Environmentalists and the timber industry do not often collaborate, but in the years immediately following gray wolf reintroduction in the interior American West, a plan to reintroduce grizzly bears to the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness of Idaho and Montana brought these odd bedfellows together. The partnership won praise from diverse interest across the country but when the Bush Administration took office, it promptly shelved the project.

In Grizzly West Michael Dax explores the political, cultural, and social forces at work in the West and around the country that gave rise to this innovative plan but also contributed to its downfall. Dax reveals how the American West’s changing culture and economy over the second half of the twentieth century dramatically affected this bold vision. Grizzly West explores the great divide between the Old and New West, one that has lasting consequences for the modern West and for our country’s relationship with its wildlife.

Michael Dax earned a masters in history at the University of Montana where Grizzly West began as his thesis. Before coming to Missoula, he worked as a tour guide, ski instructor, and trail groomer in Yellowstone National Park. His writing has appeared in High Country News and Earth Island Journal. He currently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.