Guides

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Waiting for dinner to swim within reach.

* For information on the benefits of hiring a guide, and on the qualities that separate

ace guides from duds, click here

* To read viewer comments about individual guides, or to add your own

comments, go to BVA’s Blog by clicking

Once at the blog’s homepage

“Submission Policy,” click on the tab (top of page) for Viewing Guides.

Once you reach that page, if the listing for a particular guide is not visible, you

can check for it using the search window.

* For background information on individual guides, check the following catalogue.

GUIDE CATALOGUE

Certified Bear-Expert Guides

(Listed in order of seniority, highest to lowest)

At this early stage of developing the certification program,

all certifications are provisional.

Steve Stringham, Certified Bear Expert Guide. Steve has guided viewers since 1970, both in Alaska and other areas of North American and Europe. Although he specializes in brown/grizzly and black bears, he has also led groups to observe wolf, fox, moose, elk, red deer, chamois, roe deer, mountain sheep and a variety of other terrestrial mammals, as well as marine life. He a delightful storyteller, as well as the author of numerous scientific articles and four books on bears.

* Beauty Within the Beast: Kinship With Bears in the Alaska Wilderness

(2002)

* Bear Viewing in Alaska: Where, When and How to Enjoy Watching

Grizzly, Black and Polar Bears (2007)

* Bear Aggression: A New Approach to Staying Safe and Enjoying Adventures Among Alaska’s Wild Bruins (2007)

* Alaska Magnum Bear Safety Manual: Staying Safe Even When You Don’t Want Encounters (2008)

His next book Becoming Bear will tell how he learns about nature from the combined perspectives of mainstream and Native American cultures.

Steve is an accomplished cinematographer who has produced two videos on bears (Grizzlies Among the Glaciers and Wolverine Creek Wildlife Adventures). He has written numerous popular articles. He earned a PhD studying bear ecology, a MSc degree studying moose behavior, and a BSc degree in marine ecology. When not guiding, he makes his living as a wildlife consultant with particular expertise on conserving imperiled species. His firm WildWatch Consulting specializes in devising ways to help make good conservation good business. He also teaches part time at the University of Alaska. Steve is the founding Director of the Bear Viewing Association. During spring 2007, he will soon be featured in TV programs by National Geographic and Discovery Channel.

Buck Wilde, Certified Bear Expert Guide. Renown as a wildlife photographer and lecturer, Buck began his professional life as an electrical engineer. He has guided on the Katmai Coast and Kodiak Island for several years. Buck has written numerous wildlife books for children and is currently working on one about the role of bears in Native American cultures. This book will feature a unique collection of photos of bear pictographs and effigies.

Kent Fredrikkson. Kent is rapidly becoming known as another of the world’s finest bear photographers. Several of his photos grace Bear Viewing Association websites and the new book Bear Viewing in Alaska. A citizen of Sweden, Kent travels to Alaska each summer to photograph bears and other wildlife, and occasionally to guide select clients. In between photo shoots, Kent does finely crafted woodworking.

Brad Josephs Certified Bear Expert Guide. Brad is a naturalist interpreter who divides his time between brown bears on the Alaska Peninsula in summer and polar bears at Hudson’s Bay in fall. His guiding career began in 1999, when he served an Intern Tech for the Alaska Department of Fish & Game at McNeil River State Game Sanctuary under Derek Stonorov and Larry Aumiller. Since 2000, he has guided boat-based, remote-camp based, and backpacking trips along the coast of Katmai National Park for Katmai Coastal Tours (www.katmaibears.com) and Hallo Bay Camp. Brad has assisted and guided numerous professional photographers including Art Wolfe, as well as a variety of production companies including IMax, Animal Planet, BBC, PBS, and Discovery HD Theater. For the past two years, Brad has spent autumn at Hudson’s Bay as Expedition Leader on polar bear viewing trips for Natural Habitat Adventures (www.nathab.com). Brad earned a B.Sc. in Wildlife Biology at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. He served as research tech on various projects in various regions of Alaska. He lives in the hills above Homer with his finance Melissa.

Adventure Guides Yet to be Certified by BVA

John Toppenberg. John is a renown photographer specializing in loons and bears. If you want a guide who can also teach you the art of wildlife photography, he’s your man. John is also Executive Director of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance -- one of this state’s foremost conservation groups dedicated to “Letting nature run wild.” They are at the forefront of efforts to limit “predator control” to the minimum necessary to assure that bush families can harvest adequate food. They oppose exaggerating the needs of bush families to justify widespread, largely indiscriminate slaughter of bears and wolves -- primarily to benefit big game guides and rich trophy hunters from outside Alaska. As a retired police detective, John brings a unique and fascinating perspective to both wildlife conservation and viewing.