{"id":252,"date":"2025-07-10T18:49:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T18:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lqxjyw.com\/?p=252"},"modified":"2025-07-11T09:53:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T09:53:34","slug":"two-decades-and-counting-meet-the-manager-of-nat-habs-alaska-bear-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lqxjyw.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/10\/two-decades-and-counting-meet-the-manager-of-nat-habs-alaska-bear-camp\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Decades and Counting: Meet the Manager of Nat Hab\u2019s Alaska Bear Camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

Caprice Stoner has managed Alaska Bear Camp<\/strong><\/a>, a remote fly-in wilderness camp in Alaska’s Lake Clark National Park, for two decades. And she’s not planning on leaving anytime soon!<\/p>\n

Nat Hab acquired the remote camp, set in one of the most coveted bear-viewing locations in Alaska, in 2022, after the family owners who founded it in the early 1980s opted to sell it. Bear Camp’s 10 deluxe tent cabins are built on a pioneer homestead<\/a> that’s now an inholding in southwest Alaska’s Lake Clark National Park, a roadless coastal wilderness in the shadow of the icebound Aleutian and Alaska ranges.<\/p>\n

\"Caprice<\/p>\n

Caprice Stoner has managed Bear Camp, a remote fly-in wilderness camp in Alaska’s Lake Clark National Park, for 16 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

From the Deep South to the Last Frontier<\/h2>\n

Alaska is home to 95% of America’s brown bear population, and the tidal flats, sedge grasses, plentiful berries and spawning salmon make this region one of the world’s best habitats to attract them. And they have been Caprice’s summer neighbors since she found her way to Alaska in 2006.<\/p>\n

In addition to overseeing Bear Camp’s operations, she has become a naturalist guide herself, introducing guests to the wonders of watching wild brown bears in their native habitat\u2014and inspiring them with her deep passion for conservation. Yet a conversation with Caprice reveals she isn’t native to Alaska: you’ll hear a gentle drawl that reveals her Tennessee roots, a place she returns to each year when Bear Camp, open from late spring to the end of August, shuts down for the season.<\/p>\n

Caprice grew up on 10 acres on Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga, where she spent most of her time outside with her four siblings, hiking, biking and riding horses in the woods. “I was about 11 years old when I realized I wasn’t a little boy, and I was sorely disappointed,” she says. “I was bent out of shape when there was something ‘only for boys.’ Dad sat me down and said, “You can do anything a man can do when you put your mind to it, but I expect you to be a lady while you do it.”<\/p>\n

> Check out Nat Hab’s Women’s Journeys<\/a>, including Alaska Bear Camp, and read about Nat Hab staffer Meg Brief’s adventure at Bear Camp with her mom<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yet Caprice’s unique career in the wild outdoors didn’t start until she was 40. She had studied business administration in college in the 1980s, had two kids, and later found herself working for Turner Broadcasting in Atlanta as a makeup artist for CNN and The Weather Channel when she decided she needed to get back to nature.<\/p>\n

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As a child, Caprice reveled in wild places all over the U.S., exploring with her family for a month each summer and two weeks in the wintertime. Her dad was an avid fisherman and hunter, and she credits him with instilling a conservation ethos in his kids, which has shaped her entire life, including her passion for working in conservation tourism today.<\/p>\n

“He always taught us to leave things better than you found them, don’t take what you don’t need, use water carefully, don’t litter,” etc. She grew up assuming everyone inherently knew these things, but as she came to discover otherwise, she has dedicated time to teaching “leave no trace” principles to other trainers, including leaders in the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts organizations.<\/p>\n

\"Brown<\/p>\n

She has long held a deep love for wildlife, nurtured by her brother, “who was like Grizzly Adams \u2014 he would capture animals, and he loved them.” Later, she learned the greater benefit of leaving wildlife undisturbed, but the experiences of her youth laid the foundation for her enthusiasm for bears and protecting their well-being.<\/p>\n

After her father died in 2005, the self-proclaimed “daddy’s girl” and “tomboy” knew it was time for a change. Her kids were in college, and she had the freedom to return to the outdoors. She moved west in the winter to teach skiing at Deer Valley in Utah. Wanting to continue her sojourn outside with a seasonal summer job, she spied an ad for a position that caught her imagination: a remote bear-viewing camp in Alaska needed a manager.<\/p>\n

She sent her resume via snail mail and had a telephone interview with the previous owner. Caprice held a private pilot’s license, and while she couldn’t fly travelers, her familiarity with navigating challenging weather gave her a leg up in communicating with the bush pilots who brought guests to and from the camp. She got the job.<\/p>\n

Making the Wilderness Home<\/h2>\n

Running a camp in this setting was no ordinary tourism endeavor. As she functioned as the “weather tower” for the incoming and outgoing planes, she also had to become familiar with how to conduct herself amid dozens of bears at home in her immediate environs. When Caprice first arrived, it was renowned bear guide Drew Hamilton<\/strong><\/a>\u2014a longtime Nat Hab Expedition Leader and bear conservationist in Alaska\u2014who trained her. And Drew continues to be involved with operations at Bear Camp today.<\/p>\n

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