Sitka: Fortress of the Bear

Has anyone does this activity in Sitka? I have my initial thoughts on it, but wondering how this reserve differs from a zoo exhibit or wildlife safari. Is it worth the time?

There are at least 2 photojournals in the 2016 Trip Report list (posted above) that include info and photos for Fortress of the Bears.

Here's one from bostonjetset. Look down to the bottom of the pg

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2404561&page=2

The other is from JimaOk1945.

Don't know if you're familiar with the SEARCH tool here but it's a relatively useful way to pull up information from past threads.

Go to SEARCH THIS FORUM near the top of the page and type, fortress. This search will pull past threads that contain the word fortress. Not much chance of the word being used with anything else but Fortress of the Bears so all the threads should relate to your topic.

Such as this one:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2458332&highlight=fortress

Has anyone does this activity in Sitka? I have my initial thoughts on it, but wondering how this reserve differs from a zoo exhibit or wildlife safari. Is it worth the time?

I have been to the Fortress of the Bears in Sitka as part of a ship's excursion, "Otters, Raptors, and Bears." The bear sanctuary is for orphaned bear cubs, both black and brown, whose other option is euthanasia. The cubs are raised together but without the guidance of their deceased mother to teach them to survive in the wild. The bears are inside of two huge concrete tanks formerly used for sewage treatment. The environment is maintained as if in the wild and the bears are not fed during their normal hibernation season. Observers look down on the bears from an approximately 20-foot tall platform. No bars. Unfortunately, there was no salmon stream running through the tanks.

When I was there, I saw a pair of black bear cubs and a pair of brown bear siblings.

http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/specialty/wildlife/alaska-brown-bears/

The Fortress of the Bear is truly worth seeing as the residents are given a second chance at living.

Looks interesting and found out it is an accessible option for Sitka so booked the Birds, Bears and Barnacles excursion. By the time I added up the admissions and plain shuttle bus costs it's not that much more to guaranty wheelchair capable transport. We've been to the Raptor center before but worth doing again.

Has anyone does this activity in Sitka? I have my initial thoughts on it, but wondering how this reserve differs from a zoo exhibit or wildlife safari. Is it worth the time?

Taken from my review from last June:

A few more pics...

The Fortress of the Bear had 5 Grizzlies and 3 Black bears

We really enjoyed our whole excursion including the stop here.

I am a cruiser that have taken 100% of my cruises in the Caribbean / Bahamas region. That being said, I am currently working away from home, and so I find myself in Sitka for two months, ending June 17, 2017. Although I have not taken any cruisehip-based excursions in Sitka, I have visited ALL the land-based sights and attractions on this island. So you can say that I've been on all the excursions, but without cruise ship involvement. I have not taken any water-born activities, although I have two scheduled for Memorial Day 2017 weekend. If anyone has any questions about Sitka, getting around, or any questions at all, please feel free to ask. After all, I am a cruiser at heart, and I think like a cruiser, even though, because of my work, I just happened to fly into this particular port.

So, regarding the Fortress Of The Bears: Here is my take on it. It really is nothing much more than a zoo, with the exception that instead of having a hundred different animal species, you have only two. And both of them are bears: Black bears and brown bears. In a typical zoo, you look at the bears through bars or glass. In this setting, you look down through the open top of large circular enclosures that the bears cannot climb out of. So..... if you have bears to look at in a big city zoo near your home, you could probably check this off your list. If you don't have that opportunity, (zoo near your home), well, then.... it is most definitely worth it. I would like to point out three points: 1. The bears here are ALWAYS much more active than any bear exhibit I've ever seen at a zoo. So if you want to watch bears frolic, eat food, or argue over food, then this may interest you, even if you have a zoo near home. 2. This place has both black and brown bears. The black bears are small. The brown bears are very large, with a hump on their back. The natives here, tell me that they are the exact same bears as the grizzly bears in Montana, and the Kodiak bears Alaska. They are just called different names in the different localities. 3. Another poster here, a few posts above this one, said that the concrete enclosures from a former sewage treatment facility. That is not true. They were pulp clarifying tanks from an old, now closed, pulp mill. (paper is made from pulp.)

Has anyone does this activity in Sitka? I have my initial thoughts on it, but wondering how this reserve differs from a zoo exhibit or wildlife safari. Is it worth the time?

We did this last year and enjoyed it very much. This was our fourth visit to Sitka so we were looking for a new experience. This is an educational experience as far as learning about types of bears, their habits, and their diet. I would not compare this to a "zoo" experience at all. There is lots of room for these rescued bears to roam compared to a zoo. You can read about the circumstances that brought these bears to this location at the Fortress of the Bears website. I felt like my entry fee was well spent as conservation and education sites like this are an important part of our life experience.

I went to The Fortress of the Bear last year. I thought it was fantastic! Definitely not like a typical zoo. And the enclosures the bears live in are not old sewage tanks - the site is an old pulp mill and they are old tile "chests". (I work in a paper mill that has an attached pulp mill - I totally recognized the chests when I saw them.) I don't know if it's typical since I've only been there once but there were a number of bald eagles hanging around. The below pic and some others of this fellow I took from only 4-5 feet away. I felt the eagles was a cool bonus.