As I trekked around the maintenance yard area at Beacon Hill Park, I was hoping to find a reminder of some kind: a plaque or sign. It would never have occurred to me that the Park’s most celebrated resident would not have been remembered in some way after surviving 24 years in captivity. Conspicuous by its absence, there is no evidence whatsoever that Ursus, the only Kermode bear in captivity at that time, ever existed; she who entertained, educated, and captivated; she who lifted people’s spirits between 1924–1948: during the Courtenay earthquake, the Great Depression and WWII. This is indeed a shame.

Image C-09769 courtesy of Royal BC Museum, BC
Archives

The six-month-old female cub with the white fur was captured on Princess Royal Island in 1924, and subsequently confiscated at the U.S. border. Shortly thereafter it was placed in the custody of Francis Kermode, Curator of the Provincial Museum in Victoria. According to Janis Ringuette, author of Beacon Hill Park’s Famous White Bear, Dr. William Hornaday of the New York Zoological Society declared the bear a new species, naming it Ursus Kermodei, in hopes that Francis Kermode would feel obligated to send Ursus to the zoo in New York. Much to his credit, he did not.

Image A-02257
courtesy of Royal BC
Museum, BC Archives

Experts have since concluded that the Kermode bear was simply a white colour phase of the common black bear, Ursus americanus. For at least 500,000 years, black bears have roamed this continent, and the black bears of Vancouver Island and Queen Charlotte Islands shared the same common ancestor 10,000 years ago. University of Victoria evolutionary biologist Dr. Tom Reimchen says: “That the white phase has persisted for 10,000 years suggests an ecological advantage."

The Tsimpshian People refer to the Kermode as 'Moskgm'ol' — white bear, and according to legend, when Raven made everything green after the ice receded, 1 in 10 black bears were left white to remind him of a time when the world was white with ice and snow. It is also believed that Princess Royal Island was the paradise set aside for the bears to live in peace forever.

Image courtesy of Janis
Ringuette

Often the centre of heated debates as to whether it would be more humane to return her to the wild, Ursus was the subject of many letters to the Daily Colonist. One letter written in 1944 described her as “pacing her concrete floor until exhausted,” and another wrote that it was “incomprehensible that people can get any pleasure from the sight of animals shut up in cages.”

Four years later she was gone: found dead in her cage by caretaker George Redknap. The next day she was trucked away to the lab at the Legislative Buildings. At that time, Dr. Clifford Carl, Director of the Provincial Museum said, “the skin, skull and a few other accessories would be saved, but that the bear would not be stuffed.” And in 2003, in order to dispel rumours that Ursus had been stuffed, James A. Cosgrove, Manager, Natural History Section, Royal British Columbia Museum confirmed that, “The Kermode bear from Beacon Hill Park is in our research collection as a skull and a tanned hide.”

In the late 1990s, Simon Jackson founded the Spirit Bear Youth Coalition to protect their habitat from logging, and for the past 13 years, biologist Mr. McCory of the Valhalla Wilderness Society has been working on a plan to create a sanctuary of 250,000 hectares, which will encompass Princess Royal's large unlogged portion and a section of adjacent mainland.

One can only speculate as to whether Ursus' captivity helped influence some to pursue careers as zoologists, animal physiologists or ecologists. Perhaps others, or their children, imagined the mysterious and distant place she came from, and considered ways that it could be protected. In any event, Ursus' 24 years at Beacon Hill Park brought many of our parents and grandparents joy, and represents a unique period in the Park's history that should be recognized — not expunged.

References
Isabella, Jude. The Kermode Bear. http://genetics.forestry.ubc.ca/ritland/kermode/isabella.doc [18 July 2008].
Ringuette, Janis. Beacon Hill Park’s Famous White Bear. http://www.islandnet.com/beaconhillpark/articles/118_kermode.htm [19 July 2008].

Want to add something? Did I make a mistake? Join the discussion of this topic in the JamesBay.org Forum

Except where otherwise noted, this content is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Historically, James Bay summers are cooler than those experienced by other microclimates of the Saanich Peninsula. This can be attributed primarily to the dominant pattern of onshore and relatively cool southwest sea breezes caused by higher barometric readings over the ocean. For example, the 30-year normal (1971 – 2000) July maximum temperature at Victoria International airport is 21.9 °C, while the average of July 2005 – July 2008 maximums from James Bay Community School is 18.4 °C. Today, however (August 5, 2008), we are experiencing temperatures in the mid twenties, produced by the reverse of this onshore flow: a large ridge of high pressure positioned over the BC interior drives warm northeasterly winds over the Saanich Peninsula.

It is also of interest to note that as I write, Lochside Elementary School in north Saanich is experiencing an 11 Km/hr wind from the NNE, as expected, while James Bay Community School is measuring a wind of 3 Km/hr from the south: a very good example that elements of our microclimate, in this case diurnal onshore flow, can frequently dominate large-scale (macro) weather patterns.

But have James Bay summers actually cooled over the past couple of years? Analyzing the short weather record at James Bay Community School reveals an average maximum temperature for the month of July 2005 of 18.87 °C, compared to 18.19 °C for July 2008. Not a huge difference, and definitely not statistically significant: but enough to prompt further investigation.

Figure 1
Click image for larger view

Climate variability in BC is strongly influenced by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). This NASA Earth Observatory image (Figure 1) depicts the sea surface temperature anomaly between April 14 – 21, 2008. Measured by a scanning radiometer and compared to baseline data collected between 1985 – 1997, warmer than normal areas appear red, cooler than normal blue, and average are white. Clearly visible are the lingering effect of the year-old La Niña and a classic feature of the cool phase of the PDO: cooler water off the coast of north America wrapping around a core of warmer water. Dr. Steven R. Hare, of the University of Washington, first coined the term PDO in 1997 to describe an extensive oscillation of sea surface temperature in the northern Pacific Ocean that varies on a multi-decadal time scale. The other large-scale climate driver is ENSO, a tropical Pacific phenomenon representing the largest climate signal next to the seasonal cycle, and possessing two distinct phases: El Niño the warm phase, and La Niña, the cool phase. Alternation between El Niño and La Niña events is unpredictable, normally occurring every 3 – 7 years, with the individual events lasting 6 – 18 months.

Figure 2
Click image for larger view

In contrast, the PDO can remain in the same warm or cool phase for 20 or 30 years, with the last warm phase, which began in 1977, shifting to the cool phase very recently. The accompanying graph (Figure 2) depicts anomalous climate conditions associated with the positive phases of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and PDO modes since 1900. According to Bill Patzert, an oceanographer and climatologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL): “The persistence of this large-scale pattern (in 2008) tells us there is much more than an isolated La Niña occurring in the Pacific Ocean.” This cool phase of the PDO will have significant ramifications. It will intensify La Niña events, moderate the impact El Niño events, significantly affect the productivity of marine ecosystems, and alter global land temperature patterns — conceivably cooling James Bay slightly for the foreseeable future. Recent research by Dr.’s Goshit and Malanson at the University of Iowa supports this view, identifying a high positive correlation with the PDO and winter temperatures in the Northwestern US.

However, Dr. William Hsieh, an eminent scholar at UBC’s Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, cautioned against speculating about the connection between the PDO and weather in BC: "The long-term behavior of the PDO is presently not all that clear, unlike the 1950s to 1970s, when it was cold, and late 1980s to late 1990s when it was warm." Hsieh confirmed that the PDO is in a cold phase, but that “there is no clear evidence to link that to atmospheric temperatures.” A high positive correlation between temperature and the PDO can indeed indicate a causal relationship, but there could exist other underlying factors of which we are unaware.

Figure 3
Click image for larger view

If lower sea surface temperatures (SST) off the coast of North America, which characterize the cool mode of the PDO, do indeed translate into somewhat cooler, albeit muted, local and regional temperatures, the longer-term climate change signal becomes masked — more difficult to detect and quantify (Figure 3). Climate scientist and oceanographer Josh Willis of JPL concludes that: “These natural climate phenomena can sometimes hide global warming caused by human activities. Or they can have the opposite effect of accentuating it.” This underscores the importance of collecting consistent and long-term weather records, as only data records that span at least one full cycle of the PDO will reveal the coherent “signal” of climate change that is contained within all natural climate variability.

References
BC Ministry of Environment: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/air/climate/indicat/appendix.html
BC Climate: Rod Chilton: http://www.bcclimate.com
Goshit, Sunday D. and George P. Malanson. “Patterns of Correlation between the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and the Climate of Glacier National Park, MT.” Department of Geography, University of Iowa. In preparation.
http://www.widernet.org/sunday/researchpaper.htm
Hare, Stephen R. and Nathan J. Mantua. “An historical narrative on the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, interdecadal climate variability and ecosystem impacts.” 20th NE Pacific Pink and Chum workshop Seattle, WA, 22 March 2001.
http://www.iphc.washington.edu/Staff/hare/html/papers/pcworkshop/pcworkshop.pdf
NASA Earth Observatory: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov
Victoria Weather Network: http://www.victoriaweather.ca/

Figures
1. Courtesy NASA – Earth Observatory
2. Courtesy Stephen R. Hare, University of Washington: Adapted and updated from Mantua et al. (1997)
3. Courtesy Canadian Institute for Climate Studies

James Bay, the place we call home, began as a deep oceanic lava plain formed during the Devonian period 370 million years before present (BP). Subsequent episodes of volcanism, erosion, sediment accumulation and crustal movement during the following 200 million years gave rise to the exotic terrane of Wrangellia that docked with North America 170 – 100 million years BP. The Pacific Rim and Crescent terranes followed, forming much of what is now southwestern Vancouver Island. Much more recently, at the peak of the Vashon stade of the Fraser glaciation 15,000 BP, James Bay was entombed by at least 1500 metres of ice; and a "mere" 1,000 years later, it was submerged by an advance of the sea: a marine transgression. After differential glacio-isostatic rebound and eustatic changes (changes in sea-level, not due to isostatic rebound, that occur worldwide), modern sea level was reached approximately 5,000 BP.

Surveying the shoreline just west of Finlayson Point, evidence of an ice-dominated environment evokes awe not only of the scale, but also of the endless variety of features. Referring to my well-worn and indispensable copy of The Geology of Southern Vancouver Island, by Yorath and Nasmith, I found numerous examples of metamorphic Wark gneiss bedrock exposures — a coarse-grained, banded rock resulting from high-grade metamorphism — that had been dramatically shaped into the asymmetrical roche moutonnée, a profusion of north-to-south-trending grooves and striations, and multiple crag-and-tail features that attest to the immense power of ice and entrained debris. Looking to the north, the sea cliffs in Beacon Hill Park along Dallas Road expose ice-contact gravels and Vashon till which accumulated adjacent to ice that had grounded in Juan de Fuca Strait about 12,000 BP.

My favourite feature is roche moutonnée, a reference to either the back end of a sheep or a barrister's wig. An example of stoss-and-lee terrain, it is rounded, smoothed, grooved, striated and polished by abrasion on the stoss, or upstream side, and steep, jagged and irregular on the opposing lee flank. According to Summerfield, increased ice thickness and higher pressures on the stoss (north exposure in this instance) side of obstacles decreases the melting point of ice (there is a decrease in the melting point of ice with increasing ice thickness of about 1°C per 1000 metres), creating a flux of basal meltwater which migrates to the zone of lower pressure on the lee side where it refreezes due to lower pressure, releasing latent heat of fusion. Depending upon the depth of joints in the bedrock, and facilitated by freeze-thaw cycles, blocks are mechanically pulled — or plucked — from the lowest to highest point in the rock floor when the basal ice freezes to them.

At the peak of the Fraser glaciation, which began 29,000 BP, the land was depressed by approximately 250 metres, and sea level was 100 - 150 metres lower than it is today. When the ice retreated about 14,000 BP, the ocean invaded all but the highest points of the Saanich Peninsula. This marine transgression completely covered James Bay, allowing for the formation of the Victoria Clay.

Glaciomarine Victoria Clay and Wark gneiss outcrops dominate the surficial geology of James Bay, while the Vashon till, which accumulated beneath the base of the ice sheet, overlies most of the bedrock. One can also find an isolated example of Holocene peat overlying Victoria clay on Niagara Street, between Rendall and Oswego. The clay, deposited at the close of the Fraser glaciation when the sea level was higher, is predominantly thick, soft, grey clay of more than 3 metres in depth. Of Jurassic age, the Wark gneiss outcrops have been potassium-argon dated from 131 - 182 million years of age. Comprised of massive and gneissic metadiorite—“meta” being the prefix used to denote metamorphism, while diorite is a coarse-grained plutonic igneous rock consisting of plagioclase and one or more of the ferromagnesian minerals—metagabbro and amphibolite, the Wark gneiss may have originally been composed of rocks of the Sicker Group and Karmutsen and Quatsino formations (Vancouver Group). James Bay Square and the Royal British Columbia Museum, for example, are constructed upon Wark gneiss, while most of the area bounded by Menzies, Belleville, Government and Dallas Road is underlain by Victoria clay.

For more information, please refer to these fine references:

Cannings, Sydney and Richard Cannings. Geology of British Columbia: A Journey Through Time. Vancouver: Greystone Books, 1999.
Fettes College. 2008. http://www.fettes.com/cairngorms [17 June 2008].
Ministry of Energy Mines and Petroleum Resouces. 2007. http://minfile.gov.bc.ca [14 June 2008].
Natural Resources Canada (NRC). Geoscape. 2008. http://www.geoscape.nrcan.gc.ca/victoria/index_e.php [20 June 2008].
Quaternary Geological Map of Greater Victoria. Map 2000-2. Victoria, BC: Ministry of Energy and Mines, 2000.
http://www.empr.gov.bc.ca/Mining/GeolSurv/Surficial/hazards/default.htm
Summerfield, Michael A. Global Geomorpholgy. New York: Longman Scientific & Technical, 1991.
Whittow, John. Dictionary of Physical Geography. London: Penguin Books, 1984.
Yorath, C.J. and H.W. Nasmith. The Geology of Southern Vancouver Island: A Field Guide. Victoria: Orca Book Publishers, 1995.

Except where otherwise noted, this content is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

I am interested in writing articles about environmental issues, both local and global, that will stimulate healthy discussion. With at least 15,000 voices in James Bay, there will be no shortage of opinions. Whether we are discussing pesticides, the environmental impact of cruise ships, community gardens, goose droppings, crows, or climate change issues, everyone will have the opportunity to participate in this blog and, hopefully, will benefit from our collective knowledge.

Reed Kirkpatrick,
Science Editor
reed[at]fit2print.ca
Reed's Website

Except where otherwise noted, this content is licensed under a Creative Commons License.