Great Bear Rainforest to be discussed at library

COEUR d’ALENE — A nine-day kayaking trip in the Great Bear rainforest in British Columbia will be the subject of a Novel Destinations program Saturday, Dec. 10, at 7 p.m. at the Coeur d’Alene Public Library.

Mary Sanderson will share stories and photos from her trip along the Canadian Coast. The trip was organized by Mothership Adventures — a co-sponsor of this program — with its Columbia III ship used as the kayakers’ base of operations.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., calls the Great Bear Rainforest “the planet’s last large expanse of coastal temperate rain forest.” Stretching for more than 250 miles along the coast of British Columbia, the 21-million-acre wilderness is sometimes called the Amazon of the North.

The vast, sodden land encompasses 1,000-year-old cedars, waterfalls spouting off the sides of moss-covered mountains, granite-dark waters and glacier-cut fjords. This remote expanse is home to many First Nations communities as well as abundant wildlife: coastal gray wolves, grizzly bears, Sitka deer, cougars, mountain goats, orca, salmon, sea lions, sea otters, humpback whales, and its most celebrated resident, the rare, cream-colored Kermode bear, or spirit bear, considered sacred by the T’simshian people.

Novel Destinations, sponsored by the Coeur d’Alene Public Library Foundation, are travelogues based on trips taken by area residents who share their photos and stories.

These after-hours library programs are free, but donations are welcome.

Anyone with a travelogue to share at the library is asked to contact the Library Foundation at (208) 769-2380 or by email at [email protected].