Mike Gibeau, a retired carnivore specialist with Parks Canada, writes in the forward to this book that wildlife research today usually follows the “collar and foller” approach to scientific inquiry. Even the “foller” part, he notes, is obsolete now that researchers can collar their subject and download data from satellites onto their laptops.

Günther Bloch, however, is an ethologist who studies animal behavior and takes a different approach – direct observation. With help from his research partner wife, and outstanding Canadian wildlife photographer John Marriott, Bloch studied wolf behavior in the Bow River Valley of Banff National Park, from 1992-2014. The Pipestone Wolves describes some of this work.

This book is not, however, a dry scientific report. It is a large format (9”x11”) description, complemented by Marriott’s terrific photographs, of the fate of one wolf family in Canada’s flagship national park. Many clear and attractive figures and tables present the behavioral data collected, but the data seems ancillary to the story of why and how Bloch and his colleagues did their research.

This book is many things in addition to presentation of research on wolf behavior: a story of a wolf family trying to live in proximity to many people; a story of behavioral research carried out with assiduous care to avoid interfering with the research subjects; a lovingly told testimony to the wonder of wild wolves; a strong indictment of the approach to park and wildlife management of Parks Canada. To manage successfully all of this in one book is quite an achievement.

Bloch set out to study the Pipestone wolves “to outline the difference between a wolf ‘pack’ and a wolf family, and we wanted to describe the wolves’ different personality types and how this impacted their survival rates in the Bow Valley.”

The study of wolves in the Bow Valley is unusual in a couple of ways. The wolves are living in the main road and railway corridor across Canada. They den close to the Bow Valley Parkway and use the road extensively. Their behavior can be observed from vehicles, which is how Bloch and his colleagues did all of their work, including the photographer Marriott.

The Bow Valley Parkway is a remarkably scenic drive between Banff and Lake Louise, in a transportation corridor including Canada Highway 1 and a main Canadian Pacific Railway line. The corridor is heavily used and many animals are killed and injured by cars and trains, including wolves.

To survive in this environment, a wolf has to adapt to threats wild wolves do not. Of this Bloch observes “As far as all wolves living in the Bow Valley are concerned, they have been nonconsequentially exposed to thousands and thousands of people – more than any other place in Canada. For them to use adaptive behavior strategies to carve out a niche for themselves in Banff is absolutely normal.”

But are they adapting or being “habituated,” a term used by park managers to refer to problem animals that have grown accustomed to humans? Bloch thinks they are adapting and this poses no problem. He cites definitions by German ethologist Dorit Fedderson-Peterson that “habituation is a characteristic that increases an individual’s overall fitness through adjusting or conforming, while adaptation is a learning process in which individuals stop reacting to stimuli that have no consequences.”

Bloch contends he and his colleagues had observed “adaptation and normal wolf behavior in a human-dominated world! In this context, wildlife managers in Banff have wrongly classified all Bow Valley wolves as being too habituated.”

As the subtitle of the book indicates, the wolves are not doing well despite their adaptations. Ultimately the Pipestone family disintegrated, and the family that replaced them, the “Bow Valley Pack” as the park called them, has also failed as of September 2017, which would not surprise Bloch. He concluded the Pipestones declined in no small part because of park management policies that lead to the decline of the wolves’ prey in the Bow Valley, thus to stress on the wolf family which, along with mortality from vehicles and hazing from tourists, resulted in the “fall” of the Pipestones. With decline of the Pipestones, the new “Bow Valley Pack” moved in, and in just a few years it, too, fell to a combination of factors.

The underlying question that motivated Bloch’s work and flows throughout the book is, “If wolves are not safe in a protected area like a national park, then where can they be safe?”

If Banff National Park’s Bow Valley experience is any indication, the answer is “Nowhere.” Managers of other national parks with wolves will probably disagree, arguing that the Banff situation is unique, and perhaps it is. But Bloch observes:

The issue of uncontrolled mass tourism is closely linked to a responsibility and an obligation to preserve wolves, bears and all other wildlife species for future generations. Either you protect wildlife 100% or you go commercial. There is no argument anymore for having a balance between the two, because it just doesn’t offer enough protection for wildlife. At present, there is no balance in Banff. Parks Canada continues to encourage higher visitation while at the same time claiming it is protecting wildlife. Well, anyone can see that this strategy has completely failed.

All major parks, particularly “flagship” parks such as Banff and Yellowstone, are faced with this dilemma. They are the people’s parks and park budgets, already far below what is needed, rely on growing public demand to argue for growing budgets. Negative consequences result, impacts on wildlife among them.

Is it too late for wolf families to thrive in Bow Valley? Banff park managers think not, if their comments in the wake of the recent demise of the “Bow Valley Pack” are any indication.

“Wolves will come and wolves will go,” they say. No worries.

Bloch is not quite so sanguine. At the end of the book he offers nine recommendations that might help in this specific place, arguing that “What we need to establish are clear guidelines on how to observe wildlife as guests in their habitat.”

Of course, observing and conserving wildlife are not the only values served in a national park. Tourists come for the monumental scenery, the skiing, hiking, and camping, and to see the bears, wolves, and other “wild” animals. The challenge is how to prioritize multiple values. After his many years of observations in Bow Valley, Bloch unequivocally asserts that in this park, wildlife conservation must be given higher priority. In this age of mass tourism, the same is true for many other parks and protected areas.

Bloch and Marriott convinced this reader that wolf conservation in Bow Valley must be given a higher priority. Bloch’s detailed descriptions of wolf behavior, and Marriott’s exceptional photographs of the Pipestone wolves make a compelling case that these magnificent animals deserve greater attention and conservation effort. Bloch convincingly argues that animal behavior must play a much larger role in management decisions. His observations lead him to conclude that “there is no such thing as uniform wolf behavior.”

Individual animal “character” and “personality type” must be taken into consideration in management decisions. This, of course, will cost more in time and treasure than the current approach, but he is convincing in his argument that anything less bodes ill for wolves and other wildlife. The Pipestone Wolves suggests wildlife managers need training in ethology as well as biology.

One final comment: you may be wondering (as I was as I read along) why, if Bloch thinks mass tourism is a big part of the wolves’ problems in Bow Valley, he would produce such a book as this. He anticipated us skeptics:

We know there will be critics arguing that Karin, John, and I have helped to commercialize the wolves, that we’re as much a part of the problem as anyone. But we counter-argue that this was observational fieldwork that had to be done. The bottom line is that we couldn’t sit idly by and watch the ecological integrity of the Bow Valley fall to pieces before our eyes. Similarly, without John’s vivid photos, how many of you would have picked up this book? We did not take our observation work lightly. 

Indeed, we cannot “sit idly by” as our environment, even our national parks, are at risk. Bloch and Marriott may not save the Bow Valley wolves, but they at least offer an example of dedicated scientific and artistic effort to try and help them.