Draft:David Petersen (American author)

• Comment: Your sources, besides two of them, are just listing the names of organizations. We need specifics on Wikipedia. Additionally, this is written like a very long advertisement for this person. Sincerely, Guessitsavis (she/they) (Talk) 18:23, 15 March 2024 (UTC)

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David Petersen was born May 18, 1946 in Oklahoma City, OK. He is a critically acclaimed America author—a naturalist-storyteller—who loves writing, especially about nature and humanity’s relationship to nature. His books and other writings explore and celebrate wildlife, wild places, wild people, and wild ideas. Petersen, aka “Elkheart” (a name given to him by his late wife Carolyn), was an officer and helicopter pilot in the U.S. Marines, rank of captain; earned a B.S. in social sciences and a B.A. in creative writing; was a professional conservationist for much of his life; was managing editor of the national motorcycle magazine Road Rider; was a visiting professor of English at Fort Lewis College in Durango; was Western editor for Mother Earth News; and was a contributing editor to Backpacker Magazine. Since 1980, David has lived a simple lifestyle in a small self-built cabin in the San Juan Mountains, near Durango, CO. His wife of 36 years, Carolyn, died in 2014. According to John Balzar, “Statistically speaking, Petersen lives close to the poverty line some years, in between books. The price one pays to live right.”. David and Carolyn were the subjects of the documentary film On the Wild Edge: Hunting for a Natural Life, by Belgian filmmaker Christopher Daley.

LOVE OF WRITING

Although he is best known for helping to pioneer a genre of hunters who write critically about hunting, he never set out to be a “hunting writer,” and that’s not how he wants to be remembered. Hunting, and writing about ethical hunting, ended up being a large part of his life, but that was never his goal. In fact, the first 11 books he wrote and/or edited had nothing, or very little, to do with hunting. Among the things he is most proud of is having worked with two of his literary heroes, Edward Abbey and A. B. Guthrie, Jr. “When [Edward] Abbey died, the task of editing his journals went to Petersen. The book was titled ‘Confessions of a Barbarian.’ Likewise, Petersen edited ‘Earth Apples,’ a collection of Abbey’s poetry.” Petersen also edited a book of Abbey’s correspondence, titled “Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast.” In Abbey’s own words: “David Petersen writes with wit, clarity and transparent grace, out of expert and personal knowledge of his subject. Best of all, unlike most of our contemporary writers, he’s a first-class observer and defender of the natural world.” Petersen’s collection of 23 of A. B. Guthrie’s environmental essays, done in collaboration with Guthrie, is titled Big Sky, Fair Land, and in it, Petersen not only introduces the essays, but delineates the events and dynamics that influenced Guthrie’s staunch and thoughtful conservation ethic, which he hoped would become a mature and far-sighted national conservation conscience. According to Richard Nelson (acclaimed author of The Island Within), “David Petersen’s writing is crisp as a whack with a hard stick. He is a brilliant, fluent writer with a voice like no one else I know; he is wise, insightful, deeply informed and heartful.” Terry Tempest Williams wrote that “David Petersen writes with the precision of a scientist and the passion of a poet. Not since Edward Abbey has someone written about the western outdoors so sweetly and with such intimacy.” . Of the dozen books Petersen has written, his own favorites are Ghost Grizzlies: Does the Great Bear Still Haunt Colorado?, Writing Naturally: A Down to Earth Guide to Nature Writing, On the Wild Edge: In Search of a Natural Life, The Nearby Faraway: A Personal Journey through the Heart of the West, and Heartsblood: Hunting, Spirituality, and Wildness in America.

Referring to Petersen’s book Ghost Grizzlies: Does the Great Bear Still Haunt Colorado?, in which Petersen tells of the history of grizzlies in Colorado and of his quest for evidence of remaining grizzlies there, Mike May wrote that “Petersen describes his search in an appealing style–something like Edward Abbey meets Sherlock Holmes.” Also referring to Ghost Grizzlies, John Nichols (author of The Milagro Beanfield War), wrote that it is “a wonderful, ebullient, passionate, and highly readable book. It contains some of the best—and most lyrical—writing about the natural world to come down the pike in a long time – a gentle humanity and respect shines through on every page.” Nichols also wrote of Petersen: “As we have listened to our Thoreaus, Rachel Carsons, and John Muirs, we will now listen to the David Petersens among us. His work transcends science and even literature: It is a polemic for survival. … His work has achieved the strength, clarity, and moral position that make it mentor to others…. The prose is as lyrical as anything written by Edward Abbey, Jim Harrison, or Thomas McGuane and is often better informed…. More than any other author I have read, David Petersen can explain a hunter’s heart and the need for a renewed acceptance of this heart if the human community, based on healthy natural resources, is to survive…. By their work, and by the way they lead their lives, people like David Petersen are trying to reassert the basic principles of eco-centric living, crucial to a healthy world and personified by a simple love of life – all life.”

LOVE OF NATURE

According to the Colorado Wildlife Federation, Petersen is “one of the state’s most effective and dedicated wildlife conservationists…. Dave is the living embodiment of an effective wildlife and public lands advocate. His hard and effective work … helped immensely to protect the state’s roadless areas” . One of the many things he has devoted himself to ameliorating is the proliferation and misuse of all-terrain vehicles across much of the West’s important habitats. Consistent with this advocacy, Petersen founded the Colorado chapter of the national sportsman’s conservation group Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, was Colorado Public Lands Conservation Field Director for Trout Unlimited, and served on the Colorado Governor’s Roadless Areas Review Task Force in support of protecting key wildlife habitat.

A. B. Guthrie, Jr. (Pulitzer Prize Winner for Distinguished Fiction, 1952) wrote that “David Petersen loves the outdoors and can say why.” Petersen writes: “By and large, the character of the place in which a nature writer lives and works (or longs to return to) colors his or her work…. My own place…is here in the southern Rockies. I thrive on the crisp clean air and cold clear water, the breath-sucking beauty of the creased and crenulated landscape and its abundant wildlife, the relative quiet and solitude and the personal freedom it all adds up to. These are the things to value most in life. It follows that these are also the things I am compelled to write about. In my case at least, the nature of the place has become the nature of the man, of the writer.”. John Davie wrote that Petersen’s books offer “important common ground–that of a passion for wildness and a desire to preserve the ecosystems which make it all possible” . John Nichols wrote that “David Petersen is a careful man in the forest. He moves unobtrusively and lusts to be alone…. He is familiar with every path taken in the forest by elk and deer….More than any other author I have read, David Petersen can explain a hunter’s heart and the need for a renewed acceptance of this heart if humanity, which requires healthy ecosystems, is to survive.”

Valerius Geist, Ph.D. (Professor of biology and specialist in the biology, behavior, and social dynamics of North American large mammals) wrote that “When field observations are as well described as David Petersen’s are in [his book] Racks, they open up new insights even to scientists.” Referring to Petersen’s book Elkheart: A Personal Tribute to Wapiti and Their World, Geist called it “a stimulating, timely, compelling commentary on our wildlife and its uncertain future, with elk staging the central attraction. However, Elkheart is about much more than elk and deserves to be read widely. It is inspirational, with values we shall need for tomorrow.” Gary Wolfe (former President of Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation) wrote that “Petersen’s skills as a naturalist and his clear, thoughtful writing style ensure that Elkheart will be enjoyed by anyone who appreciates wildlife and wild places. Elkheart portrays the author’s love and passion for elk and elk country, and his dedication to perpetuating the existence of both.”

ETHICAL, SPIRITUAL HUNTING

Petersen is also a traditional bowhunter whose books related to hunting and conservation have formed the ethical foundation of not only organizations such as Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, but also of countless hunters who strive to hunt in a reverent manner that connects them to their prey, to Nature, and to their own deepest selves. An iconoclast to many if not most hunters, he is considered by many to be an “anti-hunter” even though he has quite literally lived to hunt and has hunted to live. According to Carol Peace Robins: Petersen “disdains [most] hunters and ranchers and decries sheep for ‘tempting hungry predators with their insipid nonstop bleating.’” “The man convinces me. I not only respect his practice of hunting, I am in awe of it… Petersen practices a kind of awareness akin to that of the great spiritual traditions.”

David Petersen’s works have delved deeply into the ethics of hunting and how humans evolved as hunter-gatherers, and the implications of that fact for who we are today and how we should relate to Nature. For much of his adult life, Petersen has fervently loved elk and traditional elk hunting (i.e., hunting with a longbow). “Elkheart [one of Petersen’s books] is a fascinating journey into the soul of a man whose passion is the American elk, whose spirit lives deep in the mountain country, and whose voice resonates with the power of the wild” . Along with his extensive personal experience, Petersen draws from philosophy, evolutionary science, ecology, biology, literature and other fields to create riveting and erudite works that offer a unique look at hunting, hunters, anti-hunting, as well as many of “life’s basic truths” - such as “A young man fears that by going too slow he risks missing something. An older man knows that by going too fast he risks missing everything.” Jeremy Lloyd wrote that “Though Petersen has little use for what he calls ‘man-made’ religion, he holds to a strong personal spirituality that he describes as a respect for all life on earth, rooted in ancient practices and informed by modern science.” A theme that reverberates throughout his many books is that “not all hunting is the same, and not all hunters are the same. One hunter may walk up the mountain to hunt like a real human animal and carry the meat back down… [Other] hunters think of their prey merely as potential scores in the record book, stuffed heads on the den wall, which is the antithesis of spirituality and even basic human decency…. Ethical hunting is predicated on dignity and respect: Dignity in our private thoughts and public words as well as in our actions afield when, as hunter Aldo Leopold pointed out, nobody is watching us. And respect, not only for the animals we hunt, their habitats, and the greater natural world, but also for ourselves as hunters and human animals. Carry those two blessed burdens in your heart, and you will do no moral wrong as a predator.” Ted Williams, from his foreword to Heartsblood, wrote “I have never known a more passionate hunter than David Petersen…. As his wife says, he’s beyond the point of just wanting to kill or even watch elk; he wants to be one.” Richard Nelson wrote of Petersen’s book Heartsblood: “I loved this book. If you want to understand hunting from the inside—from far down within the heart and soul and spirit of a hunter; if you want to see through a hunter’s eyes and feel with a hunter’s hands and think with a hunter’s mind; if you want to confront the darkness about modern hunting along with celebrating the beauty of living in and from the wild; if you want to touch the elusive, ineffable, often barely communicable world of the hunter—then you must read Heartsblood.”

Petersen’s books require hunters to take a hard, honest look at themselves and how they hunt; they also suggest how those who are often opposed to each other—ethical hunters, wilderness advocates, and wildlife defenders—can and should be allies against their common enemy: unethical hunters and those responsible for the loss of wildlife habitat. He praises the virtues of ethical hunting while condemning the sins of unethical hunters (of which there are many): “Were I not a hunter myself—lacking that intimate perspective, that hunter’s heart—I suppose I could become an anti-hunter. The line is that fine.” As one fully capable of dialectically holding the tensions generated by apparently contradictory positions, he also states emphatically: “I never feel more attuned, more balanced, more right with myself and the world than when I’m out there alone, being a good predator.”

Books (all non-fiction)

Authored

Among the Elk: Wilderness Images, photographs by Alan Carey, Northland Publishing (Flagstaff, AZ), 1988.

Wind, Water, and Sand: The Natural Bridges Story, Canyonlands Natural History Association (Moab, UT), 1990.

Among the Aspen: Life in an Aspen Grove, photographs by Branson Reynolds, Northland Publishing (Flagstaff, AZ), 1991.

Racks: The Natural History of Antlers and the Animals That Wear Them, Capra Press (Santa Barbara, CA), 1991.

Ghost Grizzlies: Does the Great Bear Still Haunt Colorado? Holt (New York, NY), 1995.

The Nearby Faraway: A Personal Journey through the Heart of the West, Johnson Books (Boulder, CO), 1997.

Elkheart: A Personal Tribute to Wapiti and Their World, Johnson Books (Boulder, CO), 1998.

Heartsblood: Hunting, Spirituality, and Wildness in America, Island Press (Washington, DC), 2000.

Writing Naturally: A Down to Earth Guide to Nature Writing, Johnson Books (Boulder, CO), 2001.

Cedar Mesa: A Place Where Spirits Dwell, University of Arizona Press (Tucson, AZ), 2002.

On the Wild Edge: In Search of a Natural Life, Henry Holt & Company (New York, NY), 2005.

Edited

Big Sky, Fair Land: The Environmental Essays of A. B. Guthrie, Jr., Northland Publishing (Flagstaff, AZ), 1988.

Earth Apples: The Poetry of Edward Abbey, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1994.

A Hunter's Heart: Honest Essays on Blood Sport, Holt (New York, NY), 1996.

Confessions of a Barbarian: Selections from the Journals of Edward Abbey, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1994, revised edition, Johnson Books (Boulder, CO), 2003.

Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast, Mildweed Editions (Minneapolis, MN), 2006.

Petersen also published hundreds of articles and essays in a wide variety of magazines, journals, and anthologies.

Honors and Awards

2011 Colorado Wildlife Federation: Sportsman Conservationist of the Year. 2012 Colorado Wildlife Council: Lifetime Achievement Award. 2013 Backcountry Hunters and Anglers: Chairman Mike Beagle Award for Outstanding Service “above and beyond in promoting BHA and its core values.”

Documentary

“On the Wild Edge: Hunting for a Natural Life.” Available on Youtube

References

American Scientist, July-August, 1996, Mike May, review of Ghost Grizzlies: Does the Great Bear Still Haunt Colorado?, p. 401.

Audubon, November, 2000, Christopher Camuto, review of Heartsblood: Hunting, Spirituality, and Wildness in America, p. 131.

Bloomsbury Review, May-June, 2001, John Nichols, "A Memory in Nature: Writing the Wild Country: A Profile of David Petersen," pp. 3-6.

Los Angeles Times, August 25, 1996, John Balzar, review of A Hunter's Heart, p. 5.

Nature Canada, summer, 1997, John Davie, review of A Hunter's Heart, p. 52.

New York Times Book Review, November 12, 1995, Carol Peace Robins, review of Ghost Grizzlies, p. 56.

The Sun, December 2009, Jeremy Lloyd, The Good Hunter: David Petersen on the Ethics of Killing Animals for Food.

Washington Post, September 3, 2000, David Guy, "Basic Instinct," p. 4.

Further Reading A very detailed entry on David Petersen is available at https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/petersen-david-1946

An excellent, in-depth interview with David Petersen is included in The Sun, December 2009, by Jeremy Lloyd, under the title “The Good Hunter: David Petersen on the Ethics of Killing Animals for Food.”