in the depths of the Frozen Yukon a
secluded stretch of river still flows
through early
winter as bubbling groundwater stops ice
forming it’s the perfect spot for late
spawning
salmon this rich food source helps
support both Frosty coated Ice Bears and
local
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people we know these bears as Ice Bears
because the moisture from all the Open
Water creates icicles on their fur and a
lot of people talk about the
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tinkling chum salmon come back into this
River year after year because of the
quality of the groundwater for spawning
and it is by far the most productive
salmon spawning area I have ever
seen But in recent years there are fewer
salmon arriving in the river the
situation where faced with this year
is very
dire we have a collapse of all salmon
stocks so now you know with the salmon
being impacted we’re seeing less Bears
return to the
region 28 years ago I counted 53
individual
bears and this year we have seen four
different
Grizzlies
it’s warming Trends in the ocean it’s
over harvesting on the river system it’s
over harvesting through the trollers
it’s by catch is a big problem so it’s
compound it’s not one specific reason
why we see the
decline the impact of less salmon in
this ecology here will impact the
knowledge passed down from mother
grizzly bears to their offspring
traditionally they end up using that
same territory so I think with lower and
lower salmon production we’re likely to
see much much less uh bear activity here
the vuk witch in First Nation who have
coexisted with the river and its Ice
Bears for Millennia are also feeling the
change as the salmon disappear
threatening their food security we don’t
want the story to be one day this used
to be full of fish and this is what it
tasted like and this is what it was like
to go
fishing without salmon I would suspect
that we would lose a part of our
culture this year was the first year our
leadership put a closure on salmon
fishing we’ve been using salmon from
other rivers flying it into our
community so that we’re not putting more
harvesting pressure on our stem of the
river and that’s not sustainable that’s
not in line with the way we live our
lives we can’t just think for today or
for for tomorrow we have to think about
what does the future hold for us how do
we manage that
effectively grin have so much respect
for the resources that we rely on it’s
embedded in our spirituality it’s a
relationship and when you don’t have
relationships it’s quiet it’s kind of
empty and
void the feeling of grief caused by
environment Al change in one’s own
landscape is known as
solastalgia my two oldest sons have both
worked at this site when there were
reasonable numbers of fish and
bears and I was so pleased that they
could come here and witness this event
with
me this year my youngest son is here for
the first
time and he has to see
this that’s heartbreaking to me
we’re seeing the weather warming faster
than anywhere else in the
world really Humanity hasn’t learned to
live on this planet
sustainably and I think this is is proof
of that what are we willing to do to
keep the biodiversity of each of our
special regions throughout the world the
glitchen alone can’t be faced with that
question this is a world question the
community
needs to somehow find a balance between
continuing doing what they’re doing on
the land with pushing higher and higher
up in in the political ranks for Action
to happen and that’s a big
job along with local leadership
Fisheries organizations are working on
protecting wild salmon stocks but the
future of the gwitchin the Bears and
this ecosystem will depend on the voices
of the Next Generation we all have have
a fundamental obligation to protect the
environment if the kids are connected to
the land and they know how to provide
for themselves they will be the best
voice and continue that
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stewardship
