Alaska's Bears: Grizzlies, Black Bears and Polar Bears
By Bill Sherwonit and Tom Walker; Graphic Arts Books; 2016; 104 pages; $13.99.
What it's about: Alaskans' endless fascination with bears of any hue is well documented, and this pocket-sized guide is handy for both visitors and residents who want to back up their opinions with facts. Information from the original 1998 edition is updated, with sections on what the future may hold for each species. Particularly useful are details on Alaska's premier bear-viewing sites, from Anan Creek in Southeast to world-renown McNeil River.
Excerpt: Changing patterns in the southern Beaufort Sea have led to a less-famous gathering of polar bears in Alaska, but one that's increasingly popular with wildlife viewers and photographers from around the world. It's estimated that about 10 percent — or about 100 — of the Beaufort bears now annually come ashore. Of those, a third or more congregate near the coastal village of Kaktovik each September and October, to feed on the remains of whales taken by Inupiat subsistence hunters.
While impressive, neither the Churchill nor Kaktovik gatherings compare with what Henry Elliott described in a government report in the late 19th century, while recounting a remarkable encounter with polar bears on Alaska's St. Matthew Island in August 1874: "(We) met the bears — yea, hundreds of them … Their white forms in the distance always answered our search, though they ran from our immediate presence with the greatest celerity … their paths were broad and well beaten all over the island. We could not have observed less than 250 or 300 of these animals while we were there." By 1900, however, the bears' numbers on St. Matthew had dropped to near zero, apparently because of intense hunting.
Finding Carla
By Alaska pilot Ross Nixon; Aviation Supplies & Academics Inc.; 2016; 227 pages; $15.95
What it's about: In March 1967, a Cessna 195 flew from Oregon toward San Francisco carrying a family of three: Alvin Oien Sr. (the pilot), his wife Phyllis and stepdaughter Carla Corbus. Due to worse-than-predicted weather, it went down in the Trinity Mountains of California only 8 miles from a highway and beneath a busy commercial airway. This was before emergency-locator beacons were required equipment for airplanes. The family survived the crash for almost two months, but the ruggedness of the terrain and the fact that they were far off their intended course made finding them by sight impossible. Searchers determined the weather in the mountains also made living impossible after a period of time had passed.
Excerpt: In the aftermath of Oien's flight, FAA investigators found at least two pilots who departed Portland for San Francisco in small planes on March 11. One pilot testified he returned to Portland when weather along his route blocked his flight path. The second pilot diverted far to the east of the Sierra Nevada Range to avoid the cloud buildups lying over the craggy mountains of northern California. Comparing pilots and planes on the same route can only give a rough idea of the flying on a particular route or day.
Conditions change constantly and the view from the cockpit differs each minute. One can only speculate after the fact about a pilot's decision to pass through a region. Weather that scares one pilot can be child's play to another. Experience, equipment, and intestinal fortitude all go into aerial decision making …
Like many pilots, The Boss usually carried extra gear including food, medical supplies, matches and a rifle as standard equipment on all his flights.
Maybe he thought this: Who really needed survival gear anyway? No law required it, plus the route followed the heavily traveled VOR airways, it paralleled the highways, and there were plenty of other aircraft to call if trouble arose.