Campbell River is renowned for its access to incredible wildlife watching adventures, particularly those in search of marine mammals and bears. The otherworldly landscape of the Great Bear Rainforest is just a boat ride away, with many of our local tour operators taking visitors to its southern edges and through the Discovery Islands. Visitors have also been known to encounter bears in and around Campbell River, particularly near our rivers and estuaries where they feed on salmon or in areas with dense berry bushes.
As a hotspot for bear viewing tours, it’s vital to our community that we champion respectful encounters that put not only people’s but also the bear’s safety first on adventures. Those in the know also prioritize minimizing disturbance to their habits, like feeding, and their habitats.
As interest in our part of the world and the world-class ecotourism opportunities available from Campbell River continue to draw visitors, a bear viewing best practice campaign called “For the Bears” seemed like the perfect opportunity to collaborate with neighbouring regions, community members, and tour operators to help inspire education around bears.
Be Inspired To Protect Our Local Bears
“For the Bears” is a collaboration between environmental organization Raincoast Conservation, the Commercial Bear Viewing Association, and destination organizations 4VI (Tourism Vancouver Island’s social enterprise group), Destination Campbell River, and Tourism Tofino. Campbell River was asked to be a part of this exciting project because of how closely our community lives with bears, as well as being able to tap into many of our local bear tour operators’ expertise.
The project blends evidence-based research and education to help inform visitors of a series of best bear viewing practices. These are intended to guide commercial viewing operators, but should also be used as best practices for personal encounters, too. Step out into our stunning ecosystems with these insightful practices in your back pocket to focus on the wellbeing of the bears in our region. And if you’re heading out on a tour, we encourage you to ask the operator of anything you book about their bear viewing practices.
Dive into the research, learnings, and best practices of the “For the Bears” campaign here.
