Lily, a Moose, and a Memory - UPDATE October 18, 2022
Moose - trail cam pic 9-21-22
The area where Lily has been seen lately reported no sighting, so I believe we were lucky to catch her on the day she walked to a den and called it a year.
Also today, Lorie checked a trail cam that caught a moose walking by on this property. I haven’t seen a moose for months, maybe over a year, but the moose on the camera coincides with an obituary I received today that the world’s moose authority, known as ‘Alaska’s Moose Man’ and the ‘Maestro of Moose’ died just a day after the moose was caught on the trail camera. Mention of Dr. Victor Van Ballenberghe brings back memories of 1969, the first year of my bear study here in Minnesota where he and I shared a cabin, a vehicle, and our mutual advisor Dr. Albert W. Erickson in the Department of Ecology and Behavioral Biology at the University of Minnesota. Doing field work together that year, he was trying to radio-collar wolves for his Ph.D. after doing his master’s degree on moose, and I was trying to radio-collar black bears. He was great, but we had very different studies that required different size study areas. Poor Vic was stuck helping me process many bears in the big area he needed to capture wolves, and I was spreading my radio collars too widely to get data on territorial overlap, and population density of bears. So we got a second vehicle so we could both do our best work. It was an exciting time and nice talking with him over dinner about our days. His obituary tells how he tried to do for moose what I try to do for bears. We had a good start together.
“Victor Van Ballenberghe
Nov 12, 1943 - Sep 22, 2022
Victor "Vic" Van Ballenberghe passed away on Sept. 22, 2022, at the age of 78, after battling numerous health issues. Vic was well-known and highly respected in the wildlife conservation community for his tireless efforts in advocating for sound science to be applied in decisions regarding wildlife management. Because of his four decades extensive study of moose and their behavior in Denali National Park, Vic was affectionately known as "Alaska's Moose Man" as well as the "Maestro of Moose."
Vic was born on Nov. 12, 1943, in Bayshore, Long Island, N.Y. At the age of 5, his family moved to a dairy farm in upstate New York, where his love of wildlife and nature was nurtured. After graduating high school, he received a degree in biology from SUNY at Oneonta. In 1967, he entered graduate school at the University of Minnesota and went on to earn a Ph.D. in wildlife management in 1972.
After two years on the faculty at South Dakota State University, Vic accepted a wildlife research position with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to determine the impact the trans-Alaska pipeline had on moose. He was stationed in Anchorage, Glennallen and Fairbanks. In 1980, he joined the research branch of the U.S. Forest Service and conducted moose and wolf research in Denali National Park and on the Copper River Delta while based in Fairbanks and Anchorage. He retired in 2000, but continued his Denali moose study for many years thereafter.
Throughout his career as a wildlife biologist, Vic authored and co-authored over one hundred technical journal articles, book chapters and symposium papers. Several of these publications received awards of merit from professional societies. In addition, he published many popular articles, including one on moose in the August 1987 edition of National Geographic magazine. He also authored numerous newspaper opinion pieces on controversial wildlife management issues. His knowledge and experience about "all things moose" were sought-after by film crews including the BBC, National Geographic, Animal Planet as well as other filmmakers, photographers, park rangers and park bus drivers.
In 2004, Vic's book, "In the Company of Moose" was published. It contained over 120 of his color photographs accompanied by a text describing his experiences with moose as a field biologist. The final chapter, "Death of a Warrior," previously won awards for creative nonfiction and was widely acclaimed by many who read it.
Vic was a "boots on the ground" field biologist and believed that in order to properly research wild animal behavior, one had to spend time in the field and patiently observe the animal in its natural habitat and he spent hundreds of hours doing so, always fascinated and prepared to learn something new.
In 1985, Vic was appointed to the Alaska Board of Game by Governor Bill Sheffied. He served one full term on the board and two subsequent partial terms in 1996 and 2002. Vic was a strong advocate of scientific evidence-based wildlife management and he fought hard for sound conservation of predators including bears and wolves.
Although serious and reserved, Vic had a great sense of humor and an incredibly dry wit. Spending time talking with Vic was educational, enlightening and absolutely delightful. He was intelligent, well-read, very thoughtful and interested in a variety of topics. He was an avid nature photographer and his wildlife photographs were published in numerous magazines, books and calendars. He was happiest in the out of doors and seldom missed his daily walk.
Vic was a man of great integrity and followed a strict code of ethics and was authentic to the core. He followed his true internal compass and remained resolute and unwavering on his principles. Vic touched many lives both personally and professionally and will be deeply missed.
Vic is survived by his wife, Linda Masterson; daughter, Andrea Bradford (Craig); son, Jonathan Van Ballenberghe (Sharon Wahl); grandchildren, Kaia and Cameron Bradford; and several nieces and nephews. His ashes will be scattered amongst those of his late mother, father and older brother, on a hill overlooking the former family farm near West Fulton, N.Y., a place he loved, returning him from whence he came.”
Thank you for all you do,
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
