"In Native tradition, Chuck Jonkel and friends gathered in a celebration of spring along Rattlesnake Creek on Friday to welcome grizzly and black bears from their deep winter sleep.
“Anybody on the walk?” Jonkel said, raising his voice over the rushing waters of the creek as about two dozen people joined him on a walk through Greenough Park, the opening night of the Great Bear Foundation's 10th annual International Multicultural Bear Honoring.
About 90 percent of tribes once celebrated the bear with ceremonies and honored the majestic creature through clan systems, said Jonkel, director of the Great Bear Foundation. “Most let it slip away,” he said.
Shannon Donahue, the foundation's outreach and advocacy coordinator, said Jonkel honors the tribal practice of welcoming bears out of hibernation.
As he walked along the river trail, Jonkel, a pioneer of bear biology, pointed out nettles and likely den areas favored by bears in Missoula's Rattlesnake Valley. At any given time, there are some 20 bears within a five- to six-mile stretch in the valley, he said.
The 10th annual International Multicultural Bear Honoring kicked off Friday with a wild bear food buffet of berries, elk, venison and spring greens."
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