Wolf Land

by Carter Niemeyer, Jenny Niemeyer (Editor)

Carter Niemeyer has followed wolves – and captured many – since he helped reintroduce them in the Northern Rockies in the mid-1990s. In his second memoir, Wolf Land, he takes us across the rugged West as he tracks wolves, shares in their lives, and seeks middle ground for these iconic animals, both on the land and in our hearts.

Genres: Wolves, Natural History, Nonfiction

233 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 25, 2016

About the author

​Carter Niemeyer retired in 2006 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service where he was the wolf recovery coordinator for Idaho. As an expert government trapper, he was a key member of the federal wolf reintroduction team in Canada in the mid-1990s. Carter is an Iowa native, but adopted the West as his home in the early 1970s. He has two degrees from Iowa State University and is a Wildlife Society certified biologist. In 2010 he wrote his first memoir, Wolfer. His second collection of stories, Wolf Land, published in March 2016.

Niemeyer has been a trapper, hunter, and wildlife proponent his entire life. Wolves, he believes, add to the outdoor experience, and people who see or hear them should consider the experience thrilling. Wolves do not, as many believe, kill everything in sight, destroy their own food supply, or lick their chops at kids waiting at bus stops. They are simply predators like lions and bears, and anyone who believes otherwise is, well, wrong.

Reviews

[... · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wolf Land picks up where Wolfer left off, recounting the years Carter Niemeyer spent tracking and collaring wolves after the reintroduction. While Wolfer is a memoir, Wolf Land is just filled with stories focused around wolves, more relaxed in tone and quite enjoyable. It also gets right to the point, something that can't be said about Wolfer, which takes around 150 pages to get to the wolf part. The only problem this book suffers from is insufficient editing.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is about wolves roaming in the Northwest (US) written by a trapper/ conservationist, who is also a federal and state employee in Fish and Wildlife.

A very warm hearted book. Easy to read. It is about human lack of knowledge of wolves, and wolves contributions to the eco systems. Wolves could be ferocious in hunting elk or bison, but killing people is extremely rare…..

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though it is always a pleasure to read about new and exciting places that I might like to travel to someday, it is even more of a joy for me to read stories set in places I've visited before. Many of the stories that Carter Niemeyer tells in Wolf Land are like that, vignettes from the wild places of Idaho and Montana that make me exclaim, "Ah, I've been there!" What I haven't done, however, is to track down wolf packs, listen to their mournful calls, or see them playing in the meadows of the Idaho back country. Some day, perhaps.

In Wolfer, we got the story of how Carter came to the task of reintroducing wolves into the lower 48 after they had been driven to extinction - deliberately some years past, but in Wolf Land we can enjoy some thought-provoking tales about the long term effects of the interaction between wolves and men. When wolves stray out of the ranges where they were introduced, they often get into trouble because, as predators, they like to feed on easy targets, such as sheep and cow herds which are often grazed on federal lands, which make up a huge percentage of some of our Western states. When the wolves get out of line, then Carter was often called in to trap them, and either transport them back to where they belong, or sometimes make the decision to kill them, if nothing else worked.

From Yellowstone to the Frank Church Wilderness, through the Sawtooths and the headwaters of the Snake and Salmon rivers, Carter relates the stories of his interactions with one of the most controversial and fascinating animals of our time. The book may not make you change your mind about whether reintroduction was the right thing to do or not, but it will surely make you think a bit differently about the subject, no matter which side you're on.

[Steven Howes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the author's previous book "Wolfer" which detailed his professional life, how he came to be involved in wolf reintroductions in the Northern Rockies, and the fallout that followed. It was an excellent read and clearly pointed out that the science of wildlife biology is definitely not free of political pressure and other outside influences. This book is a bit more relaxed and is a collection of anecdotes describing his interactions with wolves, others involved in the wolf introduction program, and members of the public on both sides of the issue.

One does not have to read the author's first book in order to enjoy this one. Regardless of a reader's position on wolves in general or the reintroduction program in particular, he or she will come to realize the following: 1) Wolves are amazing, resourceful, and resilient creatures. They do what they have been programmed to do over millennia. Yes, they come into conflict with humans at times. 2) Carter Niemeyer is a unique individual. There are not many people around who can find wolves, trap them consistently without serious injury, and safely collar them so their movements can be monitored. (He can also shoot tranquilizer darts into running animals from a helicopter without blowing chunks in his lap).

Despite one's position on wolf reintroductions, I think the author and his colleagues should be praised for their dedication and for their contributions to the science of wildlife ecology. This is an excellent book that should be of interest to readers on all sides of the issue.

[Leah B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wolf Land carries on from Wolfer, and while there is some crossover between the two, Wolf Land covers Niemeyer’s later years of the reintroduction program and the time he’s dedicated to their revival after his retirement. This was a much more relaxed read compared to Wolfer as the opposing sides of reintroduction aren’t delved into as heavily as they are in Wolfer, which is where the primary foundation of the emotional conflict is laid out.

Wolf Land celebrates the beauty and resilience of wolves and the nurturing habits of pack dynamics - which are much alike to us humans. Niemeyer’s admiration and appreciation for the species is undoubtedly clear as he continues to advocate for wolves and draws lines of how humans can and *should* take more accountability to protect public lands for both natural predators and human use.

Niemeyer’s dedication to wolves and his contributions to ecology has and will continue to make positive impacts for years to come. The Yellowstone basin and our wild spaces have been positively impacted and will forever be changed due to the work of him and his team. This is a great and fantastic read for anyone interested in our natural landscape and wolves place within it.

[Karine Parry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book, told from the direct experience and perspective of a Federal trapper turned wolf conservationist. He was part of the reintroduction team for wolves into Yellowstone and Central Idaho.

Reading this transported me into the minds of these professionals, ranchers and hunters, and made it possible for me to travel in the vehicle with the author, in a metaphorical sense. I felt like I was part of the experience. I learned important details about wolves and wolf management that I did not already know. The book made me realize how much effort goes into wolf management, and helped me understand why some of it, at least, is necessary in this world we live in today.

The book also gave me information on how to locate wolves.

[Mary Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

If anyone has lived a life more different than my own, this is the person. This is Mr. Niemeyer's second memoir; this beginning when he worked in Montana as a trapper and predator erricator for the state. Then things get interesting as he works to re-install wolves into Yellowstone.
This is a book about that experience, about wolves and people, about trying to recreate a more natural world. And why it might be really important....
You will learn more about how wolves live and move and even more about human emotional behaviors when it comes to this carnivore.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good read written by an Idaho author about wolves in Idaho and the surrounding area. I enjoyed learning more about wolves and how they impact people and the environment for good and bad. I appreciate the author writing objectively from both perspectives.

[Amber Polo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A folksy follow-up memoir to “Wolfer” (2010)
with more stories by the trapper who worked
for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. First
hired to kill and capture wolves, he helped
reintroduce wolves from Canada into the
northern Rockies in the mid-1990s.

[Debbie Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

This important first-hand account of Carter Niemeyer's role in re-establishing wolves in Yellowstone is also interesting for showing his transformation as a trapper who killed wolves for the government to a trapper who helped to save wolves.

[Cassiopeia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kept me engaged every single page along the way. What a wonderful expose from multiple viewpoints on the wolf issue.

[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Pageturners (library book group) selection for June, great choice!
Wild life writing at its best.

[CMarie Fuhrman · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no other book written in and about Idaho and Idaho wolves that is more important than this one--or the three that Carter has written about wolves. It's easy to assume one side or the other, but like any issue where life is concerned, it is much more nuanced.

In this fabulous collection that is both natural history and memoir, Carter explains and explores the difficult spaces between the near extinction of wolves in Idaho/Montana and the reintroductions. As a former wolfer himself, he talks about depredation hunting, conservation, and his turn toward becoming an advocate for the species.

No matter what side of the debate you are on, your argument is not complete without reading this book. If you are, however, an advocate like I am, it is the howl that we need right now, that call from the trees that will help us see both the necessity and the right that wolves have to the land.

[Jack Wills · Rating 5 out of 5]

required reading

For anyone interested in the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone and the surrounding states this book should be required reading. Carter Niemeyer overs a unique perspective regarding the evolution of the effort return wolves, he was there. Not only that he is a flesh and blood representation of the evolution of trapper into an advocate for wolves. This book is full of details and examples of the dramatic lives of wolves in The West. If you aren’t interested, after reading this book, you will be.

[Joel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author has an intriguing personal story growing up as a trapper and becoming a wildlife biologist who assists wolf recovery in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. He has plenty of interesting stories and anecdotes to share about the challenges that wolves and those who share the landscape with them face.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read in that it was written by a professional fur trapper turned wildlife ranger. Throughout most of the work, he remained objective, so much so, that after his descriptions of multiple acts of brutal violence against wolves and other fur bearing animals, I began to lose patience with his seeming lack of any emotion while depicting horrid acts of senseless and ignorant violence against an apex predator, so important to the health of wild environments.

I came close to putting the book down a number of times but stuck with it, primarily due to my fascination with this species of animal. Finally, in the last third of the work, the author began to reveal his aversion for those who were once his fellow trappers and the government policies that allow the persecution of animals that indubitably improve the health of all wild environments they are allowed to exist in. This has been shown, unequivocally, in Yellowstone National Park, where even the flow route of the Yellowstone River was changed once the elk, which had been over browsing riverside vegetation, were driven from there with their population brought under normal control.

One can learn much from reading this work, but the writing is on the weak side, and much of what is deliberated upon could be left out without hurting the objective of the work. Three stars may be generous...

[Jeanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wishing this book was part of our school curriculum; as it is educational and valuable with regards to protecting one of our great natural resources. I would recommend reading Niemyers' first book "Wolfer" for additional amazing details, which also provides a great introduction to this one.