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Spirit of the Great Bear
A striking collection of 90 photographs depicting the rugged grandeur of the Northwest Coast’s Great Bear Rainforest.
Spirit of the Great Bear is an immersive journey through the vast wilderness habitat of the spirit bear, the rare white-furred variant of Kermode bears that has long featured in First Nations oral traditions. While much of Great Bear Rainforest is protected—it is the largest intact coastal temperate rainforest on Earth—today there are as few as 100 of the bears remaining, making it one of the world's rarest animals.
Wildlife photographer and conservationist Jack Plant has spent the last decade exploring the rainforest in search of spirit bears and documenting the natural beauty of this coastal habitat, relying heavily on the guidance and traditional knowledge generously shared by the First Nations communities who have protected the region for thousands of years. Plant was adopted by Hereditary Chief Charlie Mason of Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation in the community of Klemtu.
Spirit of the Great Bear features photographic accounts of Plant’s wild and memorable encounters with the white bears, as well as with other extraordinary species found in the Great Bear Rainforest, including grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, orcas, and humpback whales.
The book examines the natural and human-caused threats to the rich biodiversity of the Rainforest while highlighting the substantial progress Indigenous leaders and conservationists have made to protect one of the most biodiverse landscapes in the world. It’s both a celebration of the spirit bear’s resilience and its wilderness home, and an urgent reminder of the need to protect this special and vulnerable ecosystem.
Spirit of the Great Bear is an immersive journey through the vast wilderness habitat of the spirit bear, the rare white-furred variant of Kermode bears that has long featured in First Nations oral traditions. While much of Great Bear Rainforest is protected—it is the largest intact coastal temperate rainforest on Earth—today there are as few as 100 of the bears remaining, making it one of the world's rarest animals.
Wildlife photographer and conservationist Jack Plant has spent the last decade exploring the rainforest in search of spirit bears and documenting the natural beauty of this coastal habitat, relying heavily on the guidance and traditional knowledge generously shared by the First Nations communities who have protected the region for thousands of years. Plant was adopted by Hereditary Chief Charlie Mason of Kitasoo/Xai’xais First Nation in the community of Klemtu.
Spirit of the Great Bear features photographic accounts of Plant’s wild and memorable encounters with the white bears, as well as with other extraordinary species found in the Great Bear Rainforest, including grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, orcas, and humpback whales.
The book examines the natural and human-caused threats to the rich biodiversity of the Rainforest while highlighting the substantial progress Indigenous leaders and conservationists have made to protect one of the most biodiverse landscapes in the world. It’s both a celebration of the spirit bear’s resilience and its wilderness home, and an urgent reminder of the need to protect this special and vulnerable ecosystem.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published May 19, 2026
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October 11, 2026
I'd never heard of the Great Bear Rainforest nor of the spirit bear breed (moksgm'ol) so was fascinating to see these WHITE-coated black bears (not polar bears) in their home environment. I'd love to travel along the rivers to see the fjords and forest wildlife, sealife, and fauna that this book captures. The foreward, story + picture of tje sprit bear vs. black bears fight over the salmon, along with the plethora of images of the loud nature and wildlife, often kept peacefully seperate from people like me used to city surroundings, against the backdrop of beautiful British Columbia (where I live) was simply incredible. the inclusion of birds & orcas & blue whales & wolves was unexpected but nonethless painted the beautiful picture of the world stewarded by the wonderful Kitasoo Xai'xais nation. The aftwrwooe by Muq'vas Glaw perfectly encapsulates the meaning behind the book & its series of photos of both the wildlife and the people that support it. I also cried at the final passage Jack Plant puts:
"And when I go home, leaving the rainforest behind, I find myself grasping at the connection that can only be found in such a truly wild place. My rhythms slowly shift back to crowds of people and small talk, and away from the tides and the forest. A different kind of life. Turning my head to scan for bears turns into looking left and right to check for traffic. Some people call this the "real world," but I don't. I constantly long to go back to a world of granite fjords and glaciers, rivers and rain, to a world where I am in tune with an ancient natural history. That is the real world. That is the Great Bear Rainforest."
my only critique would be there weren't enough details regarding all the wonderful pictures, and the photos could've been slightly better quality.
"And when I go home, leaving the rainforest behind, I find myself grasping at the connection that can only be found in such a truly wild place. My rhythms slowly shift back to crowds of people and small talk, and away from the tides and the forest. A different kind of life. Turning my head to scan for bears turns into looking left and right to check for traffic. Some people call this the "real world," but I don't. I constantly long to go back to a world of granite fjords and glaciers, rivers and rain, to a world where I am in tune with an ancient natural history. That is the real world. That is the Great Bear Rainforest."
my only critique would be there weren't enough details regarding all the wonderful pictures, and the photos could've been slightly better quality.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review