Columbian Cafa From Butterflies to Bigfoot Book commentary by George W. Earley "S om ething is d e fin ite ly a fo o t in the fo re sts o f the Pacific Northwest. Either an o ffic ia lly undescribed species o f hom inoid prim ate dwells there, or an act o f self- and group deception o f astonishing proportions is taking place. In any case the phenomenon of Bigfoot exists." Thus does naturalist Robert Michael Pyle begin his c u rre n t book, Where Bigfoot Walks: Crossing the Dark Diuide [Houghton Mifflin; $21 .95 ] Pyle earned a doctorate in ecology from Yale in the 1970's, w ritin g his dissertation on th e range and h a b ita t o f n o rth w e s te rn b u tte rflie s . He w ent on to w rite several b u tte r fly books including The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies. Now, a quarter of a century later, he has tackled a much larger to p ic , the possible existence o f Bigfoot, the huge, hulking, and sm e lly c re a tu re s w hose q u a s i-m y th ic a l e xiste n ce p re d a te s th e a rriva l o f Euro- American settlers in the Pacific northwest. W rite s Pyle: "T he im p re ssive fa c t, especially in light of the many versions w ith their seeming contradictions, is th a t all of the orig in a l N o rth w e st people have a stro n g B ig fo o t tra d itio n . And th is continues in to modem tim e s . . . " Unlike m any w rite rs , Pyle does not a tte m p t to 'p ro ve ' the creatures e xist by interweaving tales o f sasquatch sightings and fo o tp rin t finds w ith speculation and surmise. "I've been looking into B igfoot" he writes "b u t not looking fo r Bigfoot. Plenty o f others are doing th a t — true believers, whose hearts, souls, and wallets are on the line. I am not one o f these. Even so, I fe lt the need to take my research to the hills, to confront the concept o f Sasquatch on its own ground." And so, a few years ago, his search fueled by a Guggenheim grant, b u tte rfly net in hand and backpack in place, he set o u t to traverse W ashington's Dark Divide, a largely roadless area o f fo re st and lava bed lying between Mt. Adams and Mount St. Helens In the w ild c o u n try Pyle encountered [and lovingly describes] all manner o f flora and fauna, pointing out as he does so th a t there is ample forage to keep the B igfoot well fed. Twice he found tracks -- large ones - he could not id entify, though he does not claim th a t B igfoot made either the tracks or the strange 'n ig h t so u n d s' th a t bore lit t le if any resemblance to the cries of any wild animals he knows. In more civilized surroundings, he m et the 'tru e believers' and the sim ply curious who make up the members o f W estern Bigfoot Society, talked w ith Native Americans [some re tice n t and some cautiously willing to share trib a l b e lie fs o f B ig fo o t] and shared his concerns about B igfoot and people with such B igfoot experts as Canadians René Dahinden and John Green, ex-hunter Peter Byrne [who heads th e O regon-based B igfoot Research P ro je c t] and W ashington S tate University anthropologist Grover Krantz. Many 'tru e believers' will likely dismiss much o f Pyle's book, im patiently flipping past lyrical descriptions o f field, forest and fauna while searching for the nuggets of Bigfoot lore th a t lie embedded like plums in larger pudding of his writing. But to dismiss the pudding for the plums is to miss the point of the book. Pyle's concern is not so much w ith Bigfoot per se, but with the to ta lity o f the environment of which both we and B igfoot are a part. ". . . everything we know," he writes, "tells us th a t if it [B ig foo t] exists, it is in fin ite ly more peaceful and nonviolent than the other great ape occupying [th is ] contin ent." For as Pyle frequently and caustically points out, Bigfoot's impact on the fo re st environm ent has been far more benign than ours. Which brings us to the major disagree­ m ent between sasquatch seekers: do we kill one or not? Peter Byrne has become the de fa c to leader o f those who want to prove B ig fo o t exists by passive observation and photographs. Professor Krantz says th a t's nonsense, noting that in an age of increasingly sophisticated photo fakery, science will only accept an actual Bigfoot, living or dead. And Krantz is w illing to shoo t one should the opportunity arise. As fo r Pyle, he urges accepting the existence o f the Bigfoot today so that, should one be eventually discovered, they will already be p ro te c te d . But while saying th a t, he declines to take a stand on the question of its existence. "That's up to others. I am content to have walked where B ig fo o t walks fo r a season or tw o." Readers who walk th e walk w ith him th ro u g h th is fa s c in a tin g and im m ensely readable book will likely agree. I certainly do. Maps and photos round o u t what may be the best Bigfoot book of the decade. « « 1114 Marín« Drtv« Asteria. OR 97103 503-325-CAFE (2213) H aare Mea • M S a » - t a * ta t lOara - 2pm M a ta n : M M - t a t Opon tarn URIAH HULSEY M IR T H ir r s t T u n is IR G L I * JOVlNAUOf * *• » » ‘ 4 V w W A» V ta « "J- • y äfchjb - •kA' W It * ^ ^ * *” * ^ ^ W'P'