The story of a grizzly bear named Millie: her life, death, and cubs, and what they reveal about the changing character of the American West. Grand Prize Winner of the Banff Mountain Book Competition An “ode to wildness and wilderness” Down from the Mountain tells the story of one grizzly in the changing Montana landscape (Outside Magazine). Millie was cunning, a fiercely protective mother to her cubs. But raising those cubs in the mountains was hard, as the climate warmed and people crowded the valleys. There were obvious dangers, like poachers, and subtle ones, like the corn field that drew her into sure trouble. That trouble is where award-winning writer, farmer, and conservationist Bryce Andrews’s story intersects with Millie’s. In this “welcome and impressive work” he shows how this drama is “the core of a major problem in the rural American West—the disagreement between large predatory animals and invasive modern settlers”—an entangled collision where the shrinking wilds force human and bear into ever closer proximity (Barry Lopez). “The two sides of Bryce Andrews—enlightened rancher and sensitive writer—appear to make a smooth fit . . . Precise and evocative prose.” —The Washington Post “Rife with lyrical precision, first-hand know-how, ursine charisma, and a narrative jujitsu flip that places all empathy with his bears, Down from the Mountain is a one-of-a-kind triumph even here in the home of Doug Peacock and Douglas Chadwick.” —David James Duncan, author of The River Why “Would that we had more nature writing like Bryce Andrews’s fantastic second book, Down from the Mountain . . . A subtle and beautifully unexpected book.” —Literary Hub

A natural history and celebration of the famous bears and salmon of Brooks River. On the Alaska Peninsula, where exceptional landscapes are commonplace, a small river attracts attention far beyond its scale. Each year, from summer to early fall, brown bears and salmon gather at Brooks River to create one of North America’s greatest wildlife spectacles. As the salmon leap from the cascade, dozens of bears are there to catch them (with as many as forty-three bears sighted in a single day), and thousands of people come to watch in person or on the National Park Service’s popular Brooks Falls Bearcam. The Bears of Brooks Falls tells the story of this region and the bears that made it famous in three parts. The first forms an ecological history of the region, from its dormancy 30,000 years ago to the volcanic events that transformed it into the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. The central and longest section is a deep dive into the lives of the wildlife along the Brooks River, especially the bears and salmon. Readers will learn about the bears’ winter hibernation, mating season, hunting rituals, migration patterns, and their relationship with Alaska’s changing environment. Finally, the book explores the human impact, both positive and negative, on this special region and its wild population.

"The granite spire peaks of the Three Bears rise above the Lizard Range and Cedar Valley like sentinels guarding a secret place. And a very special place it is. The Cedar Valley is home to a unique old growth rainforest including: 800-year-old Cedar trees, giant larch, spruce and Douglas fir. Grizzly bears, cougar, elk and moose prowl the pristine valley as they have for millennia. The intense micro-climate produces an unusual amount of snow for this part of the Rocky Mountains, thus adding to the reputation of one of the best know backcountry lodges in North America ? Island Lake Lodge. Bears Above the Valley explores the diverse history of the Cedar Valley and Island Lake Lodge. Flora and fauna, as well as a history of skiing and snowboarding, are well documented with stunning photography and insightful text. Scot Schmidt, the godfather of freeskiing, and Craig Kelly, the pioneer of big mountain snowboarding, are two of the many ski industry characters that are covered and an integral part of the Island Lake story." --Publisher's description.

A collection of breathtaking images and thought-provoking words sure to bring joy to your heart and enrich your spirit. Take an inspiring journey into the world of the great bear and discover the true and often unseen nature of black bears, grizzlies and polar bears. Celebrate all that is wild! (Proceeds from the sale of this book support Get Bear Smart Society's work helping people to understand and live with our neigh-bears.)

This classic work of natural history features accounts of 25 years of Murie's observations of grizzlies as they moved throughout their range in the Mount McKinley National Park.

For more than half a century, grizzly bears roamed free in the national parks without causing a human fatality. Then in 1967, on a single August night, two campers were fatally mauled by enraged bears -- thus signaling the beginning of the end for America's greatest remaining land carnivore. Night of the Grizzlies, Olsen's brilliant account of another sad chapter in America's vanishing frontier, traces the causes of that tragic night: the rangers' careless disregard of established safety precautions and persistent warnings by seasoned campers that some of the bears were acting "funny"; the comforting belief that the great bears were not really dangerous -- would attack only when provoked. The popular sport that summer was to lure the bears with spotlights and leftover scraps -- in hopes of providing the tourists with a show, a close look at the great "teddy bears." Everyone came, some of the younger campers even making bold enough to sleep right in the path of the grizzlies' known route of arrival. This modern "bearbaiting" could have but one tragic result…

Hammock camping--one of the most comfortable ways to enjoy a long-distance thru-hike, a weekend backpacking trip, or just an overnight in the woods. With more than 200 illustrations to guide you, this book helps you get off the ground to discover the freedom, comfort, and convenience of hammock camping. Learn how to set up and use a hammock to stay dry, warm, and bug free in a Leave No Trace-friendly way. This book covers hammock camping basics such as how to get a perfect hang and how to stay dry, warm, and bug free. Plus, it illustrates techniques and tips to get the most out of a hammock shelter, whether you have purchased an all-in-one kit or you've assembled your own customized system.

A tiny American town's plans for radical self-government overlooked one hairy detail: no one told the bears. Once upon a time, a group of libertarians got together and hatched the Free Town Project, a plan to take over an American town and completely eliminate its government. In 2004, they set their sights on Grafton, NH, a barely populated settlement with one paved road. When they descended on Grafton, public funding for pretty much everything shrank: the fire department, the library, the schoolhouse. State and federal laws became meek suggestions, scarcely heard in the town's thick wilderness. The anything-goes atmosphere soon caught the attention of Grafton's neighbors: the bears. Freedom-loving citizens ignored hunting laws and regulations on food disposal. They built a tent city in an effort to get off the grid. The bears smelled food and opportunity. A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear is the sometimes funny, sometimes terrifying tale of what happens when a government disappears into the woods. Complete with gunplay, adventure, and backstabbing politicians, this is the ultimate story of a quintessential American experiment -- to live free or die, perhaps from a bear.

This unforgettable odyssey into the distant past carries us back to the awesome mysteries of the exotic, primeval world of The Clan of the Cave Bear, and to Ayla, now grown into a beautiful and courageous young woman. Cruelly cast out by the new leader of the ancient Clan that adopted her as a child, Ayla leaves those she loves behind and travels alone through a stark, open land filled with dangerous animals but few people, searching for the Others, tall and fair like herself. The short summer gives her little time to look, and when she finds a sheltered valley with a herd of hardy steppe horses, she decides to stay and prepare for the long glacial winter ahead. Living with the Clan has taught Ayla many skills but not real hunting. She finally knows she can survive when she traps a horse, which gives her meat and a warm pelt for the winter, but fate has bestowed a greater gift, an orphaned foal with whom she develops a unique kinship. One winter extends to more; she discovers a way to make fire more quickly and a wounded cave lion cub joins her unusual family, but her beloved animals don’t fulfill her restless need for human companionship. Then she hears the sound of a man screaming in pain. She saves tall, handsome Jondalar, who brings her a language to speak and an awakening of love and desire, but Ayla is torn between her fear of leaving her valley and her hope of living with her own kind.

The California Bear Flag and the University of California football team the Golden Bears emblemize the great animal that has been extinct in California since the 1920s but once numbered perhaps as many as ten thousand in the state. Forty years after its original publication, University of California Press proudly reissues California Grizzly, still the most comprehensive book on the bear's history in California. The lessons of the book resonate today as the issues of protection of wildlife habitat versus unfettered development of land for human use are debated with increasing urgency.