Juneau once got to know a certain gregarious black wolf. Now, after seven years, that wolf is returning to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, part of an educational display organized by author Nick Jans and the U.S. Forest Service. It\u2019s on schedule to be completed at the end of November, but after raising around $25,000 Jans still needs about $5,000 to cover the whole cost of the project.<\/p>\n
The name \u2018Romeo\u2019 isn\u2019t anywhere on the display, something Jans said is fine with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI totally understand where the Forest Service is coming from,\u201d Jans said. \u201cIt\u2019s not their mission to provide a memorial platform.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThose of us who knew Romeo or his story will understand the rest,\u201d he added in an email. \u201cThen there\u2019s the plaque near Nugget Falls, which does name and commemorate the wolf by name, and the tour bus drivers telling his story. A statue of Abraham Lincoln doesn\u2019t need a nameplate, does it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Romeo, of course, was a black wolf that frequented the area around the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center for years. Jans wrote a book about him, \u201cA Wolf Called Romeo.\u201d After Romeo was shot illegally in 2009, the court ordered his hide be loaned to the Forest Service for use in the display.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
DISPLAY<\/strong><\/p>\n Jans is donating the exhibit to the Forest Service, which visitor center assistant director Nikki Hinds called \u201ca huge undertaking.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not just \u2018here\u2019s a wolf,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n That\u2019s something Jans definitely seconds.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will be a high end, museum grade exhibit. From start to finish, we\u2019ve gone with the best. Just the design process took several drafts and more than a year of back and forth, plus more money than I\u2019d originally hoped the whole exhibit would cost. You can get a wolf mounted for a couple thousand bucks; this one was four times that, and for a good reason. The guy who worked on it has won national awards for his work\u2014 more a wildlife artist than a taxidermist,\u201d Jans wrote.<\/p>\n The team that mounted the wolf will build a rock outcropping at the center, which they\u2019ll blend into the existing exhibit, Jans said. There\u2019s a bronze \u2014 not plaster \u2014 cast of one of his footprints.<\/p>\n Jans wrote the information on the interpretive panels. One focuses on glacial succession and the effect of an apex predator like a wolf \u201cthere hunting in the shadow of the glacier.\u201d The other focuses on wolves as social animals, with a family structure.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a good opportunity to get out some positive messages on wolves as well,\u201d Jans said. \u201cI don\u2019t really have any illusion that all wolves are like this wolf was. He was a very, very, very unique individual.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a recording of wolves howling available on a \u201csound wand,\u201d a handheld device that will prevent the howling from clashing with other exhibit sounds.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact is, this was the only \u2014 the only \u2014 way that we could protect his remains and respect them,\u201d Jans said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t like we could have a sky burial on top of Mount McGinnis. This was the best thing to do, and the most appropriate thing to do. I think when people see this completed exhibit, they\u2019re going to be pleasantly surprised, as I have been.\u201d<\/p>\n The visitor center displays tell the story of what happens as a glacier recedes and plants and wildlife move in. It\u2019s a story Hinds compares to a book \u2014 and a wolf can\u2019t go in the first chapter.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a long process to fit the wolf in.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to belief the wolf was gone in 2009, and it wasn\u2019t long after that \u2014 a year later, we had the agreement from the court to lend the skin to the Forest Service for this purpose,\u201d Jans said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n MONEY<\/strong><\/p>\n Most of the money they\u2019ve raised for the project has been \u201cin Bernie Sanders amounts,\u201d Jans said, adding \u201cI\u2019m really hoping Juneau businesses, and the people of Juneau, will pitch in and drive this project into the barn. The story of this wolf is part of Juneau\u2019s history, and this exhibit will be a lasting testament to that remarkable and unique time, something that a half million people a year will see.\u201d<\/p>\n The Juneau Community Foundation is accepting donations on its website, and Jans said around $25,000 has been raised. In order to happen, the display still requires around $5,000 more in donations. Jans has said he\u2019ll finance it himself if he has to.<\/p>\n \u201cThis wolf exhibit is really something that is part of Juneau\u2019s legacy and adds to our town\u2019s history,\u201d Jans said.<\/p>\n The smallest donation he\u2019s gotten is a quarter from a kid. The biggest was from a certified public accountant from Wisconsin who cried after attending a presentation Jans gave.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a long journey, but it surely has been worthwhile,\u201d Jans said.<\/p>\n The best way to donate is to go to http:\/\/www.juneaucf.org\/blackwolf.html. You can also donate via Jans\u2019 website, www.nickjans.com.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2022 To read a previous article about the display, go to http:\/\/juneauempire.com\/outdoors\/2014-10-24\/black-wolf-exhibit-planned-visitor-center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Juneau once got to know a certain gregarious black wolf. Now, after seven years, that wolf is returning to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, part of an educational display organized by author Nick Jans and the U.S. Forest Service. It\u2019s on schedule to be completed at the end of November, but after raising around $25,000 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":32199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[74],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-32198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","tag-arts-and-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32198"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=32198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}