“The pressure was huge with this project. If we couldn’t do this here, on our own turf in one of the most famous parks in the world, as one of the richest nations in the world, then who could? This was an example to the globe in restoring nature.”
Try as he might, the Big Bad Wolf has a tough time living up to his reputation, no matter how hard the hunting lobby and ranchers want it that way. The saying “This land is your land” cuts both ways, and as with most things in the illusory world we friend ourselves in today, it’s subject to personal interpretation.
Some truths remain self-evident, though, no matter how hard detractors try to claim otherwise. And, 25 years to the month after grey wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park, the results are striking.
Twenty-five years ago, the project to return wolves to the continental United States’ first national park was met with skepticism and downright hostility. The project was one of the first attempts to return an apex predator to an expansive ecosystem, and was done in part because field biologists at the time recognized the entire park was on the verge of ecological collapse.
Their argument would be a tough sell today, given the current climate of political division, where opinion matters more than facts, and the idea of reintroducing an apex predator to an ecosystem on the verge of collapse seems, on the face of it, a frightfully dumb idea — not unlike combatting a deadly disease by introducing even more deadly, invasive bacteria.
Biologists and park officials understood, though, that, by culling the weak and infirm, apex predators play a critical role in ensuring an ecosystem remains healthy.
It’s a hard argument to make with people who either can’t or won’t understand the value of long-term thinking, especially in a post-facts world where all that matters is what we can see with our own eyes, in the here and now, as in, right now.
The buzz word of the hour in the environmental community — basically anyone with a research degree in zoology and a rudimentary understanding of how ecosystems work — is “rewilding,” the process of restoring nature to its original habitat, whether that means removing dams and other man-made obstacles to free up rivers and allow the regeneration of natural forest cover, or reintroducing apex predators and other keystone species to areas where they’ve been eradicated.
The idea, relatively new in the US, has been in effect now for several years across central Europe — in Germany and Scandinavia, for example — and, more recently, in the UK, a country notable for its ecological ruin.
Wolves were one of the original species listed in the US Endangered Species Act, itself an endangered species now, thanks to the currently serving presidential administration, when the act was originally passed into law in 1973.
It wasn’t until 1995, though, more than 20 years later, that wolves were given a chance, thanks to generations of myth-making and misinformation.
During that time, field biologists — and anyone with a working brain — saw what a park without apex predators would turn into. Yellowstone’s elk population grew to unsustainable levels, with catastrophic effects on the park’s tree population of aspens and willows.
The coyote population ran rampant, which in turn wiped out species in the middle of the food chain. As trees began to fall, due to overgrazing by elk, beavers were no longer able to build dams and riverbanks eroded as a result.
A dozen or so wolves were captured in Alberta’s Jasper National Park, across the border in Canada, and relocated to Yellowstone, where curiosity seekers lined the bluffs in Lamar Valley to gawk at the wolves — transported in horse trailers — as though they were circus freaks being paraded through the town square.
Rewilding is rarely a smooth process, even at the best of times. And these were not the best of times.
The first wolf to be released into Yellowstone, dubbed No.10 by field biologists, was summarily shot by a rancher. Old habits die hard.
Its mate, No. 9, pregnant with pups, survived however. Incredibly, No. 9 and No. 10’s bloodline can be traced to most of the wolves in the park to today, according to recent DNA field studies.
The hunting lobby often portrays trophy hunting as a moneymaker while conservationist are characterized as granola-crunching losers, big city slickers who are little more than interfering meddlers and a drain on local economies.
It’s a funny thing, though. The reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone has cost an estimated $30m USD over 25 years, ac cording to a recent study, but wolf ecotourism now brings in $35m USD annually.
Their reintroduction has proved an economic boon to surrounding communities. Yellowstone today is considered the best place on the planet Earth to observe wild wolves — an animal that, contrary to its reputation, is shy, reclusive and tends to hide in remote locations.
In recognition of the original No. 10, then, here are 10 reasons why the natural world needs wolves, as first reported in Mother Jones and, just days ago, The Guardian:
1. Without wolves and other apex predators, ecosystems go haywire.
2. Scavengers thrive when wolves are around. Why does that matter? Because scavengers are nature’s janitors: They prevent the spread of deadly diseases like anthrax, by ensuring dead animals are not left to rot.
3. Wolf kills provide soil with life-sustaining nitrogen and other nutrients.
4. Wolf kills feed other animals as well, since they’re messy eaters and have a bad habit — or good habit, depending on one’s point-of-view — of scattering their carrion over wide areas.
5. No wolves means more coyotes, and coyotes’ favourite prey include the critically endangered pronghorn antelope. Interestingly, more wolves in Yellowstone has meant more pronghorn in Yellowstone.
6. Deer and elk hang out in smaller groups when wolves are around. Why does that matter? It reduces the transmission of communicable diseases common to deer and elk such as Chronic Wasting Disease. Who knew?
7. Wolves focus on weak and diseased prey animals, which reduces those animals’ lifespans, which in turn limits the amount of time they have to spread their infection.
8. Elk are less likely to overgraze near fragile rivers and streams, because wolves know those areas provide natural cover for stalking. Elk prefer to graze out in the open, where they can see wolves from a distance.
9. Incredibly, wolves are agents in the fight against climate change. Milder winters have led to fewer elk deaths by natural means. Once again, wolves are leading the drive to keep elk populations in check, which gives a much-needed break to tree cover and unrelated animals, like beavers, that rely on healthy forests to survive, and thrive.
10. Wolves drive the local economy by drawing tourists, who — crazily — seem more willing to pay to see a wild wolf than a dead coyote.
Again, who knew.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0153808
©Randy Rodriguez-Pixabay