A Woman Among Wolves

*"A gripping and vital portrait of wolf repopulation. It is impossible not to root for Diane, or for the wolves."-ERICA BERRY, AUTHOR OF WOLFISH*

"This is a book about a courageous woman. Often alone in wild country, she endures hardships and faces danger in many forms .... It is a book I highly recommend: informative, fascinating, and beautifully written."-DR. JANE GOODALL

A debut memoir from one of the first women biologists in the United States to study wild wolves in their natural habitat-a story of passion, resilience, and determination.**

Called the Jane Goodall of wolves, world-renowned wildlife biologist Diane Boyd has spent four decades studying and advocating for wolves in the wilds of Montana near Glacier National Park. When she started in the 1970s, she was the only female biologist in the United States researching and radio-collaring wild wolves. With her two dogs for company, she faced the rigors of the Montana winter in an isolated cabin without running water or electricity.

Boyd fearlessly forded icy rivers, strapped on skis to navigate thick stands of lodgepole pine, and monitored packs from the air in a tiny bush plane that skimmed the treetops so she could count wolves and see what they were feeding on. She faced down grizzly bears, mountain lions, wolverines-and the occasional trapper-as she stalked her quarry: a handful of wolves that were making their way south from Canada into Montana. Resilient and resourceful, she devised her own trapping methods and negotiated with locals as wolf populations grew from the first natural colonizer to more than 3,000 wolves in the West today.

In this captivating book, Boyd takes the reader on a wild ride from the early days of wolf research to the present-day challenges of wolf management across the globe, highlighting her interactions with an apex predator that captured her heart and her undying admiration. Her writing resonates with her indomitable spirit as she explores the intricate balance of human and wolf coexistence.

Vorwort

• Touring in Sept/Oct: Throughout Montana, Minneapolis, St. Paul, South Dakota, North Dakota
• Coordinated outreach through MPIBA and MBIA

• National print reviews, features, and interviews

• Podcast tour
• Radio tour
• Expected endorsements from high profile wolf book authors
• Paid ads on Facebook and Instagram
• Influencer outreach (BookTok, Bookstagram)
• Print galley mailing (extensive send)

Autorentext

Diane K. Boyd holds a PhD in Wildlife Biology from the University of Montana. She divides her time between her home in Kalispell, Montana, and her beloved cabin in the North Fork. She is the author of numerous scientific papers on wolves.

Douglas H. Chadwick is a wildlife biologist. He is a frequent contributor to National Geographic, the author of more than two hundred articles on wildlife and wild places, and fifteen books, including The Wolverine Way and Four Fifths a Grizzly.




Klappentext

"Called the Jane Goodall of wolves, world-renowned wildlife biologist Diane Boyd has spent four decades studying and advocating for wolves in the wilds of Montana near Glacier National Park. When she started in the 1970s, she was the only female biologist in the United States researching and radio-collaring wild wolves. With her two dogs for company, she faced the rigors of the Montana winter in an isolated cabin without running water or electricity. Boyd fearlessly forded icy rivers, strapped on skis to navigate thick stands of lodgepole pine, and monitored packs from the air in a tiny bush plane that skimmed the treetops so she could count wolves and see what they were feeding on. She faced down grizzly bears, mountain lions, wolverines -- and the occasional trapper -- as she stalked her quarry: a handful of wolves that were making their way south from Canada into Montana. Resilient and resourceful, she devised her own trapping methods and negotiated with locals as wolf populations grew from the first natural colonizer to more than 3,000 wolves in the West today. In this captivating book, Boyd takes the reader on a wild ride from the early days of wolf research to the present-day challenges of wolf management across the globe, highlighting her interactions with an apex predator that captured her heart and her undying admiration. Her writing resonates with her indomitable spirit as she explores the intricate balance of human and wolf coexistence."--

Zusammenfassung
A debut memoir from one of the first women biologists in the United States to study wild wolves in their natural habitat-a story of passion, resilience, and determination.

Leseprobe

Introduction

My pickup banged and rattled along the potholed Inside Road in the northwest corner of Glacier National Park. Boxes of wolf traps and jars of bait slid across the truck bed. I was in a hurry, my mind focused on the wolf caught in a trap somewhere ahead in the lodgepole pine forest. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed motion in my rearview mirror. I looked up to catch the glassy reflection of vivid yellow eyes framed by a wolf 's black face looking over my shoulder from the back seat. How did I get here?

It was a warm June evening, with the lingering pink light of a long, northern summer twilight. The nighthawks had started their evening hunts, swooping through the banquet of mosquitoes above the river. I had just finished checking my wolf trapline along fifteen miles of a rough dirt road and was about to fix a late supper. I was staying at the ranger station at the Polebridge Entrance, which leads into the undeveloped, primitive part of Glacier National Park. A car pulled up to me and an anxious woman jumped out, running toward me and shouting, "Somebody is illegally trapping wolves in the park. There's a gray wolf in a trap along the road. It needs help!" Thanking her for the report, I explained that I had set the trap for research purposes to learn more about the wolves' ecology and survival. I addressed her concerns and assured her that I had no intention of harming wolves. This calmed her down.

"How far up the road is the wolf from here?" I asked.

"I don't know. Quite a ways."

"Okay. Would you like to follow me to help fit the wolf with a radio collar and release it on-site?"

The woman regretfully replied that she would love to, but she had a long drive that night and had to keep traveling to make her connections. I thanked her for her time, apologized for any discomfort she felt, and assured her that I'd go find the wolf immediately and take care of the situation. The woman left, and I jumped into my truck, heading up the road as fast as conditions would allow.

While looking for the gray wolf, I checked all the traps that I had inspected just an hour before. On the left side of the road, in the fourth trap, was a coal-black wolf, hopping around with a front foot caught. It was going to be a long night. I readied the tranquilizing drugs, jab stick, capture kit, and radio collar and approached the wolf.

Knowing that I still had a gray wolf ahead, I decided to drug this handsome black wolf quite lightly so he would be able to wake up and walk away sooner. Down he went into sedated slumber. I measured his vital signs to make sure he was handling the sedative well, took my samples, fitted him with a radio collar, and stood back. He was limp-definitely not ready to get up and walk away. I couldn't leave him unattended and defenseless in the forest in case a bear, mountain lion, or another wolf came along and attacked him. And I still had the gray wolf to find, where I would repeat this whole scenario and hopefully finish before it grew dark. I had no time to waste.

I loaded the drugged wolf onto the back seat of my p…