Bears and bureaucrats, timber and telephone lines, poaching and predators, fires and families - all these play a part in this fascinating study of Canada's National Park wardens. The warden service has been integral to Canada's National Parks from their earliest days. First established in Rocky Mountains Park (now Banff National Park) in 1909, the position of Fire and Game Guardian was the precursor of today's National Park warden, whose duties now include resource management, law enforcement, and public safety. Robert Burns traces the growth of the warden service from here, its formative years, and goes on to show how the role changed and developed according to the expanding park system, altered societal expectations, and technological change.

Guardians of the Wild is a study of real people and their trials, triumphs, and tragedies. This book creates a complete history where before there existed only sketchy accounts of single individuals and incidents. The need for such an account is undeniable; well-known historian Simon Evans describes this story as "one which deserves to be heard."

Both a tribute to the enormous devotion to duty and dedicated labours of the park wardens and a well-researched factual account of how our National Parks evolved, Guardians of the Wild is a singular study of the historical evolution of protection and management inside Canada's national parks.

Robert J. Burns is a heritage resources consultant and historian living in Ottawa, Ontario.

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Mike Schintz grew up along the Highwood River in southern Alberta. His career as a warden with the Canadian Parks Service took him from one end of the country to the other: from Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, New Brunswick and Ontario to Alberta, the Northwest Territories, Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands.

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