Chuck Schneebeck Photography

During the first week of October 2018, I spent a few days photographing polar bears on Barter Island near the town of Kaktovik, Alaska. Kaktovik is located on the shore of the Beaufort Sea and is in the coastal region of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This area has just been opened to oil exploration by the Trump administration. In the past, large numbers of polar bears came to the village in the fall to scavenge the remains of whales harvested by the natives. Tourists come to see and photograph the bears. There is conflict in the community over plans for oil exploration and tourism. As a result, in 2018 the whale remains were pushed into the sea where the polar bears couldn’t get to them. The bears came, but a food source that they had relied on in years past was not available to them. With the reduction of sea ice, due to global warming, these beautiful animals are finding it more difficult to make a living, and their numbers are predicted to decrease dramatically during the next few decades. I hope I’m wrong, but I feel as if I may be making a record of a species that is on its way to extinction. To see the text for each photo, view in full size.

“Polar bears everywhere face dire threats, but the polar bears of the southern Beaufort Sea in Alaska are the most threatened of all.” – Dr. Steven C. Amstrup