The photographer and conservationist Ian McAllister discusses his new book, Great Bear Wild: Dispatches from a Northern Rainforest (Greystone, 2014), with Joseph Planta.

Great Bear Wild: Dispatches from a Northern Rainforest by Ian McAllister (Greystone, 2014). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Great Bear Wild

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, at TheCommentary.ca.

That area from the top of Vancouver Island to southern Alaska, along the Pacific coast, is called the Great Bear Rainforest. It’s a unique part of the world, inhabited by the famed pure white black bear, with various animals and lush, bucolic vegetation. It’s its own ecosystem, and it’s all lovingly rendered in a new book, Great Bear Wild: Dispatches from a Northern Rainforest. Its author and photographer Ian McAllister joins me now to talk about the gorgeous photographs he’s taken, the sort of people and creatures that find themselves there. It’s a part of the world that’s under threat as well. I’ll get Mr. McAllister to tell us about what he sees that could be in danger if pipelines are built and if tanker traffic is allowed to marine through. Ian McAllister is the co-founder of the wildlife conservation organisation Pacific Wild. He’s won numerous awards for his work as a photographer. His previous books include The Great Bear Rainforest, and the Last Wild Wolves. Time magazine named him one of the ‘Leaders of the 21st Century.’ The foreword to this book is written by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The book is published by Greystone. The website for more is at www.pacificwild.org. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, from Denny Island, British Columbia, Ian McAllister; Mr. McAllister, good morning.

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