Dominion of Bears

Living with Wildlife in Alaska

Sherry Simpson

• Publisher: University Press of Kansas
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780700619351, 9780700619351
• eBook ISBN: 9780700620241
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Zoology
• Index: Biological Sciences

Winner: John Burroughs Medal

Long ago we invited bears into our stories, our dreams, our nightmares, our lives. We have always sought them out where they live, for their hides, their meat, their beauty, their knowingness. Human country and bear country exist side by side.

As Sherry Simpson suggests, the relationship between bears and humans is ancient and ongoing and, in Alaska, profoundly and often uncomfortably close. A huge number of North America’s bears live in Alaska: including at least 31,000 brown bears, 100,000 black bears, and 3,500 polar bears. And nearly every aspect of Alaskan society reflects their presence, from hunting to tourism marketing to wildlife management to urban planning.

A long-time Alaskan, Simpson offers a series of compelling essays on Alaskan bears in both wild and urban spaces—because in Alaska, bears are found not only in their natural habitat but also in cities and towns. Combining field research, interviews, and a host of up-to-date scientific sources, her finely polished prose conveys a wealth of information and insight on ursine biology, behavior, feeding, mating, social structure, and much more.

Simpson crisscrosses the Alaskan landscape in pursuit of bears as she muses, marvels, and often stands in sheer awe before these charismatic creatures. Firmly grounded in the expertise of wildlife biologists, hunters, and viewing guides, she shows bears as they actually are, not as we imagine them to be. She considers not only the occasionally aggressive behavior bears need to survive, but also the violence exacted upon them by trophy hunters, advocates of predator control, or suburbanites who view bears as land sharks that threaten the safety of their families.

Shifting effortlessly between fascinating facts and poetic imagery, Simpson crafts an extended meditation on why we are so drawn to bears and why they continue to engage our imaginations, populate indigenous mythologies, and help define our essential visions of wilderness. As Simpson observes, “The slightest evidence that bears share your world—or that you share theirs—can alter not only your sense of the landscape, but your sense of yourself within that landscape.”

index

Page numbers reflect those in print edition.

Abundance management, 274, 275, 302, 303

Active management, 274

Adamello-Brenta Natural Park, 312

Adaptive management, 286

ADF&G. See Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Admiralty Island, 45, 49, 52, 60, 93, 149, 158, 181, 255; bears on, 98, 262; salmon on, 51

Alaska (magazine), 182, 235

Alaska Airlines, 7

Alaska Big Game Commercial Services Board, 266

Alaska Board of Game (BOG), 106, 111, 183, 262, 264, 266, 274, 276, 279, 297, 300, 302, 304, 306, 309; appointments to, 301; brown bear hunting and, 123; fair chase and, 265; intensive management (IM) and, 278; McNeil River and, 261; mission of, 286; predator control and, 8, 273, 275, 281; rechristening of, 287; recommendations to, 284; Sinnott and, 118; wolf killing and, 9

Alaska Board of Wildlife, 287

Alaska Constitution, 277, 287

Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), 3, 43, 70, 83, 96, 105, 111, 114, 117, 129, 135, 139, 191, 256, 262, 266, 272, 279, 281, 285, 289, 290, 292, 294, 301, 307, 309; bear watching and, 257–258; black bears and, 297; brown bears and, 298; Campbell Creek and, 121; criticism of, 119; fair chase and, 274; feasibility plans by, 283; hunter ethics and, 265; Juneau bears and, 112; moderat...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• The Metaphorical Bear
• The Unseen Bear
• The Hungry Bear
• The Social Bear
• The Urban Bear
• The Fearsome Bear
• The Hunted Bear
• The Disappearing Ice Bear
• The Watched Bear
• The Predatory Bear
• The Story of Bears
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Photo Gallery
• Back Cover