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Wolves of Yellowstone:
Science, Stewardship, and Civic Engagement

Christopher Whitfield - Political Science and Economics

May 31, 2006—Day 1

The day started out before the sun had even come up at 5:15 in the morning. It was bitter cold and I do not think that I had packed enough warm clothing for the trip. We went out into the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park to begin looking for wolves, and other wildlife that we may have happened upon. We were able to see three bison in the road—they are huge animals weighing over two tons. Interestingly, Americans mistakenly think that bison are buffalo, when in reality buffaloes only exist in Africa and Asia. After the bison, we are able to view 5 wolves off in the distance. They were not very active, but we could see them howl and it was just amazing to be able to actually see them out in the wild.

Later in the morning we went to a ranch just outside of the park to speak with the rancher, Bruce Malcolm, who also happens to be a former member of the State Legislature of Montana. We listened to his views of how the wolves are affecting the ranchers in the Yellowstone area. He told examples of the destruction that the wolves were doing to the ranchers (killing the cattle, stress, etc.). He said that all of the ranchers were proud, not looking for handouts as the cattle industry was the only farm industry that did not have government subsidies. Therefore, the program of the Defenders of Wildlife of reimbursing fair market price for lost cattle was unacceptable because most ranchers were too proud to take the money.

Bruce stated that a solution must be found, however. The wolves are still going to exist and so are the ranchers so the two must find a way to get along. Bruce suggested taking the wolves off of the endangered species list; that way the ranchers could kill wolves that were threatening their cattle or them. It would just be a trial run, and the wolves could always be placed back on the list if need be. I think that this sounds like a plausible solution. The wolf population is nationally on the rise, because wolves are in existence in northern Minnesota and throughout Canada, so there really is no reason to keep them on the endangered species list, past making sure that wolves will make it in the Yellowstone area. The wolves have been put on a pedestal, according to Bruce, above the other predators.

When we left Bruce’s ranch, we returned to a lecture with our instructor, Jim Garry. Jim told us that the wolf had been considered evil 5,000-8,000 years ago by humans, so the development of hating the wolf was not a new development. After Yellowstone, the first National Park, was formed, man began to kill of the wolves, and had killed all of them by 1926. In 1960-1970 the conservation movement morphed into an environmental movement, and talk of re-entering the wolves into Yellowstone and other areas began to be discussed. This was a difficult topic, however, because ultimately it tells the ranchers in the Yellowstone area, whose ancestors killed off the wolves, that their ancestors made a mistake.

Wolves needed to be reintroduced for many reasons. For one, the elk population was swelling enormously and needed to be controlled. When politics came into play, however, things became sticky. No politician ever wants to be unpopular; that is a sure-fired way for a politician to lose his or her job. Finally, however, a Congressman from Utah backed a bill to reenter wolves into Yellowstone. He convinced a member from Idaho that the treaty would happen, and the two saw to it that the bill would happen in a correct and feasible manner; this all happened in 1987.

Finally in 1994 the EIS published and called for the restoration of “nonessential experimental population” to Yellowstone, central Idaho and Glacier National Park. The wolves were to be taken from Canada. The wolves were brought down and put into assimilation pens, however on November 25, 1994 the Farm Bureau in WY filed for “irreparable harm for ranchers,” stalling the process even more. What was meant to be about a two to three week stay in the assimilation pens, turned into a three month stint instead. Finally on January 14, 1995, the first four wolves were introduced into the park.

This is all fascinating to hear about as a Political Science major. I think about the downtown redevelopment project going on in Bowling Green right now, and I can’t help but think about the political battle going on there. Some people want to save the old downtown buildings to restore things back to how it was originally (just like the conservationists wanting to restore wolves into their habitat) and then you have the ones that are content to move on, building new things and to destroy what some consider our past if it is more economically sensible at the present time (many of the ranchers who oppose the wolves in the park because of the economic threat that they pose). As my journal entry shows, this was a very long, but yet informative day.

Read about the other students experience on the same day:

Cabrina Hamilton, Biology

Michelle Hart, Education

Adam Turner, Biology and Political Science

Read Chris’ previous journal entry

Read Chris’ next journal entry