Essay on Reintroducing the Wolf to Yellowstone

For one, by 1980, wolves doubled to 50. By then it was apparent, ‘balance of nature’ seems to be the force that guides nature. This shows that wolves should be introduced because they are needed for balance

Yellowstone is the worlds first national park. It was origanally home to Native Americans who lived in the Yellowstone area for at least 11,000 years.The U.S. Army was first commissioned to oversee the park just after its establishment in late 1960. In 1917, administration of the park was transferred to the National Park Service. Yellowstone National Park spans an area of 3,468.4 square miles (8,983 km2), mostly comprising lakes, rivers canyons and mountain ranges. The national park is located primarily in the state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the U.S. Congressand signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872.

For the first time in 70 years, the howl of the Grey Wolf is being heard throughout Yellowstone Park (Sanders, 2000). In January of 1995, 14 wolves from separate packs in Canada were trapped and transported to Yellowstone. Once in the park the wolves were placed in one acre acclimation pens. In total there were three pens scattered across the northern portion of Yellowstone: one a Crystal Creek, another at Rose Creek, and the last at Soda Butte. During the wolves time spent in these pens they were fed winter kill, or road kill. The packs that were formed in these pens were released in the winters of 1995-1996 and also again in 1996-1997 for a second release period (Sanders, 2000). In 1995 fourteen wolves were released and in 1996 seventeen were released. In 1997 there were 64 pups born and since 1995, 33 wolves have died in the Yellowstone area.

Yellowstone National Park is one of the largest and oldest national parks in American history. Yellowstone was the first park to be protected by private investment on March 1, 1872, and the first to be put under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service in 1918, no doubt due to its unique and inspiring landscape and geothermal features. In fact, Yellowstone National Park is home to half of the world’s total hydrothermal features. These awesome attractions draw an incredible amount of visitors, an average of two to three million each year, to Yellowstone’s immense landscape. The park has a total size of 28,125 square miles, is found in three distinct states, and is considered to be one of the largest

Around the world, there are thousands of wildlife animals. Gray Wolves are one type of them; their small domestic animals that are very fast, move in packs, and hunt deer and other animals for food. Despite the fact that Gray Wolves hunt deer, they are helpful animals to the ecosystem. Gray Wolves keep the ecosystem’s movement in check. They actually help the environment more than hurt it. They can be as friendly like dogs if raised from pups. They’re very interesting animals and it should be illegal to hunt them because they are almost extinct, they keep the prey population in check, and are unique animals trying to survive.

The biggest impact the reintroduction of wolves would make is that they control the population of large mammals such as elk. Without wolves in an ecosystem coyotes step into the role of the biggest predator. However coyotes are almost 2.5 times smaller than an average wolf so they are not big enough to kill much of the elk. The elk population then increases rapidly and hurts the ecosystem. Wolves also help reduce the spreading of disease by hunting on the elk that have been injured or have diseases. It gives the wolves a better chance of taking down the large animal and prevents

From what I had learned, Yellowstone National Park was the first national park ever to be established in the world. It had over 3,500 square miles of beautiful scenery and wildlife. The park itself was mostly located in Wyoming, however, less than 5% was located in Montana and Idaho. Yellowstone has been a park since March 1st, 1872, and since then there have been hundreds of thousands of tourists that go there each year to see the amazing things it has to offer. Old Faithful, one of Yellowstone's main attractions, is a

Also, the government wanted to step in and help the economy, so bounties were set in order to encourage the hunting of the creatures. Communities began to see the "bounty hunters" as heroes, and these men felt as such. The attitude towards wolves spiraled out of control, causing hunts based on vengeance and hatred, and inhumane practices of poisoning, trapping, and torturing began. Even a former governor of Alaska, Jay Hammond, felt that flying in a plane and shooting down hundreds of wolves was necessary to protect the citizens of the state. Wolf furs were coveted, the animals were loathed, and the image of the wolf as a cowardly murderer stuck based on old-fashioned beliefs and legend-based fears. Nothing was done to stop the practices, and the hunts continued to be encouraged, until there were basically no wolves left to hunt (Lopez 139-145). It was nearly too late once the problem was noticed, but the government finally stepped in to address the problem. The wolves were going extinct, and it became clear that the animals were an important part of the ecosystem. The timber (gray) wolf was placed on the endangered species list, and severe consequences were put into action for anyone who hunted the animals illegally. The Wisconsin DNR began a very carefully regulated action plan to reintroduce the wolf to the state, which included radio collars and careful tracking of the animals in order to monitor their progress, as well as make sure they stay in

While highly controversial, the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone Park has provided many beneficial ecological changes to the entire parks ecosystem. After a nearly 70 year absence, in January of 1995, 14 wolves from separate packs were captured in the Canadian Rockies and transported to Yellowstone National Park in the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho (Sanders par. 2).

In the Greater Yellowstone area, the target goal was to maintain 15 wolf packs in the state of Wyoming, seven of these packs residing outside the area of national parks. Mission accomplished. As of December 2002, there were 22 documented packs in the state of Wyoming. Eight of the twenty two are living outside the boundaries of national parks, yet the

“The human history of the Yellowstone region goes back more than 11,000 years. From then until to the very recent past, many groups of Native Americans used the park as their homes, hunting grounds, and transportation routes. These traditional uses of Yellowstone lands continued until a little over 200 years ago when the first people of European descent found their way into the park. In 1872 a country that had not yet seen its first centennial, established Yellowstone as the first national park in the world. A new concept was born and with it a new way for people to preserve and protect

The purpose of writing the article Wolf Wars was to inform the reader about new situations in the west. The reason is to inform the reader of what problems wolves have been causing. In the article, the Author explains of how wolves became endangered and then flourished once more.

These were all key factors to their near extinction. In 1974 the wolves were placed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), but were not protected for long. Many environmentalist agreed with this act because environmentalist knew how crucial this keystone specie was to the ecosystem. Without the grey wolves existence, the whole rest of the ecosystem would not function properly. Unfortunately, around the 1960s, the gray wolf population was basically extinct, which resulted in a huge controversy. Luckily, “In 1995, the first 14 wolves were introduced to the Yellowstone National Park to increase the wolf population”(Transplanted) that had been decreasing gradually. Over the years more Canadian wolves were introduced to the Yellowstone National park to increase the wolf population. This procedure was successful because the wolf population throughout the Yellowstone region was on the rise. The long term goal for the environmentalists and Yellowstone park rangers would be to have around 1,000 wolves roaming the region.

California's last solitary wolf was reportedly killed in 1924 in Lassen County. Once a widely distributed species throughout the Pacific Northwest, the settlement of European Americans brought the eradication of the Gray wolf from California.

The wolf was once a much slandered animal. In the western world, people feared and hated wolves, and this legacy is reflected in stories such as Little Red Riding Hood and The Boy Who Cried Wolf. In these popular children's tales the wolf is made out to be a prowler and a killer of livestock and people. There is some basis for The Boy Who Cried Wolf, for wolves have killed cattle and sheep. But what of Little Red Riding Hood? There are no records of wolves killing humans in Canada or the United States. Yet, when wolves were spotted near rural communities, fear used to grip the populace, but over time this has become less prevalent.