Yellowstone Park Wolves

Two weeks ago I watched a documentary about the degradation occurring in Yellowstone National Park, the first National Park in the word established in 1872.  In the 1960's conservationists began to notice environmental damage occurring and were perplexed as to what was happening, so they began investigating. The problems were severe, water courses were changing course and silting up, fish stocks were declining, Beavers no longer existed in parts of the park; and research showed that the Aspen trees were dying young, leaving space for exotic weeds to take over. Aspens controlled any washaways and helped hold the soil together. Young Aspens didn't have the well developed and deep root system that helped hold the soil together and with the degradation of the environment old Aspens were dying. There were many young Aspens, but very few old Aspens. In fact research found that most Aspens were dying at three years of age. The researchers were at a loss. Eventually, after much more research the problem was found to be young Elk cropping the trees and eventually killing them. But Elk had always lived in the park, why were they now causing this problem?  Eventually someone decided that the number of Elk was the problem. Culling the Elk was not seen as a good idea, after all the Elk were only doing what comes naturally, and culling them was sure to raise a public outcry.

Wolves had been removed from the park in the 1930's, and the Elk herd had increased immensely, but before the Elk were culled annually much more research had to be done. Cull too few and the problem persists, cull too many and the herd might simply be pushed towards extinction.  

Eventually it was decided that the only way to restore the balance was to reintroduce Wolves to the park. This too raised a public outcry, but not as loud a one as would have been heard if a decision to cull Elk had been taken.

Mention Elk and every one thinks of Bambi, whereas wolves are seen as cold blooded killers. And of course the local farmers only saw Wolves as a threat to their livestock. But National Parks and Wildlife were now convinced that only a return of the wolves would solve the problem.

In January 1995, 14 Wolves from Canada were introduced into the park. Originally the wolves were fed carrion and road kill, but eventually, and not without some disasters, the wolves formed packs and fended for themselves.

The degraded parts of the park are now recovering, Aspens are thriving, fish stocks improving and Beavers have returned to the park. Local farmers have discovered that wolves and farmers can co-exist although, occasionally stock is lost. But most farmers have learned that wolves are a necessary evil.

For the full story of the introduction of wolves into Yellowstone: Google Yellowstone Park Wolves Reintroduction.