In Wild Trust: Larry Aumiller's Thirty Years Among the McNeil River Brown Bears

by Jeff Fair, Jeff Fair

For thirty years, Larry Aumiller lived in close company with the world’s largest grouping of brown bears, returning by seaplane every spring to the wilderness side of Cook Inlet, two hundred and fifty miles southwest of Anchorage to work as a manager, teacher, guide, and more. Eventually—without the benefit of formal training in wildlife management or ecology—he become one of the world’s leading experts on brown bears, the product of an unprecedented experiment in peaceful coexistence.
 
This book celebrates Aumiller’s achievement, telling the story of his decades with the bears alongside his own remarkable photographs. As both professional wildlife managers and ordinary citizens alike continue to struggle to bridge the gap between humans and the wild creatures we’ve driven out, In Wild Trust is an inspiring account of what we can achieve.

Genres: Nature

200 pages, Hardcover

Published April 15, 2017

Reviews

[Anu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moving account of bear habituation and conservation in Alaska. Protecting wildlife is always heartbreaking cuz you can never save all the lives you want to. This story is no different. But the approach of training humans instead of training wildlife seems to be one that has met with success at multiple places around the world. Loved reading about this while in Alaska, in anticipation of visiting the residents of Katmai. 🐻🤎

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

"In Wild Trust" overflows with the charming but dotty quality of a friend mythologizing another friend, rhapsodizing and waxing lyrically about real achievements.

It is a book with an extremely particular focus: it's not a biography of Larry Aumiller, or a history explaining the configuration and development of the Alaskan park system, or an ecological study of the local bear population and their interactions with humans, but is, with the exclusion of the initial introduction, the tight intersection of all of these: Larry Aumiller's tour guide and field work with bears at the summer during the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary for thirty years, which have allowed new levels of interaction between humans and bears for modern times.

And it's even more constrained than that: it's still a book written to explain Larry's career to his daughter, for all the time he then spent apart from his family at his job. These constraints lead to the book being both personal and revealing, but also very private and occasionally oddly truncated. We have no idea what Larry does on the off-season, or even what the leading-and-following desk work that is part of the job would consist of. There's only the tiniest level of information about what exists beyond the boundaries of the park and how they fit in the park's mandates.

In addition to these constraints truncating the context, they also limit the content of the time under study. There's both a certain sanitation and a level of innuendo that probably exaggerates what has been removed out of all proportion that is simultaneously appealing and silly. At one point, there was a line something like "there was enough that happened for ten books" and I was thinking "then why are we stretching the material of a hefty pamphlet?"

However, the book accomplished what it set out to show, which is that Larry Aumiller has done some great work, developing interaction protocols of safe and maximally non-violent interaction with the bear population attracted to the sanctuary by particularly favorable fishing conditions. The bear photography here is quite appealing and reflects the effectiveness of these protocols.

Ultimately, there's a lot to like about this book and how it demonstrates that a cautious and studied interaction between humans and bears, while not risk free, is possible and worthwhile.

[Dick Whittington · Rating 5 out of 5]

I totally enjoyed reading "ln Wild Trust." Started it in October and just finished three months later. It took so long because I rationed my reading to make the 160 pages last. I loved the story, the photos and the writing. And I've put McNeil at the top of my bucket list ahead of the National Wildlife Refuge. The book was terrific. I just wish it had been much longer. McNeil River is in the Katmai National Park across the Cook Inlet from Homer, AK. The salmon run on the river attracts the largest number of brown bears in the world (as many as 85 counted in one day). And Fish & Wildlife biologist Larry Aumiller spent 30 summers managing the McNeil camp that allows 10 lucky lottery winners to enjoy watching the bears and other wildlife every day from June to August...and during that entire time with no barriers between bears and humans, there was not a single bear attack or bear shooting. I don't know Larry and had not heard of him until I started reading the book...but he must be an amazing man and have a loving sense for the bears to earn their trust and to guide visitors safely from the camp to the falls through bear territory each day...What he accomplished at McNeil was nothing short of a miracle. Would love to meet him someday. It's an amazing story and I confidently recommend the book for any and all.

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[Nola]

In Wild Trust tells the story of the McNeil River State Game Sanctuary and how Larry Aumiller helped to shape it and develop an underlying understanding that serves as a foundation for the protocols used to govern the area. The story, from the beginning of the sanctuary up to 2017 is fun to read. People and incidents are portrayed naturally. Larry Aumiller started out young and fool-hardy, like most young people, and, like many of us, matured into a person who would never do some of the things he did when he was younger. When he was young and adventurous, he did manage to find an incredible job managing McNeil that he found fascinating for the rest of his career. Later in the book, politics show up, and that is another facet of the history of McNeil. The photographs in the book were taken by Larry Aumiller, and they are amazing. In Wild Trust gives information about the general area and the weather and exactly what a visit there is like.

[Stacey Schmeidel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful love letter to a life well lived among the bears of McNeil River Bear Sanctuary. Author Jeff Fair documents Larry Aumiller's life at McNeil with admiration, respect, and humor -- providing unique insight into the Aumiller's extraordinary work with the bears and other wildlife. With beautiful photos that complement the text, this book is a treasure for anyone who's visited McNeil -- or who wants to better understand this remarkable place.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great story about a man (Larry Aumiller) and his passion and love for the natural world.

[Brynn Eaton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great bear pics, wish it was more of a narrative style