Julius Strauss is a wilderness guide, activist, journalist and writer.

Journalism career

Strauss began his career as a British print journalist who spent many years working in

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and other war zones. In 2002, he was posted to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

as the ''Daily Telegraph'''s bureau chief, from where he covered

Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

's Russia and various Chechen crises. He also continued to report from Iraq. After reporting from the Beslan school siege in Russia in 2004, where more than 330 people died, including 186 children, Strauss took time out, suffering from PTSD. In 2005, Strauss left the Telegraph and relocated to Canada, where he spent six months working for ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

''. In 2007, he was appointed to the Atwood Chair in the journalism department at the

University of Alaska Anchorage The University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) is a public university in Anchorage, Alaska. UAA also administers four community campuses spread across Southcentral Alaska: Kenai Peninsula College, Kodiak College, Matanuska–Susitna College, and Prin ...

Canada, Wild Bear Lodge, grizzly bear protection

From early 2006, Strauss ran Wild Bear Lodge in British Columbia. He also still took on various freelance assignments. In 2011 Strauss served as a political officer working with the US Marines in southern Afghanistan for several months. In 2017 he returned to Russia, Ukraine and Georgia with

Thomas Dworzak Thomas Dworzak (born 1972) is a German photographer. He has produced a number of books and is a member of Magnum Photos. He was President of Magnum from 2017 until 2020. Dworzak won a World Press Photo award in 2001 and in 2018 received the Hood M ...

Magnum Photos Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices in New York City, Paris, London and Tokyo. It was founded in 1947 in Paris by photographers Robert Capa, David Seymour (photographer), Davi ...

to retrace the 1947 steps of

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social ...

and

Robert Capa Robert Capa (born Endre Ernő Friedmann; October 22, 1913 – May 25, 1954) was a Hungarian-American war photographer and photojournalist as well as the companion and professional partner of photographer Gerda Taro. He is considered by some to ...

. Between 2015 and 2017, Strauss spearheaded a political campaign to ban grizzly bear hunting in British Columbia as the Chairperson of the Political Committee of the Commercial Bear Viewing Association, which culminated in a full ban announced by the BC government in Dec 2017. He has been featured on '' The Grizzly Truth'', ''Trophy'' and '' Ben Fogle's New Lives in the Wild''. Strauss continues to run Wild Bear Lodge taking a small number of guests out each year to view wild grizzly bears and other megafauna in their natural habitat. In the off-season he writes his own newslette
backtothefront.substack.com
which includes dispatches, comment and analysis on Ukraine, Russia, Afghanistan, the Balkans and eastern Europe.

Personal life

Strauss second wife and partner, Kristin, unexpectedly died of cancer, aged 43, in 2/20.

References

External links

Grizzly Bear Ranch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strauss, Julius Living people British male journalists Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) University of Alaska Anchorage people