Defenders of Wildlife Blog

Karla Dutton, Alaska Program Director

Polar bear and cubs in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (Credit: USFWS)

Wildlife conservationists often view the success of their work solely in terms of species protected or habitat saved or restored. Certainly these are worthy and necessary goals to strive for. But what many folks do not factor in are the people who live in these habitats and who rely on some of these very same species for nourishment and economical wellbeing, and to sustain their cultures. These same people also have a unique knowledge of these species based on their many years — often generations — of observations. I believe we will be successful in sustaining habitats and species only when we work respectfully with the communities that call these places home.

Our partnership with The Alaska Nanuuq Commission (ANC) is a great example. The ANC was formed in 1994 so that Alaska’s Native people would have an active and meaningful role in the conservation and management of Alaska’s two polar bear populations in the Chukchi Sea and Southern Beaufort Sea. Alaska Natives have thousands of years of history with polar bears, which has led to a deep respect for the bear as a cultural symbol, a hunter, and a timeless part of the landscape. Polar bears rely on sea ice habitat, which is critical to raising young, finding prey and traveling. Now, due to rising global temperatures, sea ice melts earlier each spring, and forms later each fall, impacting the bears’ migration and access to prey. In 2008, polar bears were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The ANC represents 15 coastal villages, many of which are faced with increasing numbers of polar bears coming into their communities and campsites. Defenders and the Commission are both interested in reducing conflicts between humans and polar bears in Alaska communities. Some of these animals are just passing through. Others, stranded on land for longer periods, are looking for alternate and less nutritious sources of food, since decreasing sea ice has made their main prey, ice-dependent seals, harder to come by. Defenders and ANC both recognize that if the same methods that keep people and their families safe also protect polar bears, then more polar bears will survive. With fewer human-polar bear conflicts, polar bears have a better chance of surviving, despite the challenges posed by climate change, and their survival allows the Alaska Native people’s culture and way of life to continue.

A polar bear on sea ice.

Defenders of Wildlife Alaska staff are working on developing and spreading the word about ways to help polar bears and humans coexist. In 2010, we funded a report called Sea Bear Under Siege, which details the plight of polar bears in Alaska and offers recommendations on how to best assist them as they navigate the arctic meltdown and continued loss of the sea ice that is so critical to their long-term survival.

In 2011, we worked closely with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Marine Mammals program to develop and deliver a workshop on polar bear diversionary feeding. This involves moving or placing food sources (such as marine mammal carcasses) away from human settlements to reduce human-bear conflicts. This international workshop shared tools and techniques used by polar bear managers in Russia, Canada and the U.S. to inform decision-making in Alaska. Jack Omelak, Executive Director of the Alaska Nanuuq Commission, also participated in the workshop. He found it very useful, and asked Defenders to play a role in the commission’s development of a human and polar bear interaction strategy. Defenders assisted the ANC with developing their Polar Bear Deterrence Needs Assessment in July and August 2011. The assessment contains feedback from the 15 ANC coastal villages, and the results informed the ANC’s strategic planning going forward. One of the priorities identified was a polar bear deterrent workshop.

Now we’ve teamed up with The Alaska Nanuuq Commission, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Marine Mammals polar bear staff and the World Wildlife Fund’s Arctic Program to develop and host a polar bear deterrent workshop to be held next month. This workshop brings together the Alaska Nanuuq Commissioners from 12 of the 15 coastal villages (from Kaktovik to the villages of Gambell and Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island) along with Russian counterparts who are also addressing human conflicts with polar bears in their communities. At the workshop, all of these groups will share tools, tips and management ideas with the Nanuuq Commissioners so that they can spread these methods to their communities. As more people use these techniques and tools, they can be replicated and refined so that we all learn how to better coexist with polar bears.

This workshop represents something larger and more important than a single event. The partnerships forged, the trust built and the knowledge shared — whether it be traditional and local ecological knowledge handed down through many generations, or the tools western science brings — means that polar bear conservation decisions made going forward will be better, stronger, more equitable and I believe better for polar bears, their habitat and the people that call their world home.

With all the attention to wolves last week, here is something you may have missed.  Arctic sea ice has hit a new low, not just beating the old record, but beating it with an expected three weeks remaining in the melting season.

Arctic sea ice naturally goes through an annual cycle of expansion and contraction, with summer ice extent reaching its lowest point in September, then stabilizing and starting to expand again as the weather gets colder.  The previous record low of 1.61 million square miles occurred on September 18, 2007. The new low of 1.58 million square miles was set on August 26, 2012, with South-Carolina-sized areas of ice melting daily.  If this keeps up through mid-September, the minimum for 2012 will shatter all previous records.

The six lowest sea ice extents since satellite measurements began in 1979have all occurred in the past six years. While we don’t know for sure what the ice data looked like prior to that, the adventures of explorers searching for the fabled “Northwest Passage” remind us that heavy ice cover was once the norm.

This graph from the National Snow and Ice Data Center shows the dramatic loss of Arctic ice in 2012 so far.

What’s even more alarming about the new record is that this wasn’t even a spectacularly warm summer in the Arctic. Rather, it seems that year after year of big summer ice melts have made the sea ice thinner and more fragile, thus more prone to melting each year. Cambridge University professor Peter Wadhams estimates that the ice pack “has lost at least 40% of its thickness since the 1980s, and if you consider the shrinkage as well it means that the summer ice volume is now only 30% of what it was in the 1980s.”

If all this ice loss strikes you as bad news for polar bears and other Arctic wildlife, you’re right. If you think that’s the only thing we have to worry about, think again. The difference with and without sea ice is like the difference between wearing a white shirt and a black shirt on a hot, sunny day. The white ice reflects the sun’s energy back out toward space, but the dark surface water exposed when the ice melts absorbs much more of the sun’s energy, leading to even faster heating.

And all that dark, heat-absorbing water where once there was ice leads to another problem: the icy sediments at the bottom of the sea are starting to thaw as well.Professor Peter Wadhams points out, “we are also finding the open water causing seabed permafrost to melt, releasing large amounts of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, to the atmosphere.”

This new low is another sign that climate change isn’t an issue we can just ignore and worry about later. It’s real, it’s urgent, and it’s affecting our planet right now.

Visit explore.org to watch live streaming video of polar bears on their northward migration.

One of the largest carnivores in the world, the polar bear is not an animal you want to bump into. But now, thanks to Explore.org, you can watch these fascinating mammals from the safety of your own home. By tuning into one of many high-definition cameras set up in the remote wilds of the Arctic, you can track a Canadian population of polar bears as they make their way north to the Hudson Bay.

Historically, sea ice on the Hudson allows the bears to hunt seals as far as 100 miles off the coast. But climate change is having a dramatic impact on the Arctic landscape, diminishing this once-reliable habitat. This year, Arctic sea ice reached its second lowest level on record. Such trends are taking a serious toll on sea-ice dependent animals like polar bears, and in Alaska reports of drowned or starving bears, cannibalism and other aberrant behavior are increasing. Without help, these Arctic icons could disappear from U.S. shores forever.

Cameras like these offer the many who will never travel to the chilly north a rare glimpse into what life is like for these majestic animals, and hopefully inspire them to fight for polar bear survival. Charlie Annenberg, a filmmaker and founder of explore.org who spearheaded the project, said he hopes the cameras will “allow people to observe the natural world we live in with the hope that they’ll develop emotional connections with the planet.”

Photo courtesy USFWS

Don’t wait to check it out! The migration has already begun, and runs only through the end of November. Video capturing the movement is now being streamed live.

Disclaimer: you made find it difficult to tear yourself away. We at Defenders have already watched a three-bear-wrestling match, and can’t wait to see what these animals are up to next…

Learn more:

Last week saw a win for polar bears! Learn more.

Read Defenders report, Sea Bear Under Siege, to see our recommendations for helping polar bears survive in a world with less and less sea ice.

Ashore on Svalbard, a male polar bear investigates a whale's backbone. Fat reserves from hunting ringed and bearded seals, and sometimes walruses, must carry bears through lean summers. Photo (c) Florian Schulz

Their arctic habitat in full meltdown mode, polar bears have become the real bad news bears. Reports of drowned, starving and stranded bears, even cannibalism have become commonplace, and dire forecasts for their future just keep coming. Susan McGrath details the way thinning sea ice is making life harder for these iconic mammals in her article, “On Thin Ice.” Read on to preview an excerpt from story, which will be featured in the July issue of the National Geographic magazine, available on newsstands June 28.

The world didn’t know it yet, but during the summer in the Arctic Ocean, sea ice had been melting earlier and faster, and the winter freeze had been coming later. In the three decades since 1979 the extent of summer ice has declined by about 30 percent. The lengthening period of summer melt threatens to undermine the whole Arctic food web, atop of which stand polar bears……

The sea ice above the shallow continental shelves provides the richest sustenance for polar bears, but recently the ice has been retreating far from those areas, reducing the summer habitat bears need most to survive. Whether a polar bear lives in Hudson Bay or the Beaufort or Barents Seas, it faces the same problem. Sea ice on which to hunt is available for progressively shorter periods, forcing bears to fast for longer periods. And because thinner sea ice is more easily shifted by winds and currents, bears may be swept into strange territory, forcing them to make longer, more arduous swims in open water to find favorable sea ice or to get to land.

Get the full story:

Click here to see more of the story by Susan McGrath and the full photo gallery by Florian Schulz on National Geographic’s website.

Defenders is exploring measures to keep both polar bears and Alaskans safe as the loss of sea-ice forces the marine mammals farther inland. Read our report, Sea Bear Under Siege, to see an extensive list of actions that should be undertaken to assist these Arctic marine animals.

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Home on the Ice

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Checking Something Out

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Cubs on the Move

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National Geographic July 2011

Available on newsstands June 28th.

Across the country, wildlife is already feeling the effects of a changing climate. In the Arctic, warming temperatures are melting the sea ice and snow pack that polar bears, arctic foxes and snowshoe hares depend on to find food and raise their young. Off our coasts, ocean acidification threatens coral reefs and the incredible diversity of marine life they support. In the west, increased droughts are drying up the streams and rivers favored by salmon and trout and setting the scene for forest fires in the very places lynx and wolverine call home. In every state, the story is the same: the thermometer is rising, and wildlife is paying the price.

But just because lawmakers in Washington aren’t taking steps to stop climate change doesn’t mean YOU can’t make a difference in your life! In fact, many people are ALREADY making changes to their lifestyles to decrease their carbon footprint.  Are you one of them? Let us know! Make a short video and tell us, in 30 seconds or less, what steps you’re taking to protect wildlife across the country from the harmful impacts of a warming world. And tell us what animal you are doing it for! We’ll feature the videos every Red Hot and Green Friday from Earth Day until the 4^th of July, so you can see how people around the country are taking charge and taking action.

It’s a call to action—this is your country, how are you working to protect it from the threat of climate change?

Whether it’s recycling for red wolves or taking the train for tortoise—every little bit helps. We want to hear from YOU!

Filming your Red Hot and Green video is easy! Just follow the instructions below:

Record the Video

• Fancy equipment not required… If you don’t have a video camera, the video setting on your digital camera or even your cell phone will do. Since you’ll need to post the video to YouTube, check out the file formats it supports before recording.
• Keep it brief—30 seconds or less.
• Show us what you’re doing to help fight climate change.

• Tell us who you are, what you’re doing, and what animal you’re supporting. For example, if you’re drying your laundry on a clothesline instead of using a dryer, you could say:“I’m hanging my clothes on the line for lobsters!”Check out the sample video at right to see what we mean.
• Save the video to your computer hard drive.

Share the Video

• You’ll need a YouTube account to post your video online. If you don’t already have one, sign up here.
• Click the Upload button at the top of the page and then click the Yellow Upload button.
• On the upload page, give your video a title and a description that explains how what you’re doing is helping fight climate change.In the Tags box, make sure you put “Red Hot and Green” so we’ll know how to find your video to add to our playlist. You can add other tags as well to help people find your video through search engines. Use commas to separate terms and put quotation marks around phrases that should be kept together.Select a category from the dropdown box and check the button that says Public in the Privacy section.

  

• Click Save Changes.

That’s it!

Once we’ve reviewed your video*, we’ll add it to our Red Hot and Green playlist and it may even be featured right here on the blog!

If you have any questions, please send an email to redhotandgreen@defenders.org.

* Defenders of Wildlife reserves the right to accept or refuse submissions at our own discretion.

Saturday was one of the coldest days of the year, but that didn’t stop me from jumping into the icy waters of the Potomac River!  Joined by Karl Hornerlaw (another brave Defender) and close to 200 other activists,  I took part in the Chesapeake Climate Action Network’s 6th Annual Polar Bear Plunge to raise awareness and inspire action about climate change.  Despite the chill, the event drew a range of folks willing to take the plunge. Congresswoman Donna Edwards from Maryland’s 4^th District spoke passionately about the need to protect our environment and take action on climate change – before diving in herself.

Though we were there for a “polar bear plunge,” the impacts of climate change aren’t only felt in the Arctic.  Every part of the globe is facing enormous challenges – and that means wildlife and the ecosystems we all depend on are all at risk.

Our group gathers before the big chill

Scientists estimate we could lose a third of all species over the next century due to climate change.  If we want to live in a world we can even recognize, we must take action to limit global warming and help wildlife, ecosystems and our communities adapt to the changes our planet is seeing now, and prepare for those that will come in the future.

As a father of young daughters, one of whom came out to watch the event, I think about the future a lot, and what kind of world we are passing down to our children. So that’s why I waded into the Potomac, stepping over the ice that had built up right at the beach.

Call me crazy, or just committed, but you know, once you get into water that cold,  you don’t feel much of anything. In fact, it wasn’t all that bad – everyone should try it next year!

Learn more:

See (warmer) ways Defenders is working to protect America’s wildlife from the harmful impacts of climate change – and what YOU can do to help!

Read about how climate change can mean colder winters.