Being Caribou

What begins as a wildlife research project becomes much more as the author and his wife learn to hear the earth, pay attention to their dreams and slowly change, beyond their expectations, into being caribou.

·Wildlife biologist Karsten Heuer and filmmaker Leanne Allison spend five months migrating on foot with more than 100,000 caribou
·Both gripping adventure and stark portrayal of an Arctic ecosystem threatened by oil development
·Fresh off a nine-city tour in Spring 2005 for his book, Walking the Big Wild, the author will tour in Fall 2005 for this new book and a film by the same name

In April 2003 newlyweds Karsten Heuer and Leanne Allison embarked on a five-month research journey to migrate more than 2,000 miles with a herd of 120,000 Porcupine Caribou. From Old Crow, Yukon, to the calving grounds in Alaska, and back again, the Heuers followed the ancient paths and primordial rhythms of the herd from its winter range through Canada and across the border to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the United States. The couple traveled by foot and by skis through unforgiving landscapes—fording swift, deadly cold rivers, as well as encountering ravenous grizzlies who tracked them as prey.

Having begun their expedition with the practiced pragmatism of two seasoned outdoor adventurers, Karsten and Leanne soon learned that they would only be able to find and discern the intent of the herd by adopting the ancient ways of the area’s indigenous people. Given advice by a Gwich’in native in Old Crow at the start of their trip to "listen to dreams", Karsten and Leanne find they must shed the many insulating layers of pragmatism that distance them from the natural world. They discover that there is a truth that is transformational in listening to the music of the earth, paying attention to the urgings within dreams, and in truly, beyond their expectations, being caribou.