In the rainforest of British Columbia's central coast, a white bear walks through the green. It's not a polar bear - it's hundreds of miles from polar habitat. It's not an albino - its nose is black, its eyes are dark. It's a Kermode bear, commonly called the spirit bear: a black bear with a recessive gene that turns its fur cream-white. One in ten black bears in this region carries the color; in some island populations, one in five. The Gitga'at and other coastal First Nations have known these bears for millennia, protecting them by keeping them secret, telling European hunters that no such creature existed. The Great Bear Rainforest - 6.4 million hectares of old-growth forest and wild salmon streams - was protected in 2016 partly because of the spirit bear. The white ghosts of the rainforest saved their home.
The spirit bear is a Kermode bear (*Ursus americanus kermodei*), a subspecies of American black bear found only on the central and north coast of British Columbia. The white color comes from a recessive gene; both parents must carry it for a cub to be white. The bears are otherwise identical to black bears in behavior, diet, and habitat. Research suggests the white color may be advantageous for fishing - salmon don't notice white bears as easily as black ones against the bright sky. The color persists because the rainforest's isolation preserved the gene; in mainland populations with more genetic mixing, white bears are rarer.
The Gitga'at, Kitasoo/Xai'xais, and other coastal First Nations knew about spirit bears for thousands of years. They considered them sacred - living symbols of a time when the world was ice and ravens turned some bears white to remind us of that era. When European explorers and hunters arrived, coastal peoples kept the bears secret, denying their existence, protecting them from trophy hunters. The strategy worked; spirit bears remained largely unknown to outsiders until the mid-20th century. By then, conservation consciousness was growing, and the bears became symbols of wilderness worth protecting rather than trophies to mount.
The Great Bear Rainforest stretches from Princess Royal Island to the Alaska border - 6.4 million hectares of temperate rainforest, one of the largest remaining on Earth. Annual rainfall exceeds 200 inches in some areas; trees grow 1,000 years old; salmon return to spawn in rivers that have never seen a dam. The forest supports grizzly and black bears, wolves, wolverines, and more salmon than anywhere in the world outside Alaska. First Nations have lived here for at least 14,000 years, their cultures intertwined with the salmon, the cedar, and the bears. The 2016 Great Bear Rainforest Agreement protected 85% of the old-growth forest from logging.
Spirit bear tourism has become an important economic driver for remote coastal communities. Gitga'at-owned guiding operations take visitors into bear habitat during salmon season, when bears (white and black) congregate at streams. The tours are expensive, limited, and transformative - watching a white bear fish for salmon in a green-draped stream is an encounter with a world that mostly no longer exists. The Gitga'at use tourism revenue to employ local guides, fund conservation, and demonstrate that living bears are worth more than dead ones. Not everyone sees a spirit bear; they're rare, wild, and indifferent to human schedules. That's part of the point.
The Great Bear Rainforest is accessible primarily by boat or floatplane from Bella Bella, Klemtu, or Hartley Bay - remote communities on the central coast. Spirit bear viewing tours are offered by Indigenous-owned operators; book months in advance for peak season (September-October when salmon are running). Tours are multi-day, expensive, and weather-dependent. Expect rain; this is one of the wettest places on Earth. Budget alternatives are limited - this is genuine wilderness, not roadside nature. The BC Ferries Inside Passage route passes through the region, offering coastal views without landing access. For those committed to seeing spirit bears, the investment is considerable. For those who succeed, the experience is unforgettable.
Located at 53.42°N, 129.25°W in British Columbia's central coast region. From altitude, the Great Bear Rainforest appears as endless green stretching from the ocean to the Coast Mountains - islands, inlets, and fjords creating a maze of land and water. Hartley Bay is a small community visible on a peninsula; other communities are scattered along the coast. The terrain is vertical: mountains rising from sea level, forests covering everything below treeline. Salmon streams are visible as silver threads; bears visible from altitude are rare but possible during spawning season. The Inside Passage shipping route winds through the islands. This is the largest intact temperate rainforest on Earth, visible from altitude as the green expanse that survived.