Enjoying Outside - Fat Bear Week!

Kristie Ehrhardt • October 7, 2026

Fat Bear Week is officially over and the winner has been crowned but I think it needs to be celebrated a bit longer. Annnd, technically, it’s the bears that are Enjoying Outside but I feel like this qualifies because there are live webcams that make you feel like you’re out there with them. 


Fat Bear Week is an annual contest held in late September to early October organized by the National Park Service and Explore.org. It is essentially a celebration of bloat and glutton as brown bears (Ursus arctos) consume as much fresh, fatty salmon (how lucky are they?) as they can hold in preparation for sleeping their way through winter (again, how lucky are they?!). The party takes place in Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska and honors not only the iconic and recognizable brown bear but also the banquet of sockeye salmon hustling upstream to spawn. Sure the bears are definitely more charismatic, maybe even comedic, but the salmon are vital to the bears survival as well as also being a keystone species - their presence is necessary to maintain the health and function of the entire preserve ecosystem. The worldwide public is invited to tune into webcams and watch the bears pluck adult salmon as they leap toward their natal gravel beds and then cast votes for their favorite fat bear. The whole situation is essentially a popularity contest with unsuspecting contestants. 


After bulking up all summer and gorging on salmon in the fall, the bears often top 1,000 pounds. They need it though because they can lose up to one third of their body weight during their long winter sleep (one more time - how incredibly lucky are they?!). The bear’s fat reserves are what keeps them alive while sleeping away winter. 


The aim of Fat Bear Week is to promote bear conservation and to entice a global audience to have an interest in wildlife and nature through webcams. And it seems that the contest has gone viral. There are fan clubs and pages dedicated to the chubby bears and even a charity bracket event that benefits the Katmai Conservancy. 


It all started in 2014 when a park ranger stumbled across a couple of photos on Facebook; basically a before (prior to bulking-up) and after (following months of visiting the smorgasbord), comparison of the same bear. The rangers brainstormed a way to promote bear conservation and came up with Fat Bear Tuesday and the inaugural first fat bear contest. The full-fledged Fat Bear Week was rolled out (no pun intended) the following year and has ballooned (!) into the televised eating contest we now wait all year for. Over one billion people participated in this year's event from more than 100 countries. The ranger that started it all, Mike Fitz, developed a single elemintation tournament bracket so people could keep track of their favorites. 


Over the years the contest has had its share of reality show drama. In 2022, voter fraud, electoral fraud, election manipulation, election scan, vote rigging, election stealing, whatever you want to call it, transpired. It appears that “Holly” was in the lead but it was revealed that she received 9,000 votes in a dubiously short amount of time. Officials haven’t stated who was responsible for the rigging but after removing the false votes, Bear 747 ended up taking home the prize. Then in 2023, a cold and wet hiker who had been reported as missing was seen on a webcam. Viewers reported the sighting to rangers who subsequently rescued the grateful wayward individual. And finally, during the opening days of Fat Bear Week 2024… murder. Bear 469, aka “Patches”, was witnessed fatally attacking female bear 402, live on a webcam. Officials delayed the contest to host a press conference of sorts to respond to the public’s questions. Rangers stated that it was unusual for bears to prey on each other but added that the perpetrator was seen guarding the remains of another bear in 2012. 


To be allowed to compete in Fat Bear Week, all contestants must have been seen snagging sockeye salmon at the Brooks River during both the summer and fall seasons. To help ensure all eligible bears are included, webcams line a 1.5 mile section of the river. Qualifying bears are entered into the bracket with one of the two bears advancing to the next round based on votes. Livestream feeds, before and after photos and bear biographies all help viewers decide which bear they want to vote for. 


After a fierce week-long contest, Bear 89, also known as “Backpack” emerged victorious. The winner was announced on Fat Bear Tuesday, September 29, 2026. Known as a gentle giant (unless you’re a salmon I guess), he claimed over 100,000 votes in a landslide victory over runner up, “Bucky”. “Backpack” is estimated to weigh in at over 1,000 pounds. 


Although the competition for 2026 is over, keep an eye out for Fat Bear Week 2027. Explore the Katmai National Park and Preserve webpage and find webcams to watch them gorge themselves and to vote for your favorite tubby teddy.

RECENT ARTICLES

Wildfires and California Oaks – Nature and You Lectures

By Geoff Benn • October 7, 2026
Blue oaks on the Berryessa Peak Trail. Photo by Geoff Benn. Our September Nature and You speaker was Tuleyome Education Associate Geoff Benn, who gave a lecture on one of his favorite subjects, California’s amazing oaks. In the lecture, Geoff discussed how California’s oaks evolved and how they deal with a range of challenges, including drought, fire, and diseases. If you missed it, be sure to check out his talk here. 

Welcome Interns!

By Geoff Benn • October 7, 2026
Interns Deana Martinez, Yaquelin Gonzalez, Gabriella Limon, Ben Hubbard, and Keira Lazaro at Woodland Regional Park Preserve. Tuleyome is excited to welcome our largest ever cohort of interns, including four Horticultural Interns and one Communications Intern! Our Horticultural Interns are paired with volunteer mentors at Woodland Regional Park Preserve where they learn about managing invasive plants and monitoring populations of rare native plants. This year’s mentors are Jennifer Hogan and Teri Barry, both longtime volunteers and leadership team members at the Preserve. Our Communications Intern works closely with Program Director Nate Lillge to shape and execute our communications, including social media, e-newsletters, and more. Keep reading to meet each of our interns: Horticultural Intern Yaquelin Gonzalez has lived within the bounds of Sacramento County her whole life, where her mother’s garden and love for rock collecting sparked her appreciation for nature. Her desire to enter the environmental field was further fueled via nature-based field trips during elementary school. After high school, she began studying at American River College and eventually transferred to the University of California, Davis in 2025 to study Environmental Science and Management, focusing on Ecology, Biodiversity, and Conservation. Here, she has gained an interest in soil science as well as plant ecology and hopes to pursue a research career in restoration ecology. In her spare time, she likes to go on nature walks, play the guitar, read, bake, and listen to podcasts. Horticultural Intern Ben Hubbard grew up in Roseville, California where he spent a lot of time outdoors with friends, competing in sports, hiking, as well as instructing elementary school field trips about the environment, specifically wetlands. He just recently transferred from Sierra College to the University of California, Davis and is working towards completing his Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and Management with a specialization in Ecology. When he completes his education, he hopes he can make a difference in the world and help to preserve wildlife and natural land for the next generation to enjoy as much as he has. When he’s taking a break from studying you can find him practicing with his recreational sports team, grabbing a coffee, hiking, enjoying a good story, or just hanging out with friends. Horticultural Intern Keira Lazaro is a third year undergraduate at University of California, Davis where she majors in Environmental Toxicology. She’s specializing in pharmacology and biotechnology with hopes to work in a research lab on specific pathogens that attack native California crops. She is also a part of the University Honors Program in Davis and is taking the first couple of steps towards her fourth year signature work on the oxidation chemistry behind electronic cigarette devices, specifically with exposure in indoor environments. Keira grew up in Los Angeles County and hopes to find a career in Southern California once she graduates. When she is able to go back home she spends most of her free time at the beach or hiking. Communications Intern Gabriella Limon grew up in Bishop, California, within the Sierra Nevada and Owens Valley where she became connected with wildlife and stewardship. She spent her later teenage years in Southern California and committed to the University of California, Davis, where she is currently pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning with a focus on conservation management. In addition, she is also a scholar staff member of the UC Davis Women’s Resources and Research Center where she provides STEM-based programming and academic support to students of marginalized identities. Gabby is especially passionate about wildlife justice, land protection, and environmental education. She spends her free time writing, playing video games, tide pooling, hiking, and logging critters. Horticultural Intern Deana Martinez grew up in Arbuckle, California, surrounded by rice fields and almond orchards, which grew her interests in agriculture. She is currently in her 4th year at the University of California, Davis, where she is pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Entomology with a Soil Science minor. Along with classes, she is involved in a Nematology research lab, working with plant parasitic nematodes and their interactions with common crop systems in California. She has also held a student position with the Plant Biology research greenhouses as a technician for the past 3 years. Outside of school and work, Deana enjoys hiking, reading, and spending time with her family.

Policy Corner: California Fights Back on Endangered Species Protections

By Shai Demus • October 7, 2026
California’s condors and sea otters are two of conservation’s great comeback stories – species that were once on the brink of extinction and have rebounded thanks in large part to the Endangered Species Act (ESA). That 50-year-old law is now facing one of the most significant rollbacks in its history, and California is fighting back in court. Last week, Attorney General Rob Bonta, joined by a coalition of 21 state attorneys general, filed two lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s recent changes to the ESA. At the center of the fight is a single but enormously consequential change: the administration rescinded the longstanding definition of “harm” under the Act – a definition that, since the early 1980s, has made it illegal to destroy or damage the places endangered species live, breed, and feed. Without it, habitat destruction itself may no longer count as illegal “harm” to a species, even though most biologists agree habitat loss is the single biggest threat facing endangered species today. The changes don’t stop there. The administration is also making it easier for federal agencies to avoid designating “critical habitat” for at-risk species, and it has eliminated automatic protections for newly-listed threatened species – meaning wildlife officials must now write custom protection rules for each species one at a time. That’s a heavy lift for an agency that has reportedly lost more than a third of its staff, and which currently has 400 species waiting for a protection decision. Why this matters here at home California is home to more threatened and endangered species than any other state. It’s natural to assume the state’s own Endangered Species Act would fill any gap left by federal rollbacks – but legal experts point out that California’s law, as written, doesn’t clearly protect habitat at all. It primarily prohibits killing or injuring individual members of a listed species, not damaging the places they live. That means the very thing under threat federally – habitat protection – may not have a reliable backstop at the state level either. What this means for our work At Tuleyome, so much of what we do, protecting oak woodlands, wildlife corridors, and watershed habitat across our region – depends on the basic principle that a species' home matters as much as the species itself. A condor or a Clear Lake hitch can’t survive court-ordered protection from hunting alone if the habitat it depends on is quietly bulldozed, drilled, or logged out from under it. This lawsuit is about defending that basic principle at the federal level, and it’s a reminder of why local land protection and legislative advocacy matters now more than ever – because the safety net above us may have real holes in it.