Sat 10 Nov 2007
CLAP FOR THE WOLF MAN
We should all appreciate
Ian McAllister’s efforts to save the wild
BY NICHOLAS READ
There is a conceit among some British Columbians that only people who “ use” the wilderness appreciate it. This is especially true in the provincial government’s wildlife branch, which bases most of its policies on the needs of hunters and trappers.
According to its Alice- in- Wonderland way of thinking, if you’re not out to destroy B. C.’ s wild creatures in one gruesome way or another, you can’t possibly care about them.
Ian McAllister, the principal author of this coffee- table book about the wild wolves of B. C.’ s central coast, has been fighting this prejudice all his life. As one of the founders of the Raincoast Conservation Society, he recognizes that even people who will never set foot in the pristine rainforest between the northern tip of Vancouver Island and the base of the Alaska Panhandle have a stake in its future.
His first book, 1997’ s The Great Bear Rainforest, which he wrote with his wife, Karen, introduced that forest to us. His latest is specifically about the fishing, swimming wolves that live like grey ghosts in it. But the intent is the same as the last.
Beautiful as The Last Wild Wolves is to look at — McAllister’s worthy- of- framing photos dominate almost every page — it is first and unashamedly a clarion call to care.
“ When I stare into the amber eyes of a wolf … those eyes offer a portal into understanding not just wolves, but the rain forest world they represent,” McAllister writes. “ When I look into those eyes, I ask for a bit more time. I ask the wolves to be patient with us a little longer while we find our way.”
This book and a lecture tour he’s undertaken to support it are McAllister’s way of buying that time. By introducing people who might never visit the Great Bear Rainforest to another of its treasures, McAllister hopes that real action will be taken to ensure its survival. Because if not now, when? Later will be too late.
It’s not surprising that McAllister cares so much. He lives in Bella Bella, and spends most days exploring the forest he writes about. This book, written in conjunction with University of Victoria wildlife biologist Chris Darimont, took him the better part of 10 years to construct.
Leafing through its pages, that’s hard to appreciate — like all true artists, McAllister makes it look easy.
Only once does he allude to the days and weeks of searching for nature’s most elusive predator under some of nature’s harshest conditions, only to turn up nothing. But his patience is our reward. Anyone with a pet dog knows how difficult it is to get a supposedly trained- on- command animal to stare into a camera. Imagine trying it in the wild, with a wolf.
Yet McAllister succeeds. Photo after photo depict wolves living as they really do in one of the last wild places on earth, and looking into a camera with the seeming elan of Heidi Klum.
Much of the text in The Last Wild Wolves is a first- person essay. By writing about his own encounters with wolves, such as the time Karen and their young son, Callum, witnessed a deer brought down in a cove near where they were swimming, McAllister seeks to introduce us to them in the same anecdotal way.
Darimont’s contributions are more detached. The hand- offs from one author to another are seamless, but you can always tell when they occur. It’s as if Darimont is always there waiting in the wings, ready to appear if something suddenly needs a scientist’s touch.
Darimont’s Raincoast staff study wolves by examining the droppings, fur and other telltale markings the animals leave behind. Thus, unlike other wildlife scientists who capture and radio- collar their quarry, Darimont’s crew never really intrudes on the wolves’ universe. These studies, McAllister’s observations, and the traditional knowledge of native people like Heiltsuk researcher Chester Starr tell us as much about B. C.’ s coastal wolves as anyone really knows.
“ It’s kind of like my home,” Starr replies when asked why he doesn’t record the things he sees. “ I pretty much remember everything I see. And if I forget, I just go out in the boat and see it again.”
McAllister’s mission is to ensure that there will always be something there for Starr to see.
Former Vancouver Sun reporter Nicholas Read is a journalism instructor at Langara College.
