Ghost Grizzlies by David Petersen, and: The Lost Grizzlies: A Search for Survivors in the Wilderness of Colorado by Rick Bass

Abstract

Essay Reviews G host G rizzlies. By David Petersen. (New York: Henry Holt, 1995. 296 pages, $27.50.) The Lost G rizzlies: A Search fo r Survivors in the W ilderness o f Colorado. By Rick Bass. (Boston: Houghton M ifflin, 1995. 240 pages, $22.95.) Champions o f Ursus horribilis w ill be delighted with this year’s bumper crop o f books on the great bear— an im pressive harvest which includes such important volum es as John Murray’s G rizzly Bears: An Illustrated F ield Guide, John Craighead’s (et al.) G rizzly Bears o f Yellowstone, David Petersen’s G host G rizzlies, and Rick B ass’s The L ost G rizzlies. The books by Petersen and Bass, under consideration here, have as a comm on subject the provocative possibility that the grizzly, long extirpated from all but a few sanctuaries in the lower fortyeight , may still roam the deepest wilderness o f southern Colorado’s San Juan Mountains. The true tale o f the San Juan grizzlies is as tantalizing as a good campfire story. After more than a century o f systematic extermination o f bears, state w ildlife managers finally declared the Colorado grizzly extinct in 1952. However, the years follow ing were punctuated by possible grizzly sightings (invariably dism issed by authorities as misidentifications o f black bears) until, in 1979, hunting outfitter Ed W iseman provided incontrovertible proof o f the griz­ zly’s existence when he stabbed to death a 400-pound grizzly sow as she attacked and severely mauled him. If grizzlies had for a quarter century prowled unde­ tected through southern Colorado, wasn't it possible that a remnant population of reclusive griz still survived in the highest, wildest territory o f the San Juans? Responding with im peccable bureaucratic logic that the W iseman bear must have been the last, state w ildlife authorities again declared the Colorado grizzly extinct, leaving advocates o f grizzly habitat protection with desperately little sup­ port. Enter the inimitable Doug Peacock: author of G rizzly Years, inspiration for Edward A bbey’s Hayduke in The M onkey Wrench Gang, and the man Petersen affectionately calls “the patron saint o f apparently hopeless causes.” Forming the San Juan Grizzly Project in 1991, Peacock has used the coalition to staff an ongo­ ing effort to locate, document, and protect surviving Colorado grizzlies. That is, if there are any. 162 Western American Literature Into this biological detective story steps David Petersen, a Colorado envi­ ronm entalist and writer w hose recent work includes the edited volum e Confessions o f a Barbarian: Selections from the Journals o f Edward Abbey, 1951-1989. Petersen’s approach to the mystery o f the “ghost grizzlies” is patient and thorough, making his book an im pressive record o f the biological, political, and ethical issues surrounding grizzly loss— and, if possible, preservation and recovery— in southern Colorado. In addition to exploring high-elevation bear habitat in the San Juans with his friend Doug Peacock, Petersen also walks and talks with ranchers, hunters, outfitters, environmentalists, game managers, and bear biologists, thereby providing readers a wealth o f perspectives from which to consider the phenomenon o f the elusive grizzly. Like any good detective, he avoids premature conclusions and attends closely to all available evidence as he considers arguments for and against the existence o f a remnant population of Ursus horribilis in Colorado. Because Petersen is an inveterate follow er o f clues, G host G rizzlies becom es a sort o f tracking story— a narrative in which the explo­ ration o f possibilities results in a unified series o f well-inform ed forays into the wilderness o f doubt and hope surrounding the enigmatic Colorado grizzly. In The Lost G rizzlies, his ninth book, Rick Bass filters the bear story through a very different sensibility. B ass’s more literary version o f the tale is distin­ guished by his appealing, characteristic blend o f idiosyncratic humor and lyrical intensity. The book’s humor centers on the legendary D oug Peacock, w hose remarkable passion and eccentricity blossom beneath the author’s appreciative...