This tiny Arctic village is trying to revive its polar bear tourism industry. Locals are worried
This tiny Arctic village is trying to revive its polar bear tourism industry. Locals are worried
Mark ThiessenFri, April 24, 2026 at 9:42 AM UTC
0
This photo provided by Roger MacKertich shows polar bears lying on a barrier island Sept. 18, 2019, near Kaktovik, Alaska. (Photo by Roger MacKertich via AP) (Roger MacKertich)
Late every summer, polar bears gather outside Kaktovik, a remote Alaskan Native village situated on the edge of the continent, deep within the Arctic Circle. Here, they feast on whale remains left by hunters, patiently awaiting the deep cold that will freeze the sea.
This unique spectacle once drew over a thousand tourists annually to the settlement, the only one in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, for what was dubbed "last chance tourism" – an opportunity to witness these magnificent creatures before climate change threatens their very existence.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic and a federal government order halting boat tours largely ended Kaktovik's polar bear tourism, following concerns that the small community was being overwhelmed by outsiders. Now, Kaktovik leaders are hoping to revive it, recognising its potential to inject millions into the local economy and offer residents a crucial income stream.
This revival, however, is contingent on the village establishing strict guidelines to protect both its traditional way of life and the bears themselves. Charles Lampe, president of the Kaktovik Inupiat Corp, which owns 144 square miles of land, stated: "We definitely see the benefit for tourism. The thing is, it can’t be run like it was before."
Charles Lampe, president of the Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation, poses for a portrait outside his home in Kaktovik, Alaska, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File) (Copyright 2024 The . All rights reserved.)
As far back as the early 1980s, anyone in Kaktovik with a boat and knowledge of the waters could take a few tourists out to watch the bears as they lumbered across the flat, treeless barrier islands just off the coast or tore into the ribs of a bowhead whale left by subsistence hunters.
Tourism in Kaktovik soared in the years after federal officials declared polar bears a threatened species in 2008. The rapid warming of the Arctic is melting the sea ice the bears use to hunt seals, and scientists have said most polar bears could be wiped out by the end of the century.
Kaktovik mapped:
As visitation boomed, the federal government imposed regulations requiring tour operators to have permits and insurance, and that began to squeeze locals out of the industry, Lampe said. Larger out-of-town operators moved in, and before long crowds of tourists were coming to Kaktovik — a village of about 250 people — during the six-week viewing season.
The town’s two hotels and restaurants lost out on some business when large operators began flying tourists in from Fairbanks or Anchorage for day trips. Locals complained tourist gawked at them or traipsed through their yards.
Small plane capacity became an issue, with residents sometimes battling tourists to get on flights to or from larger cities for medical appointments, forcing those left stranded in the cities to get expensive hotel rooms for the night.
The Kaktovik Lagoon and the Brooks Range mountains of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge are seen in Kaktovik, Alaska, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File) (Copyright 2024 The . All rights reserved.)
When the pandemic struck, Kaktovik paused visitation. Then in 2021, the federal government, which manages polar bears, halted boat tours, mostly over concerns about how tourists were affecting bear behavior and overrunning the town.
Advertisement
Now Alaska Native leaders are in talks with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to address those concerns and reignite the industry, perhaps as early as 2027. The agency told The in a statement that it’s working with Kaktovik “to ensure that any future opportunities are managed in a way that prioritizes visitor safety, resource protection, and community input.”
Among the changes Kaktovik leaders want to see is a limit on how long a boat can sit in the water near the bears. Too long, Lampe said, and the bears get used to humans — making for a dangerous situation when bears wander into town looking for food.
During the height of the tourism boom, it became tougher to haze bears out of town, even with the town’s bear patrol shooting at them with non-lethal rounds. The patrol had to kill about three or four bears per year, compared to maybe one per year before the boom, Lampe said.
“Our safety was at risk,” Lampe said.
In 2023, a 24-year-old woman and her 1-year-old son were killed in a polar bear attack in Wales, in far western Alaska. It was the first fatal polar bear attack in nearly 30 years in Alaska, the only U.S. state home to the species.
Since the boat tours in Kaktovik were halted, the bears once again seem more fearful of humans, Lampe said.
A polar bear and a cub search for scraps in a large pile of bowhead whale bones left from the village's subsistence hunting at the end of an unused airstrip near the village of Kaktovik, Alaska, on Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File) (Copyright 2024 The . All rights reserved.)
Polar bear tourism coincides with Kaktovik’s subsistence whaling season. When a crew lands a whale, it's usually butchered on a nearby beach. While the community encourages visitors to watch or even help, some were recording or taking pictures without permission, which is considered disrespectful, Lampe said.
Sherry Rupert, CEO of the American Indigenous Tourism Association, suggested that Kaktovik market itself as a two- or three-day experience.
Native communities that are ready for tourists "want them to come and be educated and walk away with a greater understanding of our people and our way of life and our culture,” she said.
Roger and Sonia MacKertich of Australia were looking for the best spot on the planet to view polar bears in the wild when they came to Kaktovik in September 2019. They spent several days in the village, took a walking tour led by an elder and bought souvenirs made by local artists, including a hoodie featuring a polar bear.
For Roger MacKertich, a professional wildlife photographer based in Sydney, the highlight was the boat tours to see bears roaming on the barrier islands or taking a dip in the water. The bears paid them no attention.
“That’s nearly as good as it gets,” he said.
Source: “AOL Breaking”
