It Starts with Salmon
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 The brown bears of the Alaska Peninsula are big. Really big. That size is a direct result of the abundance of life found during the summer in southwest Alaska. Specifically, that abundance means spawning salmon, a nutritious and plentiful food source that contributes to rapid growth for feeding bears. In a sense, the salmon make the bears what they are; without the profuse run of salmon, the bears would not come together in high concentrations or attain such massive size. The Katmai bear story really starts with the salmon.
 A predictable eruption occurs in Katmai yearly as salmon burst form the northern Pacific and into the park waters. Sockeye salmon return from the ocean where they have spent two or three years. By some homing mechanism they return to the exact headwater gravel beds of their birth. Their size, an average of 5 to 7 pounds, varies proportionally to how long they spend in saltwater.
The salmon run begins here in late June. By July's end a million fish may have moved from Bristol Bay into the Naknek system of lakes and rivers. Salmon stop feeding on entering freshwater and physiological changes lead to the distinctive red color, humped back, and elongated jaw they develop during spawning. The salmon spawn during August and September. Stream bottoms must have the correct texture of loose gravel for the eggs to develop. The stream must flow freely through winter to aerate the eggs. By spring young fish, called smolt, emerge form the gravels and migrate into the larger lakes, living there for two years. The salmon then migrate to sea, returning in two or three years to spawn and begin the cycle again.
 Salmon provide food for bears, bald eagles, gulls, and other creatures that forage along streams during the annual run. They have also been important to the Katmai peoples for several thousand years.
The Katmai plot, then, is really more a fish story than a bear tale. You might say there's a "good fish behind every bear."
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