The Wolverine Way by Douglas H. Chadwick

I was lucky to have had this book lent to me by Stuart Strahl. The timing could not have been more perfect, right before Christy’s and my trip to Montana, to explore Glacier National Park with Kim Davitt and Doug Chadwick (himself!). I’ve always been fascinated by animals that are mysterious and cryptic. When in college, I tried to write a paper about the natural history of wolverines (this is before the Web), and found almost nothing…

The Wolverine Way gives an overview of the five-year Glacier Wolverine Project, through the eyes of one of its volunteers, Doug Chadwick. It describes the new and fascinating things that they found out about wolverines: their behavior, social habits, diet, and more. We get to see the team’s methods (trapping, monitoring, observing, evaluating data) and learn about the peoples’ and wolverines’ personalities and histories. You can easily see how grueling in situ science can be…picture Montana in the dead of winter…at night! The reader really starts to get a feel for the beauty and ruggedness of Glacier National Park.

To me, no story about animals is complete without watching the battle between life and death while cheering for the individual animals in the study. I finished this book with an understanding for what still needs to be done to help these incredible animals.

Reviewed by Dawn Sohr