Reintroduction of the Wolf
Does Reintroduction of the Wolf in Yellowstone have Environmental Benefits?
Wendy Carter
Western Governors University
QBT1
Wolves, having remarkable speed, strength and intelligence, were once abundant predators throughout the North American continent, including at least five species and two million animals (Leonard, Vila, & Wayne, 2005). However, in just a couple of centuries, the wolf population dwindled. By the early to mid-1900’s only five percent of the population remained in the contiguous United States, and wolves were completely eradicated from Yellowstone by 1926 (Knight, McCoy, Chase, McCoy, & Holt, 2005). Park rangers, officers of the law, federal predator control agents, and hunters, by means of trapping, poisoning and shooting, purposefully accomplished the extinction of wolves in Yellowstone. Over the next decade, the focus on Yellowstone as a national park went from being a “natural freak show” and entertainment to a place of education and a restoration of natural ecosystem (Knight et al., 2005). Between 1960 and 1972 ecologists, biologists, and the National Park Service agreed upon and stressed the importance of restoring the park’s ecosystem. This included returning the only missing native species, the wolf, which they discovered to be a fundamental part of a salubrious ecosystem (Knight et al., 2005). In January 1995 thru 1996, the reintroduction of 31 wolves into the Yellowstone basin occurred after their removal from the region for nearly 70 years (Knight et al., 2005). Yellowstone has been going through a restructuring of the ecosystem since the reintroduction and is now home to mountain lions, grizzly and black bears, and wolves, all native species of large carnivores (Smith, Peterson, & Houston, 2003). Since the Yellowstone reintroduction, wolves are no longer on the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and there is a shifting paradigm towards conservation verses restoration (Millspaugh, Kunkel, Kochanny, Peterson, & Licht, 2010). Once
Wendy Carter
Western Governors University
QBT1
Wolves, having remarkable speed, strength and intelligence, were once abundant predators throughout the North American continent, including at least five species and two million animals (Leonard, Vila, & Wayne, 2005). However, in just a couple of centuries, the wolf population dwindled. By the early to mid-1900’s only five percent of the population remained in the contiguous United States, and wolves were completely eradicated from Yellowstone by 1926 (Knight, McCoy, Chase, McCoy, & Holt, 2005). Park rangers, officers of the law, federal predator control agents, and hunters, by means of trapping, poisoning and shooting, purposefully accomplished the extinction of wolves in Yellowstone. Over the next decade, the focus on Yellowstone as a national park went from being a “natural freak show” and entertainment to a place of education and a restoration of natural ecosystem (Knight et al., 2005). Between 1960 and 1972 ecologists, biologists, and the National Park Service agreed upon and stressed the importance of restoring the park’s ecosystem. This included returning the only missing native species, the wolf, which they discovered to be a fundamental part of a salubrious ecosystem (Knight et al., 2005). In January 1995 thru 1996, the reintroduction of 31 wolves into the Yellowstone basin occurred after their removal from the region for nearly 70 years (Knight et al., 2005). Yellowstone has been going through a restructuring of the ecosystem since the reintroduction and is now home to mountain lions, grizzly and black bears, and wolves, all native species of large carnivores (Smith, Peterson, & Houston, 2003). Since the Yellowstone reintroduction, wolves are no longer on the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and there is a shifting paradigm towards conservation verses restoration (Millspaugh, Kunkel, Kochanny, Peterson, & Licht, 2010). Once
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