The Wolverine Way - by Douglas H. Chadwick from Wild Collective on Vimeo.

Next Tuesday (June 22) wildlife biologist and author Douglas Chadwick stops by the Patagonia store in the Pearl to discuss his new book The Wolverine Way: (out on Patagonia Books $25.95).

As a volunteer with the Glacier Wolverine Project, Chadwick spent five years battling brutal winters, roving grizzlies, and the generally unforgiving terrain of Glacier National Park in order to track, capture, and radio-collar the park’s resident population of wolverines.

What emerged from Chadwick’s experience is an unprecedented look at one of the Northwest’s most legendary and least understood predators, with seldom-documented details on mating behavior, social hierarchy, and, most importantly, wolverine habitat, which requires vast tracts of undisturbed land in order for the animal to survive.

Unfortunately, Chadwick also reveals that the wolverine, which teeters on the edge of being endangered (less than 500 are thought to remain in the lower 48 today), may be an indicator species on par with that of arctic polar bears in terms of witnessing the devastating effects of global warming on wildlife populations.

Yet, if Chadwick leaves us with anything it’s hope. Because while the wolverine may be at its most vulnerable point today, The Wolverine Way confirms once and for all that this mighty creature most certainly lives up to its reputation as the toughest mammal on the planet.