A Calgary artist has found a way to honour the memory of a beloved white grizzly bear named Nakoda while supporting wildlife conservation.
Nearly two months after Nakoda’s tragic death on a highway, artist Terri Heinrichs has created a portrait titled Lost, But Not Forgotten as a tribute to the iconic bear.
Nakoda, known for her rare white coat, was killed in June after being struck by a vehicle on the Trans-Canada Highway. Tragically, just 12 hours earlier, her two cubs also died in a similar accident in Yoho National Park.
Terri Heinrichs and her husband were in Europe teaching art when they heard the news of Nakoda’s death. “We were just devastated from across the world,” she told CBC News.
Determined to keep Nakoda’s memory alive, Heinrichs saw an opportunity to contribute to a more significant cause—wildlife conservation.
She explained, “I wanted to create a piece in memoriam so that she would be remembered and also so that I could give back in a small way.”
Heinrichs displayed the portrait recently and plans to donate some of the proceeds from its sale to the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC).
Protect Habitat to Protect Wildlife
For Heinrichs, supporting the NCC was a natural choice.
“These animals, of course, it was their home before it was our home and they need that massive amount of space to be able to live their beautiful lives,” she said, emphasizing the importance of protecting wildlife habitats.
The NCC relies heavily on donations to achieve its conservation goals.
Sean Feagan, the media and communications manager for the NCC in Alberta, highlighted the organization’s mission to preserve resilient landscapes and increase habitat connectivity.
Grizzly bears need large, undisturbed areas to thrive.
“The more connected the habitat is, that helps ensure that the bear can access those different resources and try to stay away from these sources of mortality,” Feagan explained.
The NCC has recently worked with ranchers to protect a large area of land in the foothills of Alberta frequented by grizzlies.
Grizzly Mortality In the Parks
Nakoda’s story is a reminder of the challenges wildlife face in human-dominated landscapes, especially the dangers of being struck by a vehicle or a train in Banff and Yoho National Parks
Despite Parks Canada’s efforts to keep Nakoda away from the highway, she continued to head to the highway’s ditches to get her favourite food, dandelions, ultimately leading to her and her cubs’ untimely deaths.
John E. Marriott, a prominent wildlife advocate, emphasized the need for a wildlife summit to ensure the sustainability of grizzly populations in the parks.
“A wildlife summit can discuss many issues, and one of the core issues has to be how do we make sure that the Lake Louise grizzly bear population becomes a source for grizzly bears again and not a sink population,” Marriott stated in a Facebook post.
Experts like Kim Titchener, founder of Bear Safety & More, stress the importance of female bears in population growth. “It’s a tough thing when we lose a female bear that’s producing cubs,” she said, adding that recent policies in Alberta allowing the hunting of certain grizzlies could further threaten the population.
Nakoda’s death was especially devastating because she was the only young reproducing female grizzly in the entire Lake Louise subpopulation.
“Grizzly bears are considered a species of special concern. They’re a very slow-reproducing animal, so every female grizzly bear that’s killed in the park is a significant loss,” Saudi Stevens, Parks Canada’s wildlife management specialist, told CP24.
Nakoda became the sixth breeding female grizzly killed in the Lake Louise subpopulation in the last four years.
According to Parks Canada, 13 bears, including black and brown, have been killed so far this year by vehicles or trains in the Yoho, Kootenay, and Lake Louise regions.
A Larger Conversation
Beyond its financial impact, Heinrichs hopes her art will spark conversations about the importance of habitat preservation.
Art has always played a significant role in Canada’s conservation history, and Titchener believes that art can help people connect with animals they may never encounter in real life.
“Some people didn’t get to experience actually seeing Nakoda on the landscape, but this gives them that opportunity to capture that essence of who that bear actually was,” she said.
Heinrichs’ portrait not only commemorates Nakoda but also serves as a powerful reminder of the need to protect the wild spaces these animals call home.
