Among Wolves: Gordon Haber's Insights into Alaska's Most Misunderstood Animal

by Gordon Haber, Marybeth Holleman

Overview

Alaska’s wolves lost their fiercest advocate, Gordon Haber, when his research plane crashed in Denali National Park in 2009. Passionate, tenacious, and occasionally brash, Haber, a former hockey player and park ranger, devoted his life to Denali’s wolves.

He weathered brutal temperatures in the wild to document the wolves and provided exceptional insights into wolf behavior. Haber’s writings and photographs reveal an astonishing degree of cooperation between wolf family members as they hunt, raise pups, and play, social behaviors and traditions previously unknown. With the wolves at risk of being destroyed by hunting and trapping, his studies advocated for a balanced approach to wolf management. His fieldwork registered as one of the longest studies in wildlife science and had a lasting impact on wolf policies.

Haber’s field notes, his extensive journals, and stories from friends all come together in Among Wolves to reveal much about both the wolves he studied and the researcher himself. Wolves continue to fascinate and polarize people, and Haber’s work continues to resonate.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781602232181
Publisher:	University of Alaska Press
Publication date:	10/15/2013
Pages:	310
Sales rank:	318,238
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Gordon Haber (1942–2009) studied wolves in Denali National Park and interior Alaska for forty-three years. Marybeth Holleman is author of The Heart of the Sound and coeditor of Crosscurrents North. She has lived in Alaska’s Chugach Mountains for twenty-five years. 

Table of Contents

Introduction

Scientist and Advocate for Alaska’s Wolves

      The First Two Years of Life of an Alaska Wolf

1 My Good Fortune: Working among Alaska’s Wolves

      Snapshot: Savage River Wolves – Gary Baker

      Snapshot: Flying Gordon – Troy Dunn

2 The Heart of Wolf Society: Wolf Family Bonds

      Snapshot: First Snow – Johnny Johnson

      Snapshot: A True Field Scientist – Troy Dunn

3 A New Biological Year: Attending Young Pups

      Snapshot: Teklanika Den – Karen Deatherage

4 It Takes a Family: Raising Pups Cooperatively

      Snapshot: Son – Troy Dunn

5 Going with the Flow: The Daily Lives of Wolves

      Snapshot: Just One More Turn – Troy Dunn

6 Why Wolves Howl: The Many Social Values

      Snapshot: A Sign of Intelligence – Johnny Johnson

      Snapshot: Passing By – Troy Dunn

7 Hunting Traditions: Wolves, Their Prey, and Scavenging

      Snapshot: Pups at a Sheep Kill – Priscilla Feral

8 Toklat’s Switch to Hares: Survivors Seize an Opportunity

      Snapshot: Toklat’s Hare Hunting – Troy Dunn

9 Companions and Competitors: Ravens, Hears, and Other Wildlife

      Snapshot: Wolves with Bears – Troy Dunn

10 Natural Fearlessness: Wolves and People in Denali National Park

      Snapshot: Dr. Gordon Haber – Jonathan B. Jarvis

      Snapshot: The Hamburger Drop – Johnny Johnson

11 Park Wolves in Danger: The Denali Buffer Solution

      Journal Notes: State-Snared Wolves

      Snapshot: This Guy is Hard Core – Joel Bennett

      Snapshot: Mortality Call – Barbara Brease

12 Science Gone Awry: Alaska’s Wolf-Killing Programs

      Journal Notes: Snowmachine Hunt

      Snapshot: Wolf Summit – Priscilla Feral

      Snapshot: Picking Pilots – Troy Dunn

13 Endangered Species: The Problem with Delisting Northern Rockies Wolves

      Snapshot: Scientist as Advocate – Rick Steiner

14 Toklat’s High Value: The Case for Unexploited Wolf Groups

      Snapshot: Last Phone Call – Barbara Brease

      Significant Findings of Gordon Haber’s Wolf Research

Epilogue

From Bad to Worse: An Update on Haber’s Wolves

References

Acknowledgements

Index

Editorial Reviews

"This book, compiling Gordon Haber’s lifetime dedication to studying and protecting wolves, is an immensely important addition to the  literature. He knew each one as an individual, observed the disruption of social bonds every time a pack member was killed. Among Wolves will enable those who were not fortunate enough to meet him to be inspired by his amazing stories, as I was. And it will help all those involved with wolf conservation long after his tragic death. Gordon was a hero, and I am sure the wolves howled when his plane crashed—animals know."  

Jane Goodall

"Culled from [Haber's] published articles, research notes, and tweets, combined with the reminiscences of friends and colleagues, this volume, created by Alaskan writer Holleman, is the final word on the groundbreaking research Haber conducted on the Denali wolf packs for four decades."

Booklist

"The book peels back the layers of misunderstanding of the wolf, revealing a fascinating, complex, socially evolved animal that deserves our admiration and protection, not our fear and hatred."

Huffington Post

“This extraordinary collaboration between Alaska writer Marybeth Holleman and the late world-renowned wolf biologist Dr. Gordon Haber is informative, gripping, passionate, and revealing. It takes readers deep into the culture of Denali National Park's wolf family groups through Haber's 40-plus-years of exacting observations, and then deep into the mire of Alaska wolf politics.

Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment

“Holleman deserves credit for creating comprehensive introductory material and a well-organized book (gleaned from Haber’s journals and notes). Readers will share Haber’s intimate experiences with the Toklat wolves of Denali National Park and Preserve and those of the Yukon-Charley region of east-central Alaska. Reading Among Wolves gives us an appreciation not only for Haber’s subject but also for the man himself.

Western American Literature

"Among Wolves is a rich addition to Canis lupus literature. It includes a great deal of new and intimate information on wolves. At the same time, this very readable book brings transparency to the figure of Gordon Haber, revealing to us, mostly through his own words, the intelligence and compassion of this remarkable man."

EcoLit Books