Lexington, KY -
"You're dealing with the most aggressive mammal on earth." Got your attention? Those were the words of Nicholasville nature photographer Andrew Fore after returning to Kentucky from a recent encounter with the polar bear on its rapidly changing home turf in the remote Canadian wilderness.
In May of this year, the Bush administration placed the polar bear on the Endangered Species Act (ESA). But in making the announcement, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne emphasized that the act of listing the bear does little more than raise a warning. "I want to make clear that this listing will not stop global climate change or prevent any sea ice from melting. Any real solution requires action by all major economies for it to be effective," he said.
In late November, Fore (Adcolor, Inc. and Andrew Fore Photography) and his father-in-law, Tom Myers (All-Rite Pest Control and Tom Myers Photography) took some time off to spend nine days on the frozen Canadian tundra documenting the consequences of climate change to these magnificent creatures. They returned determined to use their photographic talents to spread the message that, in Fore's words, "something is happening."
"The polar bear population is declining each year," he noted. "A few years ago we realized we needed to get on the list if we're going to get up there and document them," said Fore, referring to a long waiting list for an expedition that accommodates no more than 40 people each year. "The polar bear is such a fascinating animal and there's really only one place in the world where you can actually get close to them, photograph them and actually live out in their environment and that's Churchill in Manitoba, Canada,"
After arriving in Churchill, a town of 800 along the northwest shore of the Hudson bay that is accessible only by air, rail and water, the pair joined a 12-hour slog through a blinding blizzard to move a convoy of lumbering lodging, dining and supply "Tundra Buggies" (think "bus on steroids") out onto the permafrost of Wapusk National Park. The huge "Buggies," heated and outfitted with food and provisions, ride on thick 5-foot diameter tires with observation windows 14 feet above the frozen permafrost. The expedition operator, Frontiers North Adventures, is the only organization that has an agreement with Parks Canada to bring vehicles into the park.
Fore and Myers found themselves among scientists who had come to study the decline of a species. "One thing that all of them said was regardless if it's climate change, if it's global warming from CO2 gases, if it's a shift in the earth's core that's causing it, something's happening."
What's happening, explained Fore, is a steady decline in the seasonal formation of the thick ice the bears depend on to reach their seal prey. Last year, according to federal scientists, arctic sea ice fell to the lowest level ever recorded by satellite, 39% lower than the long-term average from 1979 to 2000. Although polar bears are well adapted to water, capable of swimming many miles to solid land, the distance is getting ever greater as the Arctic ice diminishes. "This animal is endangered now. You could see that these bears were stressed," he said.
And you could see this almost immediately, Fore recalled, because as soon as the convoy arrived and set up camp, the huge - - and hungry - - creatures appeared outside, their keen sense of smell able to detect prey a mile away. "They'd come over to the buggy and they'd look you right in the eye. They'd smell you. The really, really curious ones would actually get up on their hind legs and try to climb up the side or the back of the buggy to get just as close as they could."
Viewed from the safety of a Tundra Buggy the bears seemed to have an endearing quality - - playful, curious - - Fore said. Cute, perhaps. But cuddly they are not. "They're so strong. Up in Cape Churchill you're on permafrost. That ground is extremely hard. You've got sub-zero temperatures with wind, snow and ice and it's just absolutely frozen to where you couldn't dig it with a shovel. And you see these massive males just sitting there flipping the ground out and the next thing you know they have a hole dug that they can fit into. And you're thinking, 'they didn't even put forth any effort and they just cleared out frozen ground!' It's exciting. It's scary. You find yourself awestruck."
After more than a week of snapping photos by day and attending lectures and presentations by night, Fore said he came away from the experience with a sense of mission. "Instead of just saying, yeah I've got these really cool polar bear pictures, it made me think about what I wanted to do with them once we got back. I want to raise some awareness. We need to do more than just document it."
So now Fore and Myers are making themselves available to Lexington-area business groups, civic and church organizations and schools to "show-and-tell" the cautionary story of a vanishing species, and raise awareness about the simple things that can make an important difference. "Whether it's turning off computers at night, turning off lights at night, walking a little bit more instead of driving everywhere or maybe buying recycled goods - - those are things that the business community can do."
In many ways, the polar bear poses a unique conservation challenge, said Interior Secy. Dirk Kempthorne in announcing the "endangered" listing back in May. "With most threatened and endangered species, we can identify a localized threat that we can seek to address. The threat to the polar bear, however, comes from global influences and their effect on sea ice."
"This isn't a problem just for the polar bear," warned Fore. "They're the poster child for whatever this issue is. If it's effecting something that's that large of a mammal, obviously mankind isn't so far removed from the crosshairs."
Organizations interested in arranging a presentation can get in touch by contacting Andrew Fore at andrew@andrewfore.com or 859-806-3873, or Tom Myers at tvmyers@juno.com).
Information about Frontiers North Adventures is available online at www.frontiersnorth.com.