Ossian Rotary will see pictures and video of Alaskan grizzly bears fishing for salmon at world famous Brooks Falls in remote southwest Alaska.
Carol and Jeff Keplar will share their adventures of camping among the grizzlies and watching them fish in the Brooks River in preparation for the coming hibernation.
Salmon are hatched in the Brooks River and its tributaries, then travel downstream and spend the next two years swimming thousands of miles throughout the North Pacific.
Then their instincts drive them to return to the very stream where they were born, often above the formidable Brooks Falls, which they must jump in order to reach the spawning grounds. But hungry bears preparing for hibernation are waiting to catch them in mid-jump. Those who make it will spawn upstream and then begin the cycle again to assure future generations.
The Brooks Falls area has no road connection with civilization so a bush float plane is used to land on a lake, 350 miles from Anchorage. Accommodations include an electric-fence protected campground which is usually safe from the bears, but not always, as attendees will learn Thursday morning at 7:30 at the weekly Rotary meeting at Ossian Baptist Church, 1001 Dehner Drive, Ossian.
