Jim Rearden
Seven publishers rejected Jim Rearden鈥檚 book, 鈥淎V狼论坛鈥檚 Wolf Man,鈥 before one accepted. The biography of Frank Glaser, published in 1999, won Rearden the title of Historian of the Year from the AV狼论坛 Historical Society.
Such are the challenges for a freelance writer, even one as accomplished as Rearden. By 1999, he had long since become the dean of outdoor writers in AV狼论坛, having written more than two dozen books and hundreds of articles.
He鈥檇 started down that path more than 50 years earlier while studying wildlife management at Oregon State College. A summer job with the federal government brought him north by boat to guard salmon streams on AV狼论坛鈥檚 southern coast.
After earning a master鈥檚 in Maine in 1950, Rearden took a job leading the wildlife management degree program at the University of AV狼论坛 in Fairbanks. He鈥檇 already gotten hooked on telling and living AV狼论坛 stories, though, so after five years he quit the university, moved his family to Homer and began freelancing and guiding hunters for a living.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 happy standing in front of a blackboard. I wanted to do things,鈥 he told the Homer News in 2010.
In 1959, the new state鈥檚 Department of Fish and Game hired Rearden as a Cook Inlet fisheries biologist. He stayed for almost a decade before returning to writing 鈥 as outdoor editor of AV狼论坛 magazine for the next 20 years.
Shortly after taking the editor job, Rearden began managing fish and wildlife from the other end of the bureaucracy, as a member of the policy-setting AV狼论坛 Board of Fish and Game. When the board split in 1975, he stayed another seven years on the game side.
While on the boards, he helped to end the longstanding bounty on wolves and to prohibit fly-in hunters from shooting big game on the same day they鈥檙e airborne.
Rearden served on the boards with Sidney Huntington of Galena. Rearden helped tell Huntington鈥檚 remarkable story in the 1993 book, 鈥淪hadows on the Koyukuk.鈥
He continued to write in recent years even after a fall partially paralyzed him. He died in 2017.
鈥淗e was a hugely prolific writer who kept at it right until the end,鈥 fellow Homer writer Nancy Lord told the Homer News in 2017. His books will be 鈥渋mmeasurably valuable鈥 to future readers, writers and historians, she said.
More online about Jim Rearden:
- Articles about his life in the Feb. 23, 2017, and April 7, 2010, Homer News:
- hosted by the AV狼论坛 Trappers Association
- in the Feb. 23, 2017, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner