The return of gray wolves to Yellowstone National Park 30 years ago was one of the most exciting and important conservation developments of our time. Wildlife conservationists play an important role in reintroduction, demonstrating that wildlife recovery is possible and, together, we can prevent extinction.
Wild wolves were reintroduced from Canada in January 1995 after a misguided campaign of every last one until the 1920s ended, extirpating Yellowstone National Park wolves for 70 years.
The Return of the Wolves is one of the most famous environmental experiments in history and an extraordinary conservation triumph. The emotions people expressed when it was clear to find wolves again in the park at first, some likened it to the wonderful feeling of falling in love. It spawned a tourism industry, bringing in wolf-watchers from around the world and contributing $35 million a year to the region’s economy. However, this success did not come without struggle.
When Yellowstone became America’s first national park in 1872, people did not yet understand the health of the park’s ecosystem and the role of each species in wolves as a threat. Sanctioned by the government, park rangers set out to kill every wolf they owned, and in 1926 they shot the last two. Pups were pups in steel jaw nets as they fed bison in the Lamar Valley.
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JOHN MORRISON – ISTOCK
Two decades later, ecologist Aldo Leopold recommended the reintroduction of wolves, recognizing their immense ecological value and the equally great mistake of his species. “A thing is right when it tends to maintain the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community,” he wrote in 1949 in an Almanac of Sand County.
As top carnivores, wolves sit at the top of the food chain, affecting everything from elk to soil. Ecologically balanced grazing populations allow willow and aspen to grow and stabilize stream banks, bringing in dam-building beavers that create habitat for cooler water fish such as cutthroat trout. Wolves on the landscape also mean fewer coyotes that prey on pronghorn fawns, chipmunks, marmots, and voles. As a result, the Raptors thrive. Even beetles share in the bonanza provided by wolves, because what they don’t eliminate nourishes the soil.
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Pedro Mendes
In the late 1960s, conservationists called for a reinterpretation of the wolf in the park. By the late 1980s, conservationists had begun conducting public education campaigns on the wolf’s behalf and establishing a program to compensate wolves for the losses of confirmed corridors to livestock. Tried for. Conservationists eventually sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to force a reinterpretation and fought for federal funds.
When the federal government began soliciting public comment on a possible reintroduction, they received input from people across the country who overwhelmingly supported the wolf’s return.
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Jim Chagris
And then it happened.
On January 12, 1995, two Park Service patrollers followed a horse trailer containing eight wolves—captured from three different Alberta packs and transported to Montana—through the well-wishers and the famous Yellowstone Entrance. passed
But at the last second, lawyers for the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation — which had previously delayed arrest efforts in Canada — won a stay from a federal appeals court to block the release. The wild wolves, now on the ground, remained confined to their transport crates after completing the final leg of their journey to the Lamar Valley prepared by their stove and then hand-crafted up the steep slopes. Fast forward 30 hours after the arrest, lawyers headed to a Denver court to free him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pesdhj-bws
When a judge finally overturned the ban, the cages were opened and the wolves were released into pens about an acre in size to help bond in the area. During this early stage, armed rangers stood guard around the perimeter to ensure the safety of the wolves from mortal danger. After ten weeks the wolves were released into the park.
In all, 66 wolves were released in Yellowstone and central Idaho in 1995 and 1996. Today, wolves are well established in the park, with a dozen packs in Yellowstone.
Current Wolf Conflicts
However, the struggle to gain greater acceptance of wolves outside the park boundary continues. Endangered Species Act protections were stripped from many gray wolves between 2011 and 2020 by Congress and the first Trump administration. This action led to the devolution of wolf management to the states, a loosening of wolf protections and, ultimately, the killing of more than 3,500 wolves. Conservationists and our partners intervened, and, in February 2022, a judge restored ESA protections for gray wolves in much of the lower 48 states.
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Ashton Hooker/NPS
Out of Yellowstone, after years of outreach and careful planning, wolf rehabilitation began in December 2023 in Colorado. Since these claws have hit the ground, there have been conflicts and memories, but the Guardians are steadfast in their work as we are. What in Yellowstone?
Conservationists are also working within the historic range of gray wolves, helping to reduce conflicts and ensure healthy populations of Mexican gray wolves in Arizona and New Mexico and red wolves in North Carolina. Our programs promote coexistence tools between ranches, including the installation of range riders, guard dogs, and fencing to reduce wolves’ risk of an attack.
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Devon Pradoman
Despite these efforts, prejudice against wolves remains strong in many areas, and some states focus more on wolf control than wolf recovery. Conservationists continue to fight for wolf recovery, educating the public and policymakers alike to demonstrate what is possible when we work together to prioritize habitat and wildlife conservation.
This blog was updated from a 2020 Guardian magazine article to reflect current times.
