The Times, UK, November 2022

R A E L MEN saturda november 26 2022 Alba

Wha eall happ en d ing a b o n b ea e p e di ion

S M S N 26 2022, 12.01 ,

S S

e approach the bear den slowly and quietly. Somewhere in the vast forest around us a t wig snaps. We freeze in our tracks and my heart

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Wha eall happen d ing a b o n bea e pedi ion Alba The Time

misses a beat I gaze anxiously towards Dr Andrea Friebe, our bear scientist. She looks around, shakes her head and gives the all clear.

I am on a citizen science project deep in the Swedish forest wilderness with Biosphere Expeditions, an NGO helping to conserve brown bears. Reassured by Friebe, I approach the den, negotiating my way over rough terrain in this magical forest about 200 miles north of Stockholm. Mosses and lichen drape a thick carpet over boulders and the remains of long fallen trees. Tall pines and spruces stand like giant soldiers all about us, infusing us with their earthen smell of wood and grass; mist swirls around the feet of some of them as the sun asserts itself into another glorious midsummer day.

My GPS guides me towards the bear den, and as I crest another rolling hill I can see it. Empt y. No bear to be seen. So to work we go.

Let s be clear: on this trip “working” does not equal “spotting”. After all, this is not a safari, but a genuine research project. We see mooses, foxes, birds and all sorts of other wildlife and people in our group and previous ones have seen bears but voyeurism is not what this is about. There is a reason it s called an expedition.

“We want to empower people to do something about the crisis our planet is in,” Friebe explains. “And the beautiful thing about biolog y is that it s a lot of stamp collecting; there is no computer or drone that can count and assess bear dens. We can train people in a day or t wo to perform the scientific tasks around the

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B I O S P H E R E E P E D I I O N S

Wha eall happen d ing a b o n bea e pedi ion Alba The Time

den measure it, describe it, look for bear signs etc It s easy to morph those willing into a citizen scientist, and the more of them we have the more data we can gather and the better we can protect the bears.”

DV E R T I S E M E N T

So after t wo days of intensive training, here I am, on my hands and knees, crawling into the den. It s far smaller than I had imagined; just large enough to snugly fit a bear must y, earthen, smelly, cramped. I measure the heck out of it, shouting my findings out to my fellow citizen scientists outside, my voice mu ed by the den s thick walls of roots and soil. In the light of my headlamp I collect what I think are bear hairs, for DNA analysis. Then onto the next den, an hour s walk away, where Maddy, a solicitor from Brighton, has a go at crawling in and performing contortions with a measuring tape.

A

Back at the expedition base, there is an open fire and red and white cabins straight out of a Swedish picture book. Around the crackling open fire, Friebe says: “Detailed knowledge about bear dens is important because it helps to avoid human bear conflict and provides important population, reproductive and other ecological information.” My fellow expeditioners nod, their faces lit up by flames that lick into the air. Within days our group of ten disparate people, expedition leader and expedition scientist, have formed into a team bound by a common goal not to see a bear in t ypical safari st yle, but to study and help to conserve them. It is this that makes the trip special.

The next day Friebe has another challenge for us: reach a den on a small island in the middle of a lake. We straddle paddleboards and slowly make our way over to it. After a wobbly half hour, we reach the island, and it s as though we are the first humans to set foot there. There are no paths. The blueberry bushes are thick on the ground, making walking di cult.

Birds shriek at us for disturbing their peace, warning us that we don t belong in this Scandinavian Garden of Eden. But I know that when I go out into these enchanted woods again tomorrow, it will be with a spring in my step and a little trepidation about meeting a bear on his home turf. Most of all, though, it will be with the knowledge that I am here to help these magnificent creatures survive and thrive in this wild part of Europe.

SPONSORED

Sam Mitterham was a guest of Biosphere Expeditions, which has a ten-day bear conservation expedition in Sweden from May 27 for 2,267pp (biosphere expeditions.org). Fly to Stockholm with SAS or Norwegian from about 100 return. The trip starts and ends in Mora, which is four hours by train from Stockholm ( 44 return; omio.co.uk)

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