New book about alaska wildlife management disappoints - China Emergency Break Glass

Few interesting details Regelin s career as a wildlife biologist in Alaska spanned 30years. He started as a moose research biologist on the KenaiPeninsula in 1977. However, more than half of his career, fromabout 1988 to 2006, was in Juneau, directing research andmanagement of the state s wildlife and working with thelegislature. After two decades of negotiating the crossroads ofpolitics and wildlife management, Regelin knows where the crashvictims are buried. But unlike Weaver s deeply personal and livelyaccount of newspaper journalism, Regelin s book could hardly bedrier.

Rest assured, the history of wildlife management in Alaskais anything but dry. History can be presented two ways. In school it s often taughtwith the main emphasis on names, laws, battles, and dates. Hence,most people lose interest in history at an early age. Likewise,Regelin s book is packed with names and dates, but contains fewinteresting details or anecdotes.

Much more compelling interpretations of our past rely on thecomplex interaction of personalities, places, and time periods. Ididn t find a single direct quote in Regelin s book, much lessthe animated conversations recounted in Weaver s memoir. Peoplehave strong opinions on wildlife, and management decisions areoften controversial. Few Alaskans are unfamiliar with Gov. Card Reader Door Locks

WallyHickel s epigrammatic You can t just let nature run wild. Whether or not you agree with his perspective, just reading thatstatement will make you laugh or cringe. Hickel had a lot ofinfluence over wildlife management during his term and a half asAlaska s governor and two years as President Richard Nixon sInterior secretary. An historical account peppered with suchcolorful observations is hard to put down. Often the best way toinform is to entertain. China Emergency Break Glass

An historian, Morgan Sherwood, wrote the most entertaining andinformative account of the early politics of wildlife management in1981. In Big Game in Alaska: A History of Wildlife and People Sherwood surveyed the historical records related to wildlifemanagement in Alaska from the territory s purchase in 1867 toWorld War II, combing through hundreds of books, scientificarticles, government reports, official and personal letters,magazine and newspaper articles, interviews, films, and evenscrapbooks for relevant insights. Several other books have reviewedspecific aspects of the history of wildlife management, forexample, the creation of national parks and wildlife refuges orearly wolf control efforts. What we lack is a detailed,comprehensive history of the tumultuous decades since World War II. Regelin launched his book with a synopsis of Alaska Native andRussian-American uses of wildlife. Siren Strobe Light

Unfortunately, he continuedusing broad strokes to characterize the issues that dominatedAlaska since the 1970s, the period with which he is most familiar.This was the era of controversial policies, laws, suits andcountersuits to establish the bounds of the state s ruralsubsistence preference, the federal takeover of marine mammals andwildlife management on federal lands, modern predator control, andintensive management. Someone needs to sort through these issuesand try to make some sense of how we arrived at our present stateof affairs. Regelin is very familiar with wildlife science andpolicies, has worked with most, if not all, of the principal actors biologists, administrators, leaders of user groups, legislators.He s uniquely positioned to write a tell-all account of thescandals, failures, and accomplishments of recent decades. His bookdoesn t deliver the goods.

Maybe no one author or volume can anymore. Any one of the aboveissues could fill a book if one were to do it justice. But it scertainly worth the effort. Clash with Faiks On rare occasions, Regelin let a sliver of light escape. Like whenhe mentioned how Jan Faiks, then president of the Alaska Senate,made it a personal crusade to terminate Alaska s Wildlife, thepopular magazine published by Fish and Game for over two decades.According to Regelin, She never explained why she did not likethe magazine but claimed it competed with private publishers.

Faiks censorship was successful, and the magazine hasn t beenpublished since 1993. Regelin s book wanted a better editor. I found a dozen or moremisspelled words. Once a surname was spelled two ways in the sameparagraph. While Regelin is a competent writer, unfortunategrammatical slips were too frequent.

For example, he occasionallyused a plural when he needed a singular verb or vice versa. Editorsare important. At least that s what my editor tells me. Knowing Regelin, his facts are in order even if his spelling andgrammar slip a little. And that is the best reason for purchasinghis book.

It should serve well as a reference to help pinpointnames and dates. I m not sorry I bought the book. But if you re looking for an entertaining book about a wildlifebiologist in Alaska, I highly recommend several biographies and autobiographies written about or by Adolph Murie, Sam O. White, Jim Brooks, JimKing, and Will Troyer that I reviewed last fall.

Alaskans are fortunate in having a selection of excellent books onregional wildlife and several fascinating memoirs by old-timewildlife biologists. What we need now is a detailed account of thepolitics of wildlife management from an insider. What every insiderknows is, it ain t pretty. But, like E. Estyn Evans wrote about the dunghill outside the front door of every Irishcottage in the 19th century, The muck symbolizes the fertility ofthe farm.

Regelin is an insider. He could have written a page-turner. Itdidn t materialize, but I m rooting for another serious attempt.Here s my unsolicited recommendation for the sequel. First, let someone else write about the fish.

It ll be toughenough to capture the myriad nuances of wildlife management inAlaska. Regelin should compile a list of at least a hundredinfluential and outspoken people he dealt with. Search thenewspapers, journals, and books for relevant information on thesepeople and their issues. Interview them, if possible, and talk toothers who knew and worked with them. And then roll up his sleeves,plunge his arms up to his elbows in the dung heap, grab a doublefistful of the stinking, organic muck, and show us exactly whatwe ve been using to fertilize the farm.

Regelin can do it. I d be happy to edit the book for free. Noextra charge for egging him on. Rick Sinnott is a former Alaska Department of Fish and Gamewildlife biologist.

The views expressed here are the writer's ownand are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch. Contact him at rickjsinnott@gmail.com.