Tag Archives: Great Bear Foundation

‘Walking Bear Comes Home: The life and work of Chuck Jonkel’ premiers on April 20

March 28, 2017Environmental Issues, Movies and Video, Newsbear research, Chuck Jonkel, Great Bear Foundationnfpa

From the Great Bear Foundation web site . . .

Walking Bear Comes Home: The life and work of Chuck Jonkel – A production of the Great Bear Foundation and Caribou Crossing

World premiere screening April 20th, 2017 at 5:00 PM
40th International Wildlife Film Festival
Roxy Theater, Missoula, Montana

Please join us for a reception to honor Dr. Jonkel at: 400 PM at the Roxy, followed by the screening at 5:00. After the film, we’ll celebrate with the launch of Great Bear Cider at Western Cider from 7:00-9:00, with 10% of the proceeds benefiting the Great Bear Foundation.

For more information, including how to order the DVD, go to the “Projects” page at the Great Bear Foundation web site and click on “Documentary Film on Charles Jonkel.”

Remembering bear expert Chuck Jonkel

April 24, 2016Environmental Issues, Newsbear study, Chuck Jonkel, Great Bear Foundationnfpa

Articles remembering and praising Chuck Jonkel continue to roll in, including the below column by Larry Wilson and nice pieces by Rob Breeding and Chris Peterson . . .

Dr. Charles ‘Chuck’ Jonkel passed over The Great Divide this week. He never owned property on the North Fork, but spent so many years here researching bears that I feel he was an actual North Forker.

My first memories of Chuck came in the late 1950s or early 1960s when he was on the North Fork doing research on black bears. Mel Ruder did an extensive article in the HHN with pictures of Chuck going into the den of a hibernating black bear to work on the sleeping bear.

Read more . . .

Also read:

The Great Bear’s BFF (Flathead Beacon)

Biologist Jonkel ‘spoke truth to power’ (Hungry Horse News)

Chuck Jonkel, world-renowned bear expert and advocate, dies at 85

April 14, 2016Environmental Issues, News, Sciencebear study, Chuck Jonkel, Great Bear Foundationnfpa

This is truly the end of an era. Chuck Jonkel passed away Tuesday at age 85.

Rob Chaney of the Missoulian wrote a first-rate obituary. Recommended reading . . .

Grizzly bears emerging from their winter dens will encounter a changed landscape: Longtime grizzly advocate Chuck Jonkel has died.

“Mr. Jonkel was truly a pioneer in grizzly bear science,” said Leanne Marten, Regional Forester for the Forest Service’s Northern Region. “Montana will miss him greatly. Everything we know about grizzly bears is due to Mr. Jonkel’s expertise.”

Jonkel died Tuesday evening at his home in Missoula. He was 85.

“Tim Ryan from the Flathead Reservation came down on Monday and did a Salish smoke ceremony for Dad, and then (Blackfeet singer) Jack Gladstone and Patty Bartlett sang him off on Tuesday morning,” son Jamie Jonkel said. “We took him down by the river for the ceremony, and he really liked that.”

Read more . . .

‘Walking Bear Comes Home’ preview available for viewing online

February 15, 2013Environmental Issues, Newsbear research, Charles Jonkel, Great Bear Foundationnfpa

The Geat Bear Foundation is putting together a documentary about the life and work of their founder, Dr. Charles Jonkel. Chuck Jonkel is a major figure in bear research and has been associated with the North Fork for over 30 years. Here’s the GBF announcement, which includes a link to the film preview on YouTube . . .

As many of you know, the Great Bear Foundation and Salish Kootenai College Media/KSKC Public TV have been hard at work on a film project documenting the life and work of GBF President and pioneer of bear biology, Chuck Jonkel.

Walking Bear Comes Home combines archival film footage of Jonkel’s historic polar bear research in the Canadian Arctic with interviews with Jonkel, his colleagues, friends, and family, to tell the story of one of the most interesting characters in wildlife conservation, and the co-founder and President of GBF.

Chuck Jonkel’s legacy in wildlife biology and conservation is varied and far-reaching. Just to list a few of his many accomplishments, Jonkel developed the first capture-and-handling procedures for polar bears and black bears, developed the first database on Canada’s polar bears and their habitat requirements, co-drafted and signed the International Agreement on Conservation of Polar Bears, directed the Border Grizzly Project, the most comprehensive field study on the habitat requirements of the grizzly bear in the Lower 48 States, co-founded the Great Bear Foundation and the International Wildlife Film Festival, along with many, many more achievements that have helped to protect wildlife and habitat in North America and beyond. Jonkel’s big heart, generous nature, and unique character may have made as big an impact as his research and advocacy work.

We’d like to thank all of you who have helped out with this project, whether you contributed money, photographs, film footage, stories, interviews, advice, or moral support. We’ve been overwhelmed by your generosity and support! We will continue to keep you posted on the progress of this project.

We screened a preview of this film-in-progress for the first time publicly on February 2, 2013 at the FLIC Cinemafest in Polson, Montana.

You can watch the latest preview here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeYPSEuQbss

For more information, or to donate to the project, please visit our website: http://greatbear.org/projects/#docfilm

This project is sponsored by the Great Bear Foundation, Salish Kootenai College Media, The Cinnabar Foundation, Humanities Montana, and numerous private donations.

Dr. Charles Jonkel to speak at annual meeting of NFPA on Saturday, July 31, at Community Hall

July 24, 2010Newsbear research, Charles Jonkel, Great Bear Foundation, NFPA Annual Meetingnfpa

Dr. Charles Jonkel, President and co-founder of the Great Bear Foundation was named the 2005 Conservationist of the year. The award honored his work in establishing the International Wildlife Film Festival in 1977, 30 plus years pioneering ways to improve the quality of wildlife television and, not least, for his 45 (now 50 years) of conducting bear research around the world. Also recognized were Jonkel’s roles in developing the methodology of bear research, establishing the first concepts of modern bear management and his election as President of the International Bear Biology Association.

Jonkel’s bear research efforts started in 1959 with the commercial availability of the dart gun. He has been around for an exceptionally long time and has much yet to accomplish.

Dr. Jonkel will be speaking at the annual meeting of the North Fork Preservation Association at 7:30 pm at the Sondreson Community Hall at Whale Creek, preceded by a potluck at 5pm and business meeting at 6:30 pm.

Chuck’s birthday is July 16. Join NFPA at the annual meeting and celebrate his 80th birthday.