Merriam's turkey is a bird native to the southern Rocky Mountains and the Colorado Plateau. But while focusing on this big bird of the Southwest, Shaw's new book is really a field study of another rare species, the wildlife management professional. He suggests that the more we know about a species, the more difficult clear decisions may often become. He offers shrewd observations on the difficulties of interpreting and implementing research results in the face of pressures exerted by government bureaucracies, non-governmental organizations, and politically powerful loggers, ranchers, land developers, and environmentalists. He also shows that management of even a common game bird may be beyond the capabilities of responsible resource management agencies.