Long considered an icon of the wild, wolves capture our imagination and spark controversy. Humans are the adult wolf’s only true natural predator; its return to the old-growth forests and wild coastlines of the Pacific Northwest renews age-old questions about the value of wildlands and wildlife. As the vivid stories unfold in this riveting and timely book, wolves emerge as smart, complex players uniquely adapted to the vast interdependent ecosystem of this stunning region. Observing them at close range, David Moskowitz explores how they live, hunt, and communicate, tracing their biology and ecology through firsthand encounters in the wildlands of the Northwest. In the process he challenges assumptions about their role and the impact of even well-meaning human interventions.

Long considered an icon of the wild, wolves capture our imagination and spark controversy. Humans are the adult wolf’s only true natural predator; its return to the old-growth forests and wild coastlines of the Pacific Northwest renews age-old questions about the value of wildlands and wildlife. As the vivid stories unfold in this riveting and timely book, wolves emerge as smart, complex players uniquely adapted to the vast interdependent ecosystem of this stunning region. Observing them at close range, David Moskowitz explores how they live, hunt, and communicate, tracing their biology and ecology through firsthand encounters in the wildlands of the Northwest. In the process he challenges assumptions about their role and the impact of even well-meaning human interventions.

Peter Dettling first visited Canada’s internationally renowned Rocky Mountains national parks as a Swiss tourist in 1993. Immediately, he fell in love with the untouched wilderness, breathtaking landscapes, diverse flora and abundant animal life, all seemingly free from human intervention and manipulation. With wide-eyed exuberance, Dettling moved to the heart of the Canadian Rockies in 2003, working as an artist and nature photographer. For years he documented the beauty and splendour of life in the mountains of western Canada, selling his art and photography to countless tourists and locals. In time, however, he gained insight into the realities of nature’s growing struggle against developing tourism, ill-conceived transportation routes and questionable wildlife management practices. Through Dettling’s stunning photography and passionate narrative, The Will of the Land serves as an incredible artistic testament to the beauty of the natural world and the sometimes painful truth of hyperdevelopment in majestic landscapes, offering the reader a dynamic and broad vision of what national parks should stand for in our ever-changing world.

In Wolf Country tells the story of the first groups of wolves that emigrated from reintroduced areas in Idaho to re-colonize their former habitat in the Pacific Northwest, how government officials prepared for their arrival, and the battles between the people who welcome them and the people who don’t, set against the backdrop of the ongoing political controversy surrounding wolf populations in the Northern Rockies. The political maneuvering and intense controversy that has defined wolves’ recovery in the West makes this a compelling and timely read.

James W. Brooks packed several lifetimes of adventure into his sixty-five years in Alaska - working as a fisherman, trapper, musher, miner, wartime flyer, bush pilot, and whale biologist. In a beautifully written memoir, Brooks tells of being drawn to the North, where he lived off the land in the final years of the Territory of Alaska. Later, he served as commissioner of fish and game under two governors. Literally, Brooks lived and worked among the creatures of Alaska, from the walrus and seal habitats of the Bering Sea to the commercial fisheries in the Panhandle, and from the vast waterfowl nesting grounds of the Southwest river deltas to the harsh Arctic home of the polar bear. Brooks balanced politics and science in dealing with battles over wildlife management including controversial aerial wolf hunting intended to conserve moose populations that feed many two-legged creatures of Alaska.

Many Japanese once revered the wolf as Oguchi no Magami, or Large-Mouthed Pure God, but as Japan began its modern transformation wolves lost their otherworldly status and became noxious animals that needed to be killed. By 1905 they had disappeared from the country. In this spirited and absorbing narrative, Brett Walker takes a deep look at the scientific, cultural, and environmental dimensions of wolf extinction in Japan and tracks changing attitudes toward nature through Japan's long history. Grain farmers once worshiped wolves at shrines and left food offerings near their dens, beseeching the elusive canine to protect their crops from the sharp hooves and voracious appetites of wild boars and deer. Talismans and charms adorned with images of wolves protected against fire, disease, and other calamities and brought fertility to agrarian communities and to couples hoping to have children. The Ainu people believed that they were born from the union of a wolflike creature and a goddess. In the eighteenth century, wolves were seen as rabid man-killers in many parts of Japan. Highly ritualized wolf hunts were instigated to cleanse the landscape of what many considered as demons. By the nineteenth century, however, the destruction of wolves had become decidedly unceremonious, as seen on the island of Hokkaido. Through poisoning, hired hunters, and a bounty system, one of the archipelago's largest carnivores was systematically erased. The story of wolf extinction exposes the underside of Japan's modernization. Certain wolf scientists still camp out in Japan to listen for any trace of the elusive canines. The quiet they experience reminds us of the profound silence that awaits all humanity when, as the Japanese priest Kenko taught almost seven centuries ago, we "look on fellow sentient creatures without feeling compassion."

Explores the complex web of interactions between the salmon of the Pacific Northwest and the surrounding ecosystem, including its relationship with streambeds, treetops, sea urchins, bears, orcas, rain forests, kelp forests and so much more, in a book with 70 full-color photos.