Mike Lapinski – författare

Wilderness Predators of the Rockies takes readers on an in-depth journey into the secluded backcountry where legendary predators such as the mighty grizzly, taciturn wolverine, stately wolf, awesome jaguar, and other wild animals call home.Casting aside the canned, often misleading, biology often cited, this book offers a deeper understanding of wilderness and its predators and prey as well as an explanation about how humans fit into this fascinating cycle.Full of newly discovered facts and many first-hand accounts, the text is accompanied by award-winning action photos that bring these secretive predators and their roles in the cycle of nature to life.

Grizzlies and Grizzled Old Men is a tribute to the core of men who were largely responsible for saving the grizzly bear from extinction by questioning public opinion and policies of their day, a time before professional biologists and wildlife managers developed strategies for proper human coexistence with the grizzly. The brutal bear trapper of a century ago, Grizzly Adams, said before he died that he preferred the company of bears to men. The great bear hunter, William Wright, wrote of his grudging admiration for the grizzly that eventually compelled him to stop killing them. Other men followed, questioning the popular opinion that the only good bear was a dead bear. This book gives honor to those men and explains how and why the grizzly disappeared from the western landscape.The book begins with a brief history about how the grizzly was pushed to the verge of extinction and then each of the following chapters focuses on one of the men who promoted the plight of the grizzly bear through printed word, actions, or deeds. Lastly, the book discusses the generation of men and women who labor today to conserve the grizzly and offers the reader approaches to take up the cause.

On the afternoon of October 5, 2003, in Alaska's Katmai National Park, one or more brown bears killed and ate Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard. The next day, park rangers killed the two bears that they assumed were responsible. This frightening and chilling story immediately captured worldwide media attention. Some bear experts felt that Treadwell's death was a matter of time, considering the unorthodox and highly questionable tactics he used in his life among the bears. Yet Timothy's surge in popularity, and his inglorious death, give rise to a plethora of questions.More than just a story about Treadwell, Death in the Grizzly Maze delves into the issues raised by the new breed of reckless wildlife celebrities and answers these questions: Was it a foregone conclusion that Timothy Treadwell had to die? Since Treadwell's actions were so obviously improper why didn't the National Park Service intervene? Did the bears have to die? How the actions of a few are affecting national park policy and promoting improper behavior when encountering wildlife are important issues for the future of wildlife conservation.