within the land of the spirit bear: NO.

For more information: The Case for an Alternative Pipeline Route to Protect the Spirit Bear

FIVE WAYS TO SAVE THE SPIRIT BEAR:

1) Email, write and/or phone BC Premier Christy Clark and your elected representative
2) Sign the petition to stop this hunt
3) Register to be heard during the Canadian government’s review panel on oil tankers in spirit bear waters
4) Adopt-a-Spirit Bear and keep up-to-date on our campaign to create a sanctuary for the spirit bear
5) Consider a one-time donation to the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition to aid our volunteer-run campaign

FIVE WAYS TO STAY UP-TO-DATE:

1) Follow us on Twitter @SpiritBearYouth
2) Join our Facebook group
3) Visit www.spiritbearyouth.org and www.adoptaspiritbear.org
4) Become a member
5) Sign-up for our new education program

FOR MORE UPDATES:

Visit our news section to see recent media coverage from the likes of the Globe and Mail; look at new images captured by National Geographic for their recent cover story on the spirit bear; learn about our public outreach efforts in places such as Alaska; find out how you can participate in upcoming events hosted by our partners including the Jane Goodall Institute; and help us celebrate our successes that you’ve made possible – most recently Explore Magazine’s Top 30 Under 30 and Top Green Leader distinctions.

And be sure to watch the Global TV Spirit Bear Series featured recently on the Newshour!

Thank you for your continued support of our efforts to save the spirit bear. I truly believe that, together, we can and will save our spirit bear for generations to come.

Sincerely,

Simon Jackson
Founder and Chairman, Spirit Bear Youth Coalition

Read the Globe and Mail’s profile on Spirit Bear Youth Coalition founder Simon Jackson and his thoughts on the future of the spirit bear.

The Spirit Bear Youth Coalition is bringing back the popular Adopt-a-Spirit Bear campaign for the 2011-2012 season.

You, your school or your business can help create a sanctuary for the critically endangered spirit bear by symbolically adopting one of the only 400 remaining white Kermode bears in the world.

DETAILS:

The Spirit Bear Youth Coalition is offering the opportunity to take a leadership role in this issue by adopt a spirit bear for one year with a $500 donation or for five years with a $2000 donation, helping strengthen the voice of not only one spirit bear, but all Kermode bears.

All funds raised go toward the Youth Coalition’s campaign to create a sanctuary for this bear in its last intact habitat. Specifically, funds aid our public outreach efforts, enable us to engage new community partners, help us meet with relevant stakeholders and communicate our message with decision makers. We provide a breakdown of our expenditures each year in our Annual Report and, of course, we will keep you posted on the progress we make thanks to your support.

BENEFITS:

- name “your” bear
- receive a downloadable spirit bear adoption kit that provides detailed information on the bear and the work you are supporting
- be celebrated on the front page of the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition web site
- receive a limited edition photograph of the spirit bear
- participate in exclusive online group discussions with Youth Coalition founder Simon Jackson
- receive a personal video message from Youth Coalition founder Simon Jackson
- be one of only 400 to be part of this program

CONTEST INCENTIVE:

Moreover, by adopting a spirit bear you will be automatically entered into a contest to have Time Magazine Hero for the Planet and acclaimed motivational speaker Simon Jackson visit your school for an interactive discussion on the future of this unique creature and the difference youth can make in creating a better world.

PLEDGE YOUR ADOPTION TODAY:

Please help us create a sanctuary for the spirit bear. Adopt a spirit bear: email your adoption confirmation today.

For more information: www.adoptaspiritbear.org

* The Spirit Bear Youth Coalition is a volunteer run, registered not-for-profit organization. However, given that the Youth Coalition spends more than 10% of its time lobbying and advocating for policy change in order to protect the spirit bear’s last intact habitat, it is not eligible to become a registered charity. As a result, donations are not tax deductible, but receipts that acknowledge the donation are provided upon request. If a tax receipt is required, donations can be made through our US charitable partner, the Helade Foundation.

Despite many successes, the spirit bear remains in peril and in desperate need of both public support for its conservation and political leadership to ensure its future.

A genetically unique subspecies of the black bear, the Kermode bear is only found in one small corner of the world, one small corner of Canada’s west coast, where one out of every ten Kermode bears are born white. Fewer than 400 white bears remain.

STILL THREATENED

In an effort to help protect their vanishing habitat, recent government land-use plans have attempted to address the spirit bear’s conservation. While great strides have been made, just over 10% of the land protected from development on British Columbia’s coast is home to the spirit bear and of the critical 250,000 hectares that compose this bear’s last intact habitat, only two-thirds is off-limits to logging. The critical, unprotected final third of this ecosystem must be saved if the Kermode subspecies is to survive.

And habitat loss isn’t the only threat to the future of the spirit bear. While it is illegal to kill the white Kermode bear, it is not illegal to kill the black Kermode bear, even in most protected areas – a bizarre policy given it is the black Kermode that produces the white gene.

WHAT WE STAND TO LOSE

The combined threat of habitat loss and trophy hunting is of particular concern to the future of the subspecies given the sensitive nature of the gene pool. without the protection of a large enough ecosystem and a sufficient surrounding buffer zone, there is the real risk of altering the process that creates these bears and, eventually, causing the unique gene’s extinction.

If the spirit bear disappears, more than likely, the overall health of the ecosystem will be greatly diminished as well.

Due to the bear’s fur colour, it is better camouflaged when fishing for salmon than other bears on the coast and the more salmon they catch, the more salmon carcasses that are left to rot on the forest floor. And it is the rotting salmon carcasses that provide the nutrients for the region’s trees to grow to the size they are: shading the streams for the salmon to spawn, acting as dens for all bears in the winter months, and regulating the health of the global climate as the planet’s lungs.

In fact, the spirit bear, in this one small corner of the world, helps sustain a remarkable diversity of life within the world’s last large area of intact temperate rainforest – a critical carbon sink for life the world over.

SAVING THE SPIRIT BEAR

Though the BC and Canadian governments appear to have lost interest in the issue and have little appetite to provide additional leadership to save the spirit bear, the same cannot be said of the general public in BC, across Canada and around the world.

The public – especially young people – continue to demand for the conservation of this creature, a bear as unique to Canada as the Panda bear is to China. And with “The Spirit Bear” – a major Hollywood CGI animated movie – currently in production and slated for global released, there is more hope and greater opportunity today than ever before to save the Kermode.

If “The Spirit Bear” can help not only raise global awareness and support for saving the bear, but also generate the kind of money required to diversify and expand the coastal economy, there is no question more jobs can be created by saving the spirit bear than by developing its home. After all, the BC coast doesn’t suffer from a lack of job opportunities, but from a lack of investment, human resource training, and infrastructure.

However, in order for the movie to be the economic generator the BC coast so desperately needs, government leadership is required to bring all of the issue’s stakeholders together to help each understand what is truly at stake and what is truly needed to move forward together. Without this leadership, protecting the spirit bear, sustaining one of the most important carbon sinks in the world, and creating economic opportunity for generations to come will be lost.

OUR OPPORTUNITY

Today, the world must come together as one voice and ask decision makers to save the spirit bear by protecting the final third of its critical wilderness – the Green-Sheep Passage/Tolmie watersheds – and ensure that all bears, black and white, are protected from trophy hunting. In doing so, the world can illustrate to elected leaders the magnitude of the opportunity that exists not only for the spirit bear, but for creating a model of environmental sustainability and underscoring the politics of possibility.

By helping save the spirit bear, people from all walks of life can work with decision makers to help ensure that these bears are truly wild and free for generations to come.

PLEASE:

1) Sign the petition to stop the coastal bear trophy hunt

2) SMS text “NOTROPHYHUNT” to 21-21-21

3) Email, fax, write and/or phone BC Premier Christy Clark and your elected representative

4) Make a donation to the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition to aid our volunteer-run campaign

5) Join the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition’s new Adopt-a-Spirit Bear program

6) Forward this message to your friends and family and help us spread the word with an urgent call for action!

Thank you for your time, consideration, and support of our efforts to save the spirit bear. Together, we’ve come a long way and, together, we will save our spirit bear.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: The Case to Stop THIS Hunt

Explore Magazine has announced their Top 30 Under 30 – a list that includes Spirit Bear Youth Coalition founder Simon Jackson.

The magazine also includes a list of top leaders in various fields. Simon Jackson has been selected as the Top Green Leader by Explore.

While the honour is tremendous, Simon believes the magazine is really recognizing the youth movement that has been created on behalf of the spirit bear and accepts the kind words on behalf of everyone who has stood up for the spirit bear.

Moreover, the fact the Explore singles out the work of Simon and the Youth Coalition, underscores the importance of saving the spirit bear.

For more information, visit Explore Magazine.

International publication National Geographic features the spirit bear and its home – “the wildest place in America” – as this month’s cover story.

While the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition declined the opportunity to be featured in the magazine – preferring instead that the articles focus on the region’s First Nations – the article stunningly underscores the importance of the spirit bear to not only Canada, but the world.

Take a moment to visit the fragile land of the spirit bear through the eyes of National Geographic and be reminded of the remarkable opportunity we have to safeguard this international treasure for generations to come.

- National Geographic Spirit Bear Article

- National Geographic Spirit Bear Photo Gallery