|
|
|
Book Review
| Wolf Mountains: A History of Wolves Along the Great Divide. By Karen R. Jones. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2002. ix + 336 pp. Illustrations, map, notes, bibliography, index. Cloth $49.95.
|
| In Wolf Mountains: A History of Wolves Along the Great Divide, Karen R. Jones examines the history of wolves in four national parks in the United States and Canada. Using the Rocky Mountain parks of Yellowstone and Glacier National Park in the United States and Banff and Jasper national parks in Canada as examples, Jones demonstrates the interaction between wolves and humans, myth and public policy. This creates what Jones calls a "history situating humans within a wider community of species," which does not necessarily begin or end at international borders (p. 13). This well-written, well-organized study adds depth to the literature about national parks in the United States and Canada and offers fascinating insight into changing attitudes toward wolves in these parks. |
1
|
|
Focusing on the four Rocky Mountains national parks offers Jones the opportunity to trace the long history of wolves in the region and their interaction with humans. Jones uses a variety of sources, ranging from national park records to oral histories, to place the wolf in its historical, biological, and mythological contexts. In the case of each park, Jones examines Native American myths and attitudes toward wolves as well as those of white trappers and explorers, who brought with them European folklore images of wolves as fearsome, violent killers. Jones states that it was the morality inherent in this image of the wolf as the brutal predator of defenseless prey that validated wolf eradication programs during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. |
2
|
|
By placing wolves at the center of her study, Jones offers an insight into the challenges faced by a predator species in parks dedicated to recreation and the preservation of herds of grazing animals. In describing the effects poisoning and hunting campaigns had on wolf packs in the various parks, Jones also demonstrates how science slowly took over from myth and emotion as the driving force behind wolf policy in the Rocky Mountain parks. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, erroneous information or stories based upon myths about wolf behavior sometime influenced public policy. Although scientific data could be used to support the positions of those in favor of wolves in the parks as well as those against it, science did help to allay some of the more exaggerated claims of wolf threats. The sharing of ideas and resources between American and Canadian park administrators aided in this effort. |
3
|
|
Jones's work demonstrates the interconnectedness of the Rocky Mountain parks and their wolves while at the same time recognizing that each park's wolf history was and remains influenced by local, regional, and national interests. This was viewed as a controversial program locally and regionally, however, Jones illustrates international cooperation through the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park. While wolves continue to be seen as a threat to grazing herds outside the boundaries of the parks, the changing images of the wolf from predator to endangered species to a symbol of the vanishing North American wilderness has aided the wolf's cause in the popular consciousness in Canada and the United States. |
4
|
|
Kimberly Jarvis is a visiting assistant professor of history at Doane College, Crete, Nebraska. She is researching women and the conservation movement in the United States. |
Content in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal, noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit the History Cooperative database in whole or in part without the written permission of the copyright holder.
|