. >> reporter: our guide, marvin, a tracker for the getgat nation, native to this region.e wisp of hair on a tree in the forest. >> see that white hair? so that's from a spirit bear. >> reporter: left behind when the bear clawed his signature on to the trunk as a warning to other bears to keep away. >> you can see here one, two, three, four, five claw marks. >> reporter: hopefully we'll run into him. >> yeah, that would be nice if we got to see him. >> reporter: marvin's tribe considers the spirit bear sacred. >> it means white and bear. >> reporter: he says until recently the tribe spoke about them only in whispers. >> we weren't even to talk about it. if we were sitting at the dinner table you know and somebody mentioned they seen one, everybody would tell you to shh, keep it quiet, we don't want too many people to know rr the bear seems only too happy to cooperate. by the end of our first day, the only spirit bear we saw -- was the totem painted on the wall of the lodge in marvin's hometown, population 150. the tribal elders here strongly oppose the pipeline. >> we need