The Battle

A BOOK SUMMARY ON “The Return of the Wolf To Yellowstone”  Author  Thomas McNamee Part 1

by Brad Hawkins

The critical factor for wolf survival in human habitat is mutual understanding.  Fear and hatred thrive on ignorance and ignorance thrives on isolation.  We must be well informed when we make decisions about wildlife.

Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in the Northwestern corner of Wyoming, Eastern Idaho and southern Montana is “the largest remaining essentially intact ecosystem in the temperate zones of the earth.” The Yellowstone is the longest free flowing river in the United States.  The grey wolf, Canis lupus, was the dominant predator in this original area.

Of the 18 million acres in the Yellowstone region, only 2.2 million acres inside Yellowstone National Park are off limits to cattle, Bos Taurus.  

Of the 18 million acres in the Yellowstone region, only 2.2 million acres inside Yellowstone National Park are off limits to cattle, Bos taurus. 

One of the central struggles with Yellowstone wolf populations is the battle with ideologies of ranchers and sheepherders and their understanding of wolf ecology.  The wolf, to some, not only poses a threat to domesticated livestock, but also, threatens the “cowboy way of life”.

There is always a constant struggle between entrenched ideas passed down through generations versus scientific data to the contrary concerning wolves and their relationships to livestock.

Wolves will kill livestock at times, but it is not the way they are wired ecologically.  Wolves that have been conditioned to certain prey species tend to continue to search out and depend on those species.

The original wolves in the Yellowstone came from Alberta, Canada and were mainly predatory on elk.  These wolves would rarely feed on dead elk because meat already dead had been used to poison other pack members and they had learned not to eat meat already killed in the past.  Yellowstone wolves have been known to den and rest in the midst of cattle herds and never bother a single animal.

However, there are wolves that do obtain a taste for domestic animals and would need to be removed from the population.   This is not the norm in wolf populations of Yellowstone.

Riparian zones, green bands of plant life along creeks etc… which provide fodder for cattle, are very important to wildlife and plant species in the Yellowstone area.  Many populations are centered in life around these riparian zones just like fish are drawn into estuaries.

Varied habitat components make these riparian zones small sub-ecosystems in their own right.  Cattle herds, left to their own in these zones, cause drastic changes in vegetation and this leads to bank erosion which in turn affects many aspects of the ecosystem in terms of fish populations and certain tree populations.  Eroded overgrazed land leads to a weed called leafy spurge that takes over in an area and depreciates the value of the food chain.   We have a similar problem with weeds such as yellow broomweed in Oklahoma.  These weed species are a warning of over grazing.  This in turn causes major losses to consumers up the food chain.   With this being said, it is important to note that both ranching and wolf reintroduction need to be done with caution because of the sensitive balances between all parts of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

Ranch practices have improved in the Yellowstone area by fencing cattle out of these riparian zones that are right next to the first 15 feet of bank.   This has allowed protection of the sensitive waterways.

Wolves must be managed also in order to allow for an ecological balance that provides acceptable options for the wildlife, ranchers, tourists, and all political forces involved in making such major choices.