The Trail Less Traveled

Nathan Varley grew up in Yellowstone National Park in the tiny community of Mammoth Hot Springs. His parents have been biologists and park rangers that have lived and worked in the park for 3 decades. Following in the family footsteps, Nathan studied biology at Montana State University where he earned B. S. and M. S. degrees. The ecology of mountain goats in the Absaroka Mountains on Yellowstone's eastern edge was his research topic. Further adventure in wildlife studies took him among moose in Alaska, guanacos in Patagonia, and pine marten in Idaho.His trails have led home as often as afar, where Yellowstone's coyotes, bears, river otters and gray wolves became primary study subjects. As a contributor to the historic gray wolf restoration project he has often been in the field tracking wolves. His research at the University of Alberta focused on the relationship between wolves and elk after wolf reintroduction. With his wife, Linda Thurston, Nathan owns his own wildlife tou