Bears in the News - July 8th, 2020 “Court Upholds Protections for Yellowstone Grizzly Bears”
Excerpts from Rachel Frazin's article in The Hill
A federal court on Wednesday upheld a lower court decision reversing a Trump administration policy that eliminated protections for grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park.
A three-judge panel agreed with a prior ruling that the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) acted contrary to the best available science in its determination that grizzly bears near the park would no longer be listed as a threatened species.
Conservationists hailed the decision as a win that will prevent the creatures from being hunted as trophies.
“This is a tremendous victory for all who cherish Yellowstone’s grizzly bears and for those who’ve worked to ensure they’re protected under the Endangered Species Act,” said Andrea Zaccardi, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement “Hunting these beautiful animals around America’s most treasured national park should never again be an option.”
Charlie Russell is a legend, not only in his home territory of Alberta but in all of Canada and around the world. An author of several books, including Walking with Giants: The Grizzlies of Siberia, The Spirit Bear: Encounters with the White Bear of the Western Rainforest, and Grizzly Heart: Living Without Fear Among the Brown Bears of Kamchatka, he has been the subject of numerous interviews, documentaries, and articles showcasing him and the bears he loved.
Talking with Bears is an intimate portrait of Charlie Russell’s philosophy of nature, which evolved over the 76 years he graced this planet. Accompanied by stunning photography, the book is written in narrative form, the way Charlie spoke and shared his stories and knowledge with others. Each of the chapters describes some facet of Charlie’s philosophy and experiences through the stories of individual bears and what they taught him: the meaning of trust, respect, attention, love, and much more.
Talking with Bears is written for everyone and anyone who yearns to rekindle the magic of living in alignment with nature and bring the teachings of Charlie Russell and his bears into their own lives.
Canadian Geographic "The man who changed our minds about grizzly bears"
An excerpt from Talking with Bears: Conversations with Charlie Russell, a literary and reflective portrait of the Alberta naturalist’s relationship with grizzlies.
Talking with Bears is a portrait of Charlie Russell's philosophy of nature. The book is a narrative story, written as if Russell was speaking to you. The Alberta naturalist died in May 2018 after years of work with grizzly bears, including reintegrating orphaned grizzlies into the wilds of Kamchatka. Continue reading the article...
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Listen to the "Introduction"of the book read by the author G.A. Bradshaw
We owe a debt of gratitude to author and scientist Dr. Gay Bradshaw for bringing Charlie Russell’s intuitive relationship with Nature and his unrivalled understanding of bears to the world at this juncture.
As a friend and pupil of Charlie Russell, I so appreciate the obvious care the author has taken in selecting experiences over his lifetime to illustrate many findings, including controversial ones, about bears. The stunning 60plus original, full-coloured photos included in the book only add to the understanding of this rugged, adventure-prone researcher and his charismatic, yet often feared, megafauna.
The author has not only been a true scribe of Charlie Russell’s experiences and findings, but she has expertly infused her own intimate understanding of transpecies psychology and ecology where appropriate.
This book is not only a must read for those wanting to learn about the true nature of bears but also for those of us already working or living alongside bears. The legacy of Charlie Russell’s work must be continued if we wish to one day live as our ancestors lived, in true harmony with bears and Nature.
Review of G. A. Bradshaw's book, Talking with Bears
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Bears lost their best friend, Charlie Russell
on
May 7th 2018.
Charlie Russell on Hawk's Nest Hill. Photo by Ryan Peruniak
Our hearts are heavy as Charlie passed away unexpectedly post surgery. Charlie dedicated his life educating the world how to co-exist peacefully with bears.
Charlie Russell on Wateron Lake. Photo by Ryan Peruniak
“…Charlie walks away into his own truth, peace and freedom. May Charlie rest eternally in peace” — Barb Murray of Bears Matter
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Charlie Russell in Waterton Park. Photo by Edwin Knox Wagenaar
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Charlie Russell's Famous Bear Presentation “Another Way to Think About Bears”
I'm so excited and thankful to Barb Murray for finding this video of Charlie presenting his important life long experiences and grounbreaking insights into the human and bear relationship and what it could be.
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2018 Waterton Wildlife Festival Commemoration to the Life of Charlie Russell
"The Bear's Best Friend"
This event was held, June 17th during the 15th Waterton Wildflower Festival 2018. Charlie was a presenter during the previous Waterton Wildflower Festivals.
The event featured many amazing presenters who told of their varied experiences with Charlie.
The Banff Mountain Film And Book Festival 2018's - Winner of the Special Jury Mention
The book is an anthology from writers including Sid Marty, Fred Stenson, Harvey Locke, Charlie Russell, Chris Morrison, Bruce Morrison, Dave Sheppard and Larry Simpson amongst others. All share their insights into this inspiring story. Riggall’s original black-and-white photographs, hand drawn maps and early letters illustrate the manuscript.
“Charlie Russell, a Canadian naturalist who researched grizzly bears by living among them and argued for a view of the animals based on coexistence rather than fear, died on May 7 in Calgary, Alberta. He was 76.
The cause was complications after surgery, his brother Gordon said.
Mr. Russell was outspoken in his belief that the view most people — including many of his fellow naturalists — held of the bear was wrong….” — continue reading
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May 9 SALTS (Southern Alberta Land Trust Society) Tribute to one of it's founding members — Charlie Russell
“It’s with great sadness that we mark the passing of Charlie Russell. Best known perhaps for his work with bears, Charlie was a conservationist on many fronts including as one of SALTS’ founders. Charlie was key to getting SALTS off the ground as was his decision to do one of Alberta’s earliest conservation easements with the organization 20 years ago. The more than 20,000 acres that SALTS has conserved since that time will be one of Charlie’s many legacies.”
Charlie's land is protected under a SALTS easement.
“Charlie Russell, the unwavering truth seeker for Bears and Nature, passed on 7 May 2018. His seven decades of dedication, love and profound understanding of Grizzly kin provides us with an unshakeable foundation to continue his work and reach his lifelong vision: peace and freedom for all of Earth’s wild.”
— Dr. G.A. Bradshaw,
Executive Director and Founder, Kerulos Center for Nonviolence www.kerulos.org
Charlie was a faculty member of the Kerulos Centre for Nonviolence in Oregon
In his Foreword to Carnivore Minds, “Giving Voice to Animals: A Naturalist's Note”, Charlie provides a stunning critique on how Wildlife “management” and policy are contradicted by his lifetime with Bears. In addition to weaving his insights on Wildlife throughout the book, the chapter on Grizzly Bears draws extensively from Charlie's experiences raising ten orphaned Brown Bears in Kamchatka and illustrates how his understanding of Bear minds reflects cutting edge neuroscience.
Charlie was one of the featured experts in this documentary, which contributed to ending the Grizzly hunt in B.C.
Semi Finalist — Los Angeles — CineFest
Official Selection — Marda Loop Justice Film Festival — 2017
Winner — ALTFF — 2017
Best Documentary Winner — YES! — 2017
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November 2016
Launch of the Lush Co’s award winning documentary, Trophy
Charlie was one of the featured experts in this important documentary that helped contribute to shutting down the Grizzly hunt in BC.
Winner - Spotlight Documentary Film Awards 2016
Winner - Hollywood International Independent Documenary 2016
“His amazing ‘Charlie’ voice opens the documentary’ with a profound statement about ‘do we want to kill these animals or live with them in a beautiful way?’”
— Barb Murray of Bears Matter
“Nature is our greatest teacher. Charlie Russell learned this over a lifetime, as a child on his father’s ranch just outside of Waterton Lakes National Park, as a rancher himself, an eco-tourism leader in British Columbia and, most famously, living among grizzly bears in Russia. Sky England interviews Russell, now 74, about his life’s work and what the natural world has taught him…” continue reading
Here's a wonderfully indepth interview by The MOON with Charlie that really speaks to how he began is work.
Thanks to The MOON for including Charie in this month's list of stories, “…of people who have found an exhilaration and comfort in the wild unimaginable to most of us citified folk.”
As some of you know, I visited Ely Minnesota to do a presentation as a fundraiser for the North American Bear Centre that was established there by Dr. Lynn Rodgers. I stayed at the Wildlife Research Institute (another Lynn Roger’s establishment), that is out in the forest and is from where their research is conducted. It was a treat to finally meet Lynn’s wife Donna who has worked very hard with him towards their goals over so many years.
As it turned out that week was a very critical time for Lynn and Donna because much of Lynn’s life’s research work seemed to be suddenly ending. On June 28th, the day of my presentation, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) did not renew the license for continuing his much needed research about feeding bears. This meant they had to take all the collars off their research bears by the end of July. If that would have happened it would have meant the end of 46 years of what I think is the most important studies ever done about bears. Click here to continue reading…
Lynn and Sue with June
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Charlie attended and spoke at the book launch of Kevin Van Tighem's, Bears Without Fear.
Calgary Herald Interview with Kevin. “New Book that needs to be read by everyone working and recreating in bear country — we are getting smarter about bears! Let's put this good information to use to help bears.”
— Barb Murray of Bears Matter
CBC Radio Interview Charlie Russell and Kevin Van Tighem on The Current
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Please join in with the efforts of the David Suzuki Foundation by Demanding Legal Protection for Canada's Grizzly Bears. Just click here to help today!
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Great piece on Charlie's work by Global BC's Linda Aylesworth October 18, 2013
An Alberta man, who has spent his life studying the relationship between grizzlies and humans, thinks hunting and aggressive bear management has created mistrust.
Clip from CBC's The Nature of Things documentary, Edge of Eden, about Charlie's work with bears in the wild.
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First Part 1996 to 2007: Understanding Bears
Second Part 2012 to 2018: Understanding Peoples Ability to Reconnect with Nature.
After a long pause I want to continue this blog, but intermittently and with much less intensity. I am finished with my work in Kamchatka Russia, which stretched eventually over 13 years, 10 of which were at my cabin at Kambalnoye Lake (see site history). It would be a great disservice to let down all the wonderful bears that have helped me show the world what they are capable of if they were treated kindly. I have noticed that people wanted to misinterpret what I was doing all those years so my work could fade into oblivion fairly rapidly. These people are mostly involved in management of bears, weather towards hunting them, or trying to preserve them in our parks. I have sympathy with some of these people because I would not trade many of them positions, noting when I switch my efforts from understanding bears to understanding people, the huge disconnect I see. For instance the crazy things that tourists can dream up so spontaneously to inflict on bears along a park highway. However, as far back as the 1960’s my experiences told me that bears were extremely intelligent, peace loving animals who wanted to get along with humans if we would let them, but we were so afraid of them that we could never take them up on that. That realization directed the rest of my life.
The purpose of my very long study of bears had been to test two ideas that were important to management of grizzlies (and bears in general). These ideas were 1. that bears are unpredictable and 2. that they are inherently dangerous if they ever loose fear of people. If you believed these were true, no wonder a manager would loose sleep any time he/she imagined that bears were coming in contact with someone who they felt some kind of responsibility towards. Those two ideas have probably been around for hundreds of years, maybe thousands of years and modern day biologists have never seen any need to test them scientifically. They took them on faith. I however saw that if they were not true, it meant that over the years tens of thousands of bears, world wide, have been put to death unnecessarily. I was the rancher of my family and have two bear biologist brothers who were not particularly troubled by these beliefs. So without much academic backing, it was up to me to go out and see what would happen if bears were allowed to be however they wanted to be, around people.
After all these years of exploring those questions I can confidently say that these two ideas are not correct. Not too surprisingly bear managers are still not ready for what that implies around managing differently. They can not imagine what to do except to create fear in bears and in people about each other. That is how they keep us separated. They insist that my actual agenda was irresponsibly and rather mindlessly promote people being close to bears. Of course there are many photos that I took myself to supposedly prove that, but actually my photos show rather spectacularly what is possible with these animals if we build trust with them. They were never meant to illustrate what people should do outside the very controlled environment that I created in Russia. I personally will always be afraid to be around both grizzly and black bears that have had a life time of aversive conditioning, or a lifetime of been hunted. They have long and acutely good memories that might eventually be triggered by a surprise encounter into inflicting some of that violence back, especially a protective female with cubs.
Except for a small study we have going on at the family ranch, I have pretty much exhausted my research around those two questions that I had set out to understand many year ago. Bears are not unpredictable and there is amazing possibilities of trust between us that flourishes when fear is overcome. Much of that trust is to do with overcoming fear, whether it is to do with trusting each other or trusting other animals?
My work today is around trying to convincing people that it is a problem with us, not the bears. We get back what we give to them. There are dangerous bears out there, just like there are lots of dangerous people too, but in both cases most of the danger has been created somehow by the experiences accumulated over the years… with people. So, if we are of the caring kind and want to understand those who we share the land with, we can create a better world, both for ourselves and all the other animals, with a better understanding of them.
I have been at this now for more than fifty years and have decided that it is not an easy job to change the culture around an animal with whom we have estranged ourselves from as thoroughly as we have the bear. It is that estrangement that I am trying to help people with.
"What if the thought of encountering a grizzly bear filled you with anticipation and wonder?
What if you knew a bear her whole life, and the bear treated you as a welcome friend whenever you visited?
What if bears themselves could be free to live as they were meant to, enjoying nature's splendour and not fearful of gun-bearing humans?”
from Grizzly Seasons: Life with the Brown Bears of Kamchatka
The film Bear Man of Kamchatka (aka Edge of Eden) aired on CBC's The Nature of Things with David Suzuki. Find out a little more about the making of the film Bear Man of Kamchatka.
Kamchatka Grizzlies of the Russian Far East Project
Please be advised that this portion of the project is completed. The information from this project will be utilized as history and background information for Charlie Russell's other projects.
Additionally, Charlie created new goals and projects that are related to bears and appear on this website under a different organization.
Maureen Enns has completed this project and is working in new and exciting directions with her work.
The reissue of Spirit Bear, a classic work of Canadian nature and wildlife, includes an updated design and a new Afterword by the author. Republished May 20, 2017.
Copyright 1997 – , all rights reserved, Pacific Rim Grizzly Bears Co-Existence Study of Charlie Russell and SKR Design LLC.
All photos featuring Charlie Russell in Russia were taken by Maureen Enns.
