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Alaska's Wildlife Treasures
"Bears are always biggest when they're com¬ing your way," reports Tom Melham, author of Alaska's Wildlife Treasures. He has reason to know. Having joined biologists in tagging and studying Kodiak bears, the world's largest land carnivores, Tom stood for an endless instant as 500 pounds of raw power charged toward him. Would the tranquilizer—injected by dart gun from a helicopter—take effect in time?
It did. Tom survived to spend an entire sum¬mer in the Great Land, as Alaskans call their enor¬mous, icy home. His gripping account offers a timely introduction to Alaska's diverse creatures, and to the bitterly tangled issues affecting their survival. No tourist, Tom shouldered his gear through some of Alaska's toughest country. Frigid water numbed his limbs as he thrashed and gasped through the Kongakut River. Bounding over tundra on an all-terrain vehicle brought jubi¬lation—and a mudbath. Even the grasses sup¬plied an element of hazard as Tom helped net geese on the Aleutian island of Buldir.
Along with adventure, the northernmost state offers scenes suitable for framing; pregnant caribou, tens of thousands of them, filing across the Brooks Range; edgy walrus packed along a slice of shore; emerald lakes in a landscape "more suited to Disney's palette than to nature's"; agile Dall sheep in light-white coats; and enough fjords, peaks, streams, and valleys to adorn an entire planet and not seem stingy.
With the sights come sounds. Walrus bel¬low, caribou burp, musk oxen clatter as their horns meet. And another species—more dangerous in its way than any other—produces sharper dis¬cords. Contemplating the fate of the Alaskan arcadia, human residents are debating strategies, priorities. Some still marvel as the Last Frontier yields its newest mysteries. "They aren't supposed to move around like this," sighs an expert as a wolf pack confounds theory.
"But there they are."
It did. Tom survived to spend an entire sum¬mer in the Great Land, as Alaskans call their enor¬mous, icy home. His gripping account offers a timely introduction to Alaska's diverse creatures, and to the bitterly tangled issues affecting their survival. No tourist, Tom shouldered his gear through some of Alaska's toughest country. Frigid water numbed his limbs as he thrashed and gasped through the Kongakut River. Bounding over tundra on an all-terrain vehicle brought jubi¬lation—and a mudbath. Even the grasses sup¬plied an element of hazard as Tom helped net geese on the Aleutian island of Buldir.
Along with adventure, the northernmost state offers scenes suitable for framing; pregnant caribou, tens of thousands of them, filing across the Brooks Range; edgy walrus packed along a slice of shore; emerald lakes in a landscape "more suited to Disney's palette than to nature's"; agile Dall sheep in light-white coats; and enough fjords, peaks, streams, and valleys to adorn an entire planet and not seem stingy.
With the sights come sounds. Walrus bel¬low, caribou burp, musk oxen clatter as their horns meet. And another species—more dangerous in its way than any other—produces sharper dis¬cords. Contemplating the fate of the Alaskan arcadia, human residents are debating strategies, priorities. Some still marvel as the Last Frontier yields its newest mysteries. "They aren't supposed to move around like this," sighs an expert as a wolf pack confounds theory.
"But there they are."
196 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 11, 2023
“Alaska is not, as the state license plate asserts, ‘the Last Frontier’. Alaska is the final big bite on the American table, where there is never quite enough to go around….Alaska is where a man feels free to destroy an entire valley by placer minings, as I could see from the air over Fairbanks, in order to extract one peanut-butter jar full of gold dust.” -Edward Abbey
This book is a fantastic overview of conservation in the state both historically and currently (ca 1994). Even nearly 30 years after publication it is still a great overview of Alaskan wildlife. I learned many interesting facts about how diverse and important the various unassuming habitats of Alaska truly are. I also found the tails of successful conservation efforts on the Aleutian Islands to be inspiring. This book tells the tale of the largest US state that is both literally and figuratively far from the rest of the country. The forces attempting to exploit the land and those trying to conserve it were and continue to push against each other today.
This book is a fantastic overview of conservation in the state both historically and currently (ca 1994). Even nearly 30 years after publication it is still a great overview of Alaskan wildlife. I learned many interesting facts about how diverse and important the various unassuming habitats of Alaska truly are. I also found the tails of successful conservation efforts on the Aleutian Islands to be inspiring. This book tells the tale of the largest US state that is both literally and figuratively far from the rest of the country. The forces attempting to exploit the land and those trying to conserve it were and continue to push against each other today.
August 5, 2023
3.5 stars
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December 11, 2008RefYA4
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews