Cinnabar Foundation Grants Funding For Jonkel Film
The Great Bear Foundation expresses thanks to the Cinnabar Foundation for its financial contribution to the Chuck Jonkel Documentary Project. In May, the Cinnabar Foundation offered us a $5,000 challenge grant, and we have been able to match it, pushing us closer to our fundraising goal of $25,000.
Filming is underway, as we have been shooting interviews and collecting archival footage throughout 2009. We are currently writing a script and will continue to conduct interviews through early fall. We anticipate the film's premier screening in December, 2009 in Missoula, Montana.
You can help us reach our fundraising goal by sending a check payable to Great Bear Foundation to: Great Bear Foundation, PO Box 9383, Missoula MT 59807 (Please specify that the donation is for the film project). Or, donate securely online through Google Checkout here.
New Great Bear Foundation Merchandise Available From CafePress
Now you can help support the Great Bear Foundation with a purchase of GBF logo merchandise from CafePress. We have something for the whole family, including big members, little members, and even four-footed members! Check back often, as we will be adding new merchandise periodically. Limited Edition Bear Honoring T-shirts are still available, too, at CafePress.
New Documentary Film on Charles Jonkel in the works
Dr. Charles Jonkel has devoted his life to the study and conservation of wild bears and their habitat. A pioneer of bear biology, Jonkel was one of the first four researchers to study black bears in the field after the invention of the dart gun, and the Canadian government sought him out to lead their groundbreaking research on wild polar bears.
In his eight years in the Arctic, Jonkel compiled the first reliable, comprehensive scientific database on wild polar bears. Realizing the cultural importance of the polar bear hunt to Native people and its vital place in their subsistence lifestyle, Jonkel fought for and secured Native hunting rights in Canada. He and others set up the Polar Bear Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), creating a framework for cooperation among the five countries with polar bear populations, a model for all IUCN specialist groups. Charles Jonkel has worked in more areas of the Arctic than anyone else alive.
If you would like to make a tax deductable donation to the film project,
enter any amount below and click "Donate."
You will be transfered to the film project's secure page at Google Checkout.
After nearly a decade working on polar bears, Dr. Jonkel returned to Montana where he taught wildlife biology at the University of Montana. His Border Grizzly Project was one of the most comprehensive studies of grizzly bears and their habitat requirements ever conducted. As a result, for the first time ever, policymakers and biologists were forced to examine the cumulative effects of all human activities and all other impacts on wildlife, rather than just the immediate, direct impacts of a specific project. Jonkel went on to direct research on aversive conditioning, testing the effects of potential bear repellants on black and grizzly bears.
While Jonkel is considered a father of bear biology, his influence extends far beyond the scientific community. Studying polar bears, he fell in love with the Arctic and became a champion of this little known northern world and the people and wildlife that inhabit it. Decades later, as President and Scientific Advisor of the Great Bear Foundation, Jonkel continues his crusade to teach people about the Arctic, as well as the world's eight species of bears and the need to preserve their habitat. He has also worked for accuracy and quality in wildlife films and founded the International Wildlife Film Festival (IWFF) in 1978. Few people, if any, have done as much for bears as Dr. Jonkel.
And yet, there is still another side to Charles Jonkel - the obsessive gardener, devoted grandfather, the quirky character who gives out handmade leis at the Missoula farmer's market, a survivor of the Great Depression who can find a use or a recipe for literally anything. Jonkel treats everybody with the same respect and generosity, whether he is talking to an esteemed biologist or a homeless man down on his luck. Jonkel's spirit touches everyone he meets.
To celebrate the life and work of Dr. Jonkel, Dr. Frank Tyro, Matt Anderson, and Shannon Donahue have teamed up to create a documentary about the man and his life. The film will examine "the vanishing world of Chuck Jonkel," focusing on the vanishing Arctic as well as the quirky world of one of the most interesting characters of our time. The documentary team has been screening and preserving film reels of Jonkel's work in the Arctic, collecting Jonkel's stories, and interviewing people who have worked with and been close to him over the years.
About the Documentary Team
Frank Tyro has worked at Salish Kootenai College (SKC) in Pablo, Montana since 1984 teaching photography, TV production and mass communication. He brought local public television to the Flathead Reservation in 1988. Frank's background includes 40 years in broadcast media. He is a recurrent visitor to Churchill, Manitoba with the Great Bear Foundation Arctic Ecology field trips as a volunteer beginning in 1984. TV production awards include Best Professional Short, International Cultural Film Symposium, Platinum Best of Show Cultural Documentary, Aurora Award, Telly and Videography Awards of Excellence, Finalist at IWFF and screenings at the American Indian Film Institute Festival, and Native Voice Festival. Frank has a B.S. in TV Production from MSU, Bozeman, an M.A. from Temple University, Philadelphia in Mass Communications and PhD from the Union Institute and University, Cincinnati in e-learning.
He received the Distinguished Service Award from SKC, was president of the Montana Public Television Association, and president, Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Lake County. He has presented on American Indian Learning Styles, Constructivist Theory and Successful Online Courses at conferences in the U.S., Norway and Canada.
Frank lives in Pablo, MT with his wife, Dr. Lori Lambert and their sled dogs.
Matt Anderson has worked as a media consultant and educator for the Great Bear Foundation since 2001. He is currently editing a one hour documentary about the cultural ties between First Nations people of northern British Columbia and the Spirit Bear. Prior to working with the Great Bear Foundation, Matt worked for a PBS affiliate in Boston, where he was an associate producer.
Matt received B.A. 's in Communications/Media Production and Environmental Studies from Gustavus Adolphus College, and an M.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Montana. Over the past 12 years Matt has worked for The Nature Conservancy, Bat Conservation International, USFS, The Teton Science School, and Conservation International as a media producer, scientist, and educator.
Matt was awarded the Golden Apple video award in Boston in 1997, best educational film by the International Wildlife Film Festival in 1998, and worked as cinematographer for PBS, NHK (Japan), CBC, and the BBC.
Currently, Matt lives in Missoula, MT with his wife, two dogs, and a cat.
Shannon Donahue is an M.S. candidate in Environmental Studies at the University of Montana focusing on bear conservation and education. She holds a B.A. in English/Creative Writing from the University of Montana and has studied History and Literature at the National University of Ireland, Galway.
After graduating with her B.A. in 2001, Shannon moved to Alaska, where she lived and traveled all over the state. Her work in Alaska has included bear safety programs for the Begich, Boggs Visitor Center in Portage, Alaska, educating anglers about bear safety and ethical angling to reduce human-bear conflicts on the Russian River, and working as a biological technician and interpreter at the Anan Wildlife Observatory, a black and brown bear observatory in Southeast Alaska.
She first encountered Dr. Jonkel when he gave a talk at the University of Montana on the Spirit Bear, and has been inspired by him ever since. She has been working and volunteering at the Great Bear Foundation since September 2007, has participated in the Foundation's Arctic Ecology Field Course in Churchill, Manitoba, and is a contributing writer for Bear News. Shannon and her dog, Seamus, spend as much time as they can following Dr. Jonkel around. She migrates annually between working among bears in Alaska and learning about and advocating for bears in the Ninemile Valley northwest of Missoula, Montana.
How You Can Help
Documentaries are expensive to make and require a tremendous time commitment for planning, filming, and editing. The documentary team is appealing to friends and supporters of the Great Bear Foundation and Charles Jonkel for financial support for this worthy project, and has set a goal to raise $25,000 for the documentary. Jonkel has influenced and inspired so many people through his scientific studies, advocacy, educational projects, and through his compassionate and generous character. Please help Tyro, Anderson, and Donahue to pay tribute to this man whom all of us admire, and who has done so much for bear conservation around the world. Checks can be made out to The Great Bear Foundation. When contributing, please specify that your donation is intended for the film project. The Great Bear Foundation is a 501 (c)(3), and all donations are tax-deductible in the U.S. Donors will be listed in the film credits.
The documentary team also welcomes any photographs, film footage, and interesting stories about Dr. Jonkel. Please send materials to the Great Bear Foundation.
The Great Bear Foundation
is a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of
bears and their habitat around the world. The Foundation was created
in 1981, to be a voice for the bears. Everywhere wild bears exist,
they have been forced to adapt to habitat changes caused by human
population growth. In some cases, the bears have become so endangered
that they are on the verge of extinction. It is possible
for bears and humans to successfully coexist, but now it is the
responsibility of humans to adapt and learn about ways to live
with bears.
The Great Bear Foundation is primarily
a member-funded organization, and the generosity and support of
our members makes our work possible.
Check out Breaking
Bear News,
pictures of bears,
people,
etc
from our 2006 Arctic Ecology Field Course, and info on our upcoming
Bear Ecology Field Courses.
Email this page to
a friend.
| 
