Doug Peacock

{{Short description|American author, filmmaker, wildlife activist, and Vietnam War veteran}} {{other people}} {{Use American English|date=June 2023}} thumb|Peacock at a speaking engagement in 2021

'''Doug Peacock''' (born April 5, 1942) is an American author, filmmaker, wildlife activist, and Vietnam War veteran. He is best known for his work dedicated to grizzly bear recovery in the lower-48, his book ''Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness''<ref>{{Cite web|title=Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/250095.Grizzly_Years|url-status=live|website=Good Reads|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003234037/http://www.goodreads.com:80/book/show/250095.Grizzly_Years |archive-date=October 3, 2011 }}</ref> and serving as the model for the well-known character George Washington Hayduke<ref>{{Cite web|title=Hayduke|url=https://dougpeacock.net/hayduke|access-date=December 9, 2021|website=Doug Peacock}}</ref> in Edward Abbey's novel ''The Monkey Wrench Gang''. Doug is the co-founder of several conservation organizations including ''Round River Conservation Studies''<ref>{{Cite web|title=About Us|url=https://www.roundriver.org/about-us/|access-date=December 9, 2021|website=Round River Conservation Studies|language=en-US}}</ref> and ''Save The Yellowstone Grizzly.''<ref>{{Cite web|title=About|url=https://savetheyellowstonegrizzly.org/about|access-date=December 9, 2021|website=Save the Yellowstone Grizzly}}</ref>

In 1988 the award winning documentary ''Peacock's War'' <ref>{{Citation|last=Doug Peacock|first=Robert G. McBride|title=Peacock's War|date=October 30, 1988|url=http://archive.org/details/PeacocksWar|access-date=December 8, 2021}}</ref> was released about Doug's experiences in Vietnam and his efforts to study and protect grizzly bears. ''Peacock's War'' premiered on PBS ''Nature'', ''Channel 4 London'', and the ''Discovery Channel.'' In 2019, Doug starred in a film called ''Grizzly Country'',<ref>{{Cite web|last=Buder|first=Emily|title=Doug Peacock on Grizzly Bear Conservation, Being a Naturalist – The Atlantic|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/588769/grizzly-country/|access-date=December 8, 2021|website=www.theatlantic.com|language=en}}</ref> a follow-up documentary devoted to Doug's then-and-now war experiences and the evolution of his work with grizzly bears. ''Grizzly Country'' was published by ''The Atlantic Selects'',<ref>{{Cite web|last=Buder|first=Emily|title=Doug Peacock on Grizzly Bear Conservation, Being a Naturalist – The Atlantic|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/588769/grizzly-country/|access-date=December 8, 2021|website=www.theatlantic.com|language=en}}</ref> an online showcase of short documentaries curated by ''The Atlantic''. Doug's 2021 film ''The Beast of Our Time: Grizzly Bears and Climate Change'',<ref>{{Citation|title=The Beast of Our Time: Climate Change & Grizzly Bears| date=August 9, 2021 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cfuSIlEIyY|language=en|access-date=December 8, 2021}}</ref> narrated by Jeff Bridges and scored by Bill Payne, has already won multiple awards<ref>{{Citation|title=The Beast of Our Time – IMDb|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt14216950/awards/|access-date=December 9, 2021}}</ref> and is currently being screened at environmental film festivals nationwide.<ref>{{Cite web|last=None|date=October 14, 2021|title=Award-winning documentary to be screened Sunday in Troy|url=https://dailyinterlake.com/news/2021/oct/14/award-winning-documentary-be-screened-sunday-troy/|access-date=December 8, 2021|website=Daily Inter Lake|language=en}}</ref>

Peacock was named 2007 Guggenheim Fellow<ref>{{Cite web|title=John Simon Guggenheim Foundation {{!}} Doug Peacock|url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/doug-peacock/|access-date=December 8, 2021|language=en-US}}</ref> and was awarded the Cultural Freedom Fellowship<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lannan Foundation|url=https://lannan.org/cultural-freedom/detail/doug-peacock-awarded-2011-cultural-freedom-fellowship|access-date=December 8, 2021|website=Lannan Foundation|language=en}}</ref> by the Lannan Foundation in 2011 for his work on archaeology, climate change and the peopling of North America as published in his 2013 book ''In the Shadow of the Sabertooth: A Renegade Naturalist Considers Global Warming, the Arrival of the First Americans and the Terrible Beasts of the Pleistocene'' (Counterpunch/AK Press).

A friend and ally of many acclaimed environmentalists and authors—including Rick Bass, Terry Tempest Williams, Yvon Chouinard, Doug Tompkins, Rick Ridgeway<ref>{{Cite web|title=Arctic Expedition|url=https://dougpeacock.net/arctic-expeditions|access-date=December 9, 2021|website=Doug Peacock}}</ref> and Edward Abbey—Peacock has devoted a lifetime to advocating for this planet's wildlife and wild places.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Texas Tech University :: Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library|url=https://swco.ttu.edu/Sowell/DougPeacock.php|access-date=December 9, 2021|website=swco.ttu.edu}}</ref>

== Biography ==

Doug Peacock, the son of seasoned naturalists and birders Marion E. and Kathryn L. Peacock, was born in Alma, Michigan where he grew up in the woods, swamps, and trout streams of northern Michigan. He attended the University of Michigan where he brought Martin Luther King Jr. to campus<ref>{{Cite web|date=May 12, 2017|title=The Grizzly Man's Last Stand|url=https://www.mensjournal.com/features/grizzly-mans-last-stand-doug-peacock-and-rick-bass-hunting-w481272/|access-date=December 9, 2021|website=Men's Journal|language=en-US}}</ref> and earned a degree in geology. Doug then served two tours in the Vietnam War as a Green Beret combat medic; he was awarded the Soldier's Medal, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, and the Bronze Star.

Upon returning home from war, Doug felt disillusioned with human society and sought solace in the beauty of the wilderness. Although he had little scientific background, his passion for and firsthand experience with bears soon brought him recognition as an expert in grizzly behavior. Peacock wrote ''Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness''<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.scribd.com/book/182566536/Grizzly-Years-In-Search-of-the-American-Wilderness|title=Read Grizzly Years Online by Doug Peacock {{!}} Books|language=en}}</ref> in the 70s and 80s. He was a close friend of author Edward Abbey,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Edward Abbey|url=https://dougpeacock.net/ed-abbey|access-date=December 7, 2021|website=Doug Peacock}}</ref> and served as the model for the character George Hayduke in Abbey's novel ''The Monkey Wrench Gang''.

Peacock's 2005 book, ''Walking it Off: A Veteran's Chronicle of War And Wilderness'', continues his memoirs, in the wake of Ed Abbey's death. He ventured into the southwest deserts to walk off the scars left by his friend's death. In the process, he revisited Vietnam in flashbacks, remembering the cantankerous friendship with Abbey, and almost died in his journey to recover from "this terminal disease called life" in Nepal with his friends Alan Burgess and Dennis Sizemore.

Peacock is also friend of American author Rick Bass. In Bass's book ''The Lost Grizzlies: A Search for Survivors in the Wilderness of Colorado'' Peacock is a key element in the search for evidence that there are still grizzlies in the San Juan Mountains.

Peacock was a 2007 Guggenheim fellow, and currently lives in Montana with his wife Andrea, author of ''Libby, Montana: Asbestos and the Deadly Silence of an American Corporation.'' Peacock speaks in schools about wilderness, conservation, and the need to preserve our wilderness. Doug is the chairman of the board of trustees for Round River Conservation Studies.

Doug and Andrea Peacock's new book, ''The Essential Grizzly: The Mingled Fates of Men and Bears'' was released on May 1, 2006 (Lyons Press, {{ISBN|1-59228-848-0}}). It has been reissued in paperback under a new title, ''In the Presence of Grizzlies: The Ancient Bond Between Men and Bears'' in March 2009. (Lyons Press, {{ISBN|1-59921-490-3}})

Peacock has more recently been serving as a writer for the ''Daily Beast'', where he writes about the American wilderness as well as animal rights in their indigenous lands. He wrote for ''The'' Daily ''Beast'' from 2014 through 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Doug Peacock|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/doug-peacock|access-date=November 8, 2021|website=The Daily Beast|date=March 12, 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

== Books ==

* Peacock, Doug. ''Grizzly Years: In Search of the American Wilderness'', Henry Holt & Co., 1990 ({{ISBN|0-8050-0448-3}}). * Peacock, Doug. ''Baja'', Bulfinch Press, 1991 ({{ISBN|0821218034}}). * Peacock, Doug. ''Walking It Off: A Veteran's Chronicle of War And Wilderness'', Ewu Press, 2005 ({{ISBN|0-910055-99-8}}). * Peacock, Doug and Edward Abbey. "The Best of Edward Abbey", Sierra Club Books, 2005 ({{ISBN|1578051215}}). * Peacock, Doug and Andrea Peacock. ''The Essential Grizzly: The Mingled Fates of Men and Bears'', Lyons Press, 2006 ({{ISBN|1-59228-848-0}}). * Peacock, Doug. ''In the Shadow of the Sabertooth: A Renegade Naturalist Considers Global Warming, the First Americans, and the Terrible Beasts of the Pleistocene''. AK Press, 2013 ({{ISBN|978-1-84935-140-9}}). * Peacock, Doug. ''Was It Worth It? A Wilderness Warrior's Long Trail Home'', Patagonia Works, 2022 (ISBN 978-1-952338-04-5).

== References == {{Reflist}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060211051904/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0007/q_n_a.html "Q&A: Doug Peacock,Veteran of the Grizzly Wars"], ''National Geographic Adventure Magazine'', July/August 2002.UCSC Currents online *Newman, John. [https://currents.ucsc.edu/00-01/04-23/peacock.html "Nature writer Doug Peacock to tell of grizzlies, wilderness, and survival"], UC Santa Cruz, ''Currents online'', April 23, 2001. *"Doug Peacock". ''[https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/doug-peacock The Daily Beast]''. Retrieved November 8, 2021.

== External links == *[http://www.dougpeacock.net/ Doug Peacock Official Website] *[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tturb/00162/trb-00162.html Author papers at Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060211051904/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0007/q_n_a.html National Geographic Adventure Questions and Answers with Doug Peacock], at National Geographic Adventure. *[http://www.newwest.net/index.php/main/article/2891/ Doug Peacock: ''The World Needs Ed Abbey Now''] at New West Network. * [http://www.democracynow.org/2009/5/12/doug_peacock_on_walking_it_off Doug Peacock on "Walking It Off: A Veteran's Chronicle of War and Wilderness"] on ''Democracy Now!'' May 12, 2009

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peacock, Doug}} Category:Living people Category:American conservationists Category:American naturalists Category:American nature writers Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:American memoirists Category:United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War Category:Members of the United States Army Special Forces Category:Writers from Montana Category:University of Michigan alumni Category:United States Army soldiers Category:1942 births