Being Caribou

256 pages
Publisher: Braided River
ISBN: 978-1-59485-010-3
Published: Oct 27, 2005

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Description

2007 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award Winner, 2006 Independent Book Publisher Award Winner in Travel Essays, 2006 National Outdoor Book Award Winner in Outdoor Literature

Wildlife biologist Karsten Heuer and filmmaker Leanne Allison spend five months migrating on foot with more than 100,000 caribou
Both gripping adventure and stark portrayal of an Arctic ecosystem threatened by oil development
Being Caribou, the film created by the author and his wife, won the 2005 Telluride Film Festival "Best Environmental Film Award"

It was a very different kind of honeymoon. In April 2003, wildlife biologist Karsten Heuer and his newlywed wife, filmmaker Leanne Allison, set off on an epic adventure: to follow the Porcupine caribou herd as it migrated from its Yukon winter range to its endangered Alaskan calving grounds in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge -- and back. What they learned along the way would not only show what was at stake in the decades-old debate about whether or not to drill those same calving grounds for oil, but also what was possible when two people immerse themselves in a wild, intact landscape for five months.

For more than a thousand miles, Heuer and Allison traveled the roadless, trailless, structureless expanse of northern Yukon and Alaska. Both on foot and on skis, they tracked caribou over four mountain ranges, hundreds of passes, and dozens of rivers. To keep up, they knew they would have to move, act, and even think like caribou, skiing and walking with no schedule, no route plan, and no objective other than finding and staying with the wild herd. The result was an adventure that brought them face to face with wolves, hungry grizzly bears, voracious mosquitoes, Arctic blizzards, and the need for an open mind. Physically and mentally exhausted, the young couple found themselves on the cusp of a different way of knowing, and, after months of migrating, walked into a dimension of consciousness neither had experienced before.

Being Caribou is more than a story of grand adventure and an endangered caribou herd. It is a story about the roots of human instinct that are alive in all of us, and how wild landscapes and wild animals hold the power to release them from the avalanche of technology and advertising that typifies the modern civilized world.

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Details

256 pages
Publisher: Braided River
ISBN: 978-1-59485-010-3
Published: Oct 27, 2005

Reviews

"The book is full of outstanding photographs, particularly those that show the vast terrain behind the herds. The resources on the final page are also incredible, particularly the websites that show the seasonal movements of the herd. Being Caribou is an outstanding piece of nonfiction as it combines fact, intrigue and contemporary purpose."
— The Daily Republic, SD
"A story that needed to be told has been very well told indeed."
— Globe and Mail, Toronto, ON
"The writing is incredibly vivid as Heuer describes encounters with wolves and the hallucinations he suffered toward the end of the journey when the caribou marched nearly nonstop…[a] fascinating nonfiction that will be welcomed by report writers, animal lovers, and outdoor enthusiasts."
— Booklist
The strength of the book is getting into the rhythm of the animals. To experience the pulsations of their movements. To sense how bears and wolves affect their lives. To marvel at how caribou move so gracefully through a landscape. To hear. To smell. To be caribou.
— Washington Trails
Heuer keeps the pages turning as he examines the many different sides of the ANWR development issue, while telling the intimate story of the caribou that stand to lose the most.
— E Magazine
What [Karsten Heuer and Leanne Allison] learned should be enough to make you write angry letters to those in Washington who want to drill for oil in the refuge. It might even inspire you to trade in your gas-guzzling SUV.
— Blue Ridge Outdoors
A journey well worth taking for readers who want to viscerally understand what's at stake in the battle over drilling in the Arctic.
— Audubon
For an appreciation of the native fauna and the threats they face, this is the book to read.
— Dividends Newsletter (Newsletter of the Continental Divide T
Both [Karsten Heuer and Leanne Allison] paint a haunting picture of the Arctic and the animals who live there.
— Oregonian
The adventure [Karsten Heuer] described is utterly unique and profoundly revealing. Karsten's modest demeanor serves to focus his message on the important lessons he learned and the caribou themselves rather than the heroic nature of his journey. I cannot imagine anyone not being moved by this memorable experience."
— Everett "Chip" Ward, Assistant Director, The Salt Lake City Public Library
We felt privileged to have Karsten Heuer join our Stegner Lecture Series. His emphasis on the importance of preserving wild places and the need we have as humans to know that such places exist strongly echoes Stegner's idea of wilderness as not just a physical place but "an intangible and spiritual resource." Karsten's multimedia presentation and his beautiful photographs and video clips reinforced his book reading and discussion about the journey he and his wife Leanne Alison made on foot to follow the Porcupine Caribou herd from the Yukon to their calving grounds in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. His story-and his presentation-can only be described as inspirational.
— Jan Nystrom, Associate Director, The Wallace Stegner Center
A marvelous, elegiac book.
— Booklist
It's a very rare thing to read words on a page that cause goose bumps to rise on your skin in response to the story they tell… By [the] last pages of Being Caribou readers might experience not only goose bumps but tears.
— Rocky Mountain Outlook