Update from our brown bear conservation expedition in Dalarna, Sweden
What does one do on a bear conservation expedition? After day 1, the overwhelming answer seems to be: to get flat tyres 😉 But first things first…
On Monday our intrepid team of citizen scientists assembled in Mora, a small regional town in Dalarna county and end point of the famous 90 km Vasaloppet ski race.
Brown bear conservation and citizen science
Our citizen scientists this year are – as usual – from all over the world (USA, UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, Poland, Canada), of all ages and from all walks of life.
We reached the expedition base after an hour and went straight into briefings and training. Introductions, a safety briefing, background about the project (what our scientist Andrea does in brown bear conservation and how we can help her) and the skills and tools to do so.
We learnt how to use a compass to determine a bearing, a GPS to find a bear den and the way back to the car afterwards, a relascope to measure tree height and trunk size, and lots more. Then we went out into the field to practice our newly-acquired skills in the afternoon.
Sample dens and flat tyres
We found two sample dens: a rock den and and anthill den. They are not the big caves people imagine. Instead they are cosy small spaces, just big enough for a bear to curl up, stay warm and hibernate in.
Lots of information to process, lots to take in and remember. We did and then negotiated our way back to the cars, across rough ground, the end of a long day, dinner and a log fire beckoning.
But no. First a puncture. A stick on a forest path had penetrated the tyre wall. No panic and a foam fix later, we were back on our way. Overnight a second tyre has gone flat.
Good thing that this morning there are more lectures (for example how to capture data) at base. This will give us time to sort this in parallel, hopefully. We need the cars back in action in the afternoon. But there is always a Plan B….
Read also: First I second diary entry of the Sweden brown bear conservation expedition . All Sweden 2026 diary entries on one page.
Author: Matthias Hammer
Biosphere Expeditions was founded in 1999 by Dr. Matthias Hammer. Born in Germany, he went to school there, before joining the Army, and serving for several years amongst other units with the German Parachute Regiment. After active service he came to the UK and was educated at St Andrews, Oxford and Cambridge. During his time at university he either organised or was involved in the running of several expeditions, some of which were conservation expeditions (for example to the Brazil Amazon and Madagascar), whilst others were mountaineering/climbing expeditions (for example to the Russian Caucasus, the Alps or the Rocky Mountains). With Biosphere Expeditions he has led teams all over the globe. He is a qualified wilderness medical officer, ski instructor, mountain leader, divemaster and survival skills instructor. Once a rower on the international circuit, an amateur marathon runner and Ironman triathlete, he now enjoys less extreme pursuits such as writing and long-distance walks in the wild.