by Margaret Merritt (Author)
Discover the adventures of an Alaskan woman biologist as she relates experiences working across varied landscapes and water bodies, including caribou counts in the Northwest Arctic, king crab index fishing in Lower Cook Inlet, and Chinook salmon investigations on the mighty Yukon River. The book highlights information collected under sometimes harrowing conditions to ensure that conservation measures sustain fish and game for the community's well-being. "It was not lost on me that people's livelihoods or food supply depended on my ability to accomplish the job." The book describes the obstacles she encountered and the problem-solving steps she used to address them. "Field research in Alaska is not for the faint of heart, for Alaska's wilderness holds a deadly beauty." For many assignments, she was the first woman to undertake the job, which "sometimes caused the men I worked with to react with resistance." Her persistence to succeed was motivated by the allure of adventure, the intrigue of nature, and the splendor of Alaska's pristine wilderness.