ACACIA JOHNSON

Before a camping trip, a homemade tent dries on the sea ice in Nunavut.

A brown bear sow (Ursus arctos) known as "T Bear" nurses her two yearling cubs in the tidal flats of McNeil River State Game Sanctuary - home to the world's largest seasonal congregations of brown bears. This bear's name, which refers to a physical characteristic, is used as an identifier by McNeil staff to track the animal throughout its life. In the background is Augustine Volcano, an active stratovolcano which last erupted in 2006. Over the past fifty years, bear biologists at McNeil have learned to read brown bear behavior and developed techniques to view them safely from the ground. This has formed the principles for the bear viewing industry that now thrives on the Alaska Peninsula, and challenged widespread beliefs that brown bears were always dangerous to humans. Today, summer permits to visit McNeil River are distributed via a lottery system, allowing only ten people per day. The bears at McNeil are now uniquely habituated to existing in harmony with the small groups of bear viewers who share their habitat every summer. Brown bear conservation advocates are concerned that the proposed Pebble Mine could not only damage the world-class salmon habitat that feeds McNeil's bears, but also irrevocably alter these bears' peaceful relationships with humans. The plan for a road to Pebble's proposed industrial port at Amakdedori Creek would border McNeil State Game Refuge, making it likely that many of McNeil's bears would interact with the mining infrastructure and personnel, and possibly learn to associate humans with food.

A March sunset glows through the bridge of an expedition vessel traveling the coast of Svalbard. In another month, the midnight sun will return, making March an ideal time of year for photography due to the colors of light.

On Antarctica's Danco Island, gentoo penguins come and go from their nests over fields of blooming snow algae, which flourish when temperatures rise.

Acacia Johnson | Photographer

Acacia Johnson is a photographer from Alaska, focused on human relationships to the earth's Polar Regions.

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