Open Book Club features author of "Down from the Mountain"

SEELEY LAKE - Bryce Andrews' book, "Down from the Mountain: The Life and Death of a Grizzly Bear," is a story of a grizzly bear named Millie and her cubs that found sustenance in the Mission Valley cornfields and the author's attempt to save them and other bears drawn to the rich food source.

Millie's plight brings to mind the recent demise of the mother grizzly nicknamed Windfall and her three cubs that met their demise this year after losing their fear of humans and finding food around homes in the Swan Valley. The stories of Millie and Windfall draw attention to the challenges we face living in bear country for people and bears.

When Andrews learned of Millie's plight, he met with the dairy farmer who owned the 80-acre cornfield and devised a plan to construct an electric fence around it to keep the mother bear, her cubs and several other bruins out of the corn.

Building, maintaining and monitoring the fence was a Herculean effort lasting many months. But the bears weren't foiled. They found weak spots and moved in, forsaking their usual foraging areas in the Mission Mountains and along stream sides where berries and other natural foods could be found, much the way Windfall sought to raise her cubs on human foods in the Swan Valley.

"If one person in a hundred leaves corn, chicken coops or garbage cans unprotected, then takes a potshot at a sow come looking for a meal," Andrews writes, "it will be enough to damn the grizzlies persisting in Montana." 

Andrews lives in Arlee. He is the field director at the nonprofit People and Carnivores. He has written extensively on issues related to coexistence and sustainable agriculture. His previous book "Badluck Way" about his experiences working on the Sun Ranch in Montana's Madison Valley, was a winner of the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Award, the Reading the West Book Award, and a finalist for the Washington State Book Award.

Andrews will be reading and signing his novel at Alpine Artisans' Open Book Club this Saturday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. at the Grizzly Claw Trading Company in Seeley Lake. The event is free, refreshments served and everyone welcome.

 

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