Karsten Heuer, a park ranger and wildlife biologist, spoke at the Salt Lake City Library on Feb. 15 to present his book, “Being Caribou,” as part of the College of Law’s Wallace Stegner lecture series.
The book is about Heuer’s six-month journey with the porcupine caribou herd in 2003 from the Yukon to the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge, during which he studied their migration.
The author is now spending his time traveling around the country and telling the story of these wild animals and the surrounding landscape.
“Psychologically, I think it is so important to know these places exist because, in the world that we now live in, it is easy for us to kind of shut down,” he said.
After the six-month study, he and his wife traveled to Washington, D.C., to address the rising issue of oil and gas production.
The U.S. government has been debating whether or not to explore for oil on the land on which the porcupine caribou herd migrates.
It was difficult for the Heuers to feed their pitch to lobbyists and American politicians, Heuer said, because many already have a strong stance on the issue.
“It was obvious that many of them didn’t care about the caribou or the beautiful wildlife but about the cheap oil and gas,” he said.
Heuer said his main purpose when approaching senators was to put the caribou’s face behind the ongoing issue. He has now turned to speaking to the public to make his argument known.
“(Drilling in the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge) was taken off the defense bill because of the 1,600 phone calls that felt strongly about the issue,” he explained. “That shows that democracy does work if the effort is put forth on our part.”
Bob Keiter, director of the Wallace Stegner Center, invited Heuer to speak because of the immediacy of the issue.
“Not only did he provide scientific and political views, but he also provided a human view of this question that is an issue currently,” Keiter said.
The law school will continue the annual symposium in March and April with guest speakers that will address the topic of global warming from local and international perspectives.