{"id":566,"date":"2018-09-11T13:26:07","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T20:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mrpletsch\/?p=566"},"modified":"2018-09-12T19:39:51","modified_gmt":"2018-09-13T02:39:51","slug":"touching-spirit-bear-ketchikan-and-the-great-bear-rainforest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/mrpletsch\/2018\/09\/11\/touching-spirit-bear-ketchikan-and-the-great-bear-rainforest\/","title":{"rendered":"Touching Spirit Bear: Ketchikan and the Great Bear Rainforest"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Beautiful Ketchikan!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our story takes place partly in Ketchikan, Alaska and nearby islands. Ketchikan is a city is Southeast <\/strong>Alaska, only 162 <\/strong>km North of Prince Rupert, British Columbia. The city itself sits on Revillagigedo Island, although there is a 800 m wide channel called the Tongass Narrows that separates Ketchikan from Gravina Island, where Ketchikan International Airport. Ketchikan is named after Ketchikan Creek, which flows through the town, emptying into the Tongass Narrows a short distance southeast of its downtown.<\/p>\n

\"Map<\/p>\n

“Ketchikan” comes from the Tlingit name for the creek, Kitschk-hin<\/em>, the meaning of which is unclear. It may mean “the river belonging to Kitschk”; others claim it means “Thundering Wings of an Eagle”<\/p>\n

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The city was founded as a Salmon cannery in 1885 leading to locals calling Ketchikan \u201cThe Salmon Capital of the World.\u201d In 1936, seven canneries were in full operation, producing 1.5 million cases of salmon a year. Presently, Hundreds of cruise ships visit Ketchikan each summer, bringing over 900,000 annual visitors, making Ketchican a tourist hotspot in Southern Alaska!<\/p>\n

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Welcome to Ketchikan!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Visit Ketchikan – Our Native Legacy!<\/a><\/p>\n

Great Bear Rainforest<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Great Bear Rainforest<\/strong> is a temperate rain forest (I hope you remember your biomes!) on the Pacific coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is part of the larger Pacific temperate rainforest ecoregion, which is the largest coastal temperate rainforest in the world.<\/p>\n

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Temperate Rainforest of B.C.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Temperate Rainforests<\/strong><\/em> \u2013 A temperate rainforest is defined as:<\/p>\n