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Legacy of a pioneer biologist, educator and conservationist
By Larry Halverson
Friends of Kootenay
This book traces the early history of biological exploration and discovery in British Columbia and Canada’s Rocky Mountain national parks.
One man, Ian McTaggart-Cowan, was at the centre of that history as an explorer, educator, advocate of wildlife and wilderness values and pioneer conservationist.
As part of a small group of legendary naturalists, he documented our rich and diverse wildlife resources and brought them and their importance to public attention. This book follows the trails of many of those pioneers and the researchers who followed. It is a tribute to the remarkable 100-year life of the man who was “The right man, in the right place, at the right time!”
This comprehensive biography is a culmination of four years of volunteer collaboration of the authors and nearly 100 former colleagues, students, friends and family of Dr. Ian McTaggart-Cowan.
The three authors, Ron Jakimchuk, Wayne Campbell and Dennis Demarchi, reflect a combined personal experience of over 100 years interacting with Dr. Cowan in several capacities. This included a close working relationship between Dr. Cowan and Wayne Campbell over a 35-year period.
This 400-page, hard-cover book, recently released by Harbour Publishing and jointly sponsored by the Biodiversity Centre for Wildlife Studies (BCFWS), is available in bookstores or directly from Harbour Publishing.
All royalties to which the authors are entitled have been formally allocated to the BCFWS, a registered non-profit society.
Lead image: The book is illustrated with a few photos from Kootenay National Park including a wolf chasing a butterfly by Alan Dibb.
