01 | Index
02 | Grant ID
03 | Location
04 | Header
05 | Deck
06 | Why Now?
07 | Story Angles
08 | Superlatives
09 | Photography – In Progress
10 | What’s Next?
11 | Notes

National Geographic Society – NGS-58884R-19

The Great Bear Rainforest and Great Bear Sea in British Columbia, Canada

The Great Bear Protected Areas’ Precarious Future

Canada’s first liquefied natural gas exports to Asia threaten a decade of conservation efforts and the survival of a unique ecosystem

British Columbia’s iconic Great Bear Rainforest (GBR), a global conservation beacon, faces mounting threats from unfulfilled protection commitments and an aggressive push for liquefied natural gas (LNG) development. LNG Canada, the largest single energy project investment in Canadian history, is on track to send out its first shipment of liquefied natural gas via tanker by the end of this year, establishing the first LNG energy corridor from Alberta to Asia.

The delicate balance between ecological preservation and economic aspirations, particularly for First Nations, is at a critical juncture, jeopardizing a decade of conservation efforts and the survival of a unique ecosystem.

• Perspectives of a Pipeline:
This arc details how Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) is being promoted as a clean and sustainable alternative to oil, despite independent studies showing its significant environmental impact, particularly due to methane emissions. This arc involves frontline perspectives along the energy route, highlighting the communities that both benefit from and are impacted by the project. This arc focuses on First Nation opposition to the LNG Canada project out of Kitimat, British Columbia and the highly controversial Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline and highlights the clash between Indigenous natural law, which views First Nations as caretakers of the land, and the government and corporate push for large-scale energy developments.

Proponents for the project argue LNG is cleaner, serves as a bridge to a low-carbon future, and will help Asia move off coal as most of the exported LNG from Kitimat will go there. These same proponents signal a Canadian resource sector on edge needs development to abate the economic crisis caused by the unpredictability of the Trump tariffs.

This arc, focusing on the LNG Canada and Coastal GasLink project, draws a parallel between the risks of the previously rejected Northern Gateway pipeline (in 2016), since both endeavours threaten the Great Bear Rainforest ecosystem at large.

• Not All Nations:
The story angle focuses on “economic reconciliation” and “Indigenous self-determination” as some First Nations, such as the Haisla, stand in support of energy projects which will bring “overdue” economic partnerships. Despite this, several Nations, including the Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan continue to stand in the way of development. This arc uncovers opposing worldviews—one rooted in caring for the land as past generations have before, and the other, a look towards economic independence.

• Youth Resistance:
This arc chronicles the resistance from both established Indigenous leaders like Chief Na’Moks of the Wet’suwet’en Nation and a new generation of activists, such as the Lax’yip Firekeepers. The story arc describes the state’s militarized response to land defenders and the ongoing struggle to protect ancestral territories against what is framed as corporate and colonial overreach.

• LNG Canada, is the largest single energy project investment in Canadian history
• First shipment of liquefied natural gas via tanker by the end of this year
• First LNG energy corridor from Alberta to Asia
• The Cedar LNG facility is set to be the largest Indigenous majority-owned infrastructure project in Canada
• The GBR is the largest intact coastal temperate rainforst on Earth
• The GBR is the only place on the planet where the Kermode bear (Spirit Bear), a rare, all-white subspecies of black bear, is found
; it is the only place on Earth where coastal wolves rely on salmon as a primary food source; it also hosts ancient, thousand-year-old trees, recovering humpback whale populations, and living glass sponge reefs once thought extinct
• The comprehensive agreements protecting the GBR, forged through collaboration between First Nations, governments, and environmental groups, are considered one of the most significant and pioneering conservation achievements globally, setting a precedent for large-scale land-use planning and Indigenous-led stewardship

• Aerial and land-based photography of LNG tankers and facilities, including the recently approved LNG Canada project
• Aerial and land-based photography of the Coastal GasLink pipeline development
• Photography of marine species to be impacted by increased tanker traffic
• Documentary photography of Haisla (who support development) and Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan (who oppose development) Nations; I have a standing invitation to visit communities throughout the GBR

Paul Nicklen covered the Great Bear Rainforest and the Spirit Bear in a story entitled Spirit Bear in August 2011; in the same print issue, NG also published a short story entitled Pipeline Through Paradise. To my knowledge, NG has not featured the Great Bear Rainforest or the Spirit Bear in print since these publications, though a natural history one-pager on Why This Black Bear Is White was published in 2017; there was also a “Wildlife Watch” story online in 2017.