Ignoring the Evidence highlights the journey of Rod Cumberland growing up as the son of a renowned deer hunter in Charlotte County, NB and how he fell in love with both the outdoors, and the white-tailed deer in his younger days. It follows his colorful life growing up in small town NB, the experiences that strengthened him into a person of principle standing up to injustice, following him all the way through his travails through university enroute to becoming the province's deer specialist. The book uncovers his investigation into dwindling deer numbers across Crown Land in the Province during his tenure at NBDNR. Convinced by the growing evidence that glyphosate spraying was causing dramatic declines in deer food, he embarked on a mission to educate colleagues, government officials and politicians as to the negative impacts, only to become the target of the forestry oligarchy in the province that was highly dependant on the economic benefits from glyphosate use. Rod became embroiled in the battle for the Conservation Forest in the province and watched as political pressure began to impact the debate, and the careers of colleagues and other professionals in the province. As his career shifted to employment at a forestry college, influence from the powerful forest industry affected management at the college and would cause not only a decline of the college programs, but eventually the career of a well-intentioned professional sticking to his morals, values and evidence.
"Part memoir, part expose – Cumberland lays out a twisted tale of how power and politics and corrupted science endanger our natural world, and how hard it is to fight back." – Carey Gillam, investigative journalist and author.
