Track of the Grizzly by Frank C. Craighead, Jr

Abstract

302 Western American Literature But finally I must say that Lavender offers little new. He is not the pathfinding researcher that Bolton was; nor the formulator of incisive theses in the manner of Walter Prescott Webb. Webb, in fact, once said that the historian had within himself only a few books to write — about three or four, as I recall. He meant, of course, books that offered really new insights; and he produced two, one more than Frederick Jackson Turner. David Lavender has written more than twenty books, and I think that pretty well establishes my point: that his latest effort is popular history — sophisticated popular history, yes, that is a far cut above some but still short of Bruce Catton. His appeal, therefore, will be to the general reader interested in an overview that enlivens fact with anecdote. It will not particularly excite the seeker after new visions. EDWIN W. GASTON Stephen F. Austin State University Track of the Grizzly. By Frank C. Craighead, Jr. (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1979. 279 pages, $10.95.) The grizzly bear has long been recognized as the ultimate symbol of the Great West, a shadowy figure surrounded by legend and myth, exciting fear and awe. Though the legends are often based on fact, the actual body of scientific knowledge about this animal has been relatively slight. Therefore every interested person will welcome this lucid account, by the foremost authority on the grizzly, of a long-range, systematic field study of grizzly biology and behavior. Though the Craighead study has been documented in more than a score of technical papers and has been the subject of several National Geographic films, in this book the general reader has his first opportunity, long-awaited, to follow a thorough, fascinating, and ultimately heart-breaking record of the efforts to gain the necessary knowledge which would provide for enlightened management of the bears. Information about the grizzly has been inadequate because the grizzly is naturally shy of man, tends to be nocturnal, and inhabits a wild and forbidding terrain. To meet these difficulties, the Craigheads developed a method by which grizzly specimens trapped in culvert traps were rendered immobile by tranquilizing darts, then measured, weighed, and marked with coded ear tags that would allow quick and accurate identification. Of importance to the outcome of this project was the use of sophisticated electronics technology. Miniature radio transmitters were embedded in water-proof collars fastened to 48 grizzlies between 1961 and 1969. For a time the collared bears were even tracked by space satellite. Of special interest is the narrative of particular bears who were followed on foot by Reviews 303 intrepid and indefatigable researchers, in lengthy travels determined by signals picked up by their portable radio receivers. The sheer physical effort is stirring. This study provided information about the size of the bear population, the extent of the area over which it roams, the composition of its population and social organization; feeding habits, seasonal activity, breeding age and frequency; size of litters, causes of mortality, and the long-sought data about pre-hibernation and hibernation behavior: all necessary to our understanding the grizzly, now critical in the face of mounting human population pressures. Yet the Craighead study was curtailed in 1971 as a consequence of a change in the Yellowstone National Park administration and a controversy over management policies between Park bureaucracy and the Craigheads which resulted from that change. The issue is of national importance. The Yellowstone ecosystem provides a habitat for the largest remnant of the grizzly population in the original forty-eight states, a number estimated between 600-700 bears in states where the grizzly can still be found: Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. This estimate represents a sharp decline, however, in just the last dozen years, following curtailment of the Craigheads’ work in that area. Grizzly mortality has reached an alarming rate through hunting practices detrimental to female and immature bears and through Park management policy to control “nuisance” bears. W'hatever bear policy is or might be, there are very few bears left in that ecosystem. The grizzly is on the losing side of time. This eloquent book by a humanistic man of science...