Webinar: Bjorn Dihle in conversation with Joe Scott, A Shape in the Dark – 4/3
Conservation Northwest / Mar 23, 2021 / Events, Grizzly Bears, North Cascades
We’re thrilled to co-host this free online event with The North Cascades Institute, Village Books and Mountaineers Books on Saturday, April 3 from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. You can also purchase a copy of Bjorn Dihle’s book when you register for this event!
In A Shape in the Dark, Dihle blends personal experience with historical and contemporary accounts to fully explore the world of brown bears, from frightening attacks to the animal’s place in Native cultures to the ways habitat degradation and climate change are threatening the species. A Shape in the Dark is an elegant and lyrical work that thoughtfully weaves outdoor adventure, natural history, and memoir together to present a fresh and vivid portrayal of these fascinating creatures.
Register today!
Conservation Northwest’s International Programs Director Joe Scott will talk about North Cascades grizzly bear recovery efforts, as well as facilitate a conversation about brown bears with Dihle. Scott leads our international conservation programs in British Columbia on mountain caribou and grizzly bears, including the Coast to Cascades Grizzly Bear Initiative. He also directs our work on North Cascades grizzly bear restoration and grizzly bears in northeast Washington. Be sure to tune in to learn more about brown bears and conservation!
Bjorn Dihle is a wilderness and wildlife film guide as well as a contributing editor for Alaska Magazine and Hunt Alaska Magazine, and has been published in Outdoor Life and Sierra, among others. He is the author of two previous books, Haunted Inside Passage: Ghosts, Mysteries, and Legends of Southeast Alaska and Never Cry Halibut: And Other Alaska Hunting and Fishing Tales. He lives on Douglas Island in Southeast Alaska with his family.
North Cascades Grizzly Bears
Recovery plans have been in place for grizzly bears in the North Cascades since 1997, and there’s little time for further delay. Fewer than ten grizzlies remain in this ecosystem that sprawls across 9,800 square miles of rugged country, anchored by North Cascades National Park. This transboundary landscape stretches into British Columbia, where another 3,800 square miles of high-quality grizzly bear habitat exists, anchored by Manning Provincial Park.
In 2014, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife began a new, multi-year Environmental Impact Statement planning process for restoring a healthy grizzly bear (ursus arctos) population in Washington’s North Cascades Ecosystem. In the years since, the road to grizzly bear restoration has been long, as Joe Scott details in this 2019 blog.
Most recently in February, the Friends of the North Cascades Grizzly Bear, a coalition we coordinate, sent a letter to Congress urging for their continued commitment toward grizzly bear recovery in the North Cascades. Despite the ups and downs in the recovery process to date, we believe grizzly bears will eventually be restored to the wilderness of the North Cascades, their home for thousands of years, as action is legally required, and public support remains strong.
Learn more on our North Cascades Grizzly Bear webpage.