Throughout history wolves have been labeled as demons in the forests. Even in fairy tales, myths and legends wolves are seen only as glowing eyes and bloody fangs. They’ve been known to devour travellers, in such stories as “Little Red Riding Hood” and “The Three Little Pigs”. This fear coupled with the misunderstanding of wolves has encouraged their hunting, the placement of bounties on them and the ordering of their extermination; which nearly succeeded. Theodore Roosevelt, one of the United States most environmentally conscious Presidents, “labeled wolves ‘the beast[s] of waste and destruction.’ Thereafter, the United States government launched a full-scale campaign aimed at the total elimination of the wolf in the United States...” (Brown, Elizabeth Cowan, 426). After the gray wolves (Canis Lupus) were pushed to the edge of extinction the species were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park (YNP), in January 1995. By introducing the wolves back into the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, dramatic consequences and impacts on the ecosystem as a whole have been observed.
Since Medieval times the wolf, or Canis Lupus, has been under persecution. Through folk tales and fables, they have been portrayed as beasts of deceit, trickery and ferocity. As the Europeans began to explore they brought their fear and myths of the creatures with them to the New World. This brought about the trapping and killing of the wolves in Eastern America, soon making its way to the West. By the early 1920’s nearly all the wolves had disappeared from the Yellowstone ecosystem. Although there were many who wanted the wolves out, cultures existed who considered the wolves as their brothers or kin. The Blackfeeet Native American tribe believed the wolves were “an influential spirit and a cherished social guide,” and that, “their nation descended from four wolves that survived a great flood, before shedding their skins to become human.” (Jones, Karen, 39). Instead of disregarding the wolves as an unknown enemy like the early European settlers, the Native Americans tried to understand the wolves and find the similarities between them and the wolves. Just like wolves the Native Americans considered themselves a ‘pack’. They also admired the wolf’s hunting aspects and their intelligence. Just as the Native Americans did then, we now too have come to understand the wolf, helping to reestablish them into the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem.
In 1995, nearly seventy years since wolves had been free to roam YNP, 31 wolves were captured from the Canadian Rockies and released into YNP to begin the reestablishing of wolves Yellowstone. Now more than “150 wolves, from eight packs, now roam Yellowstone's forests and river valleys.” (Jones, Karen, 38).
Since Canis Lupus’s reintroduction into YNP, there has been tremendous controversy surrounding the wolves role in the decrease of certain herds, specifically elk. It is important to understand the predation before and after restoring the wolves in Yellowstone National Park. Since the wolves total removal from the ecosystem in 1920’s, there has existed a larger than average elk herd population.
The School of Forest Resources & Environmental Science in Missoula, Montana, through various studies, monitored the elk and wolves through 1961-1995 and after 1995-2004 to observe how the wolves may have attributed to the elk decline. Since the reintroduction of the wolves, the elk have declined approximately 10-30 percent during those years. They concluded that the decline in elk population may very well be attributed to the predatory wolves in the area (Vucetich, John A., 260). Although the researchers attribute the elk population decreasing to the wolves, they go on to say that it may only be some of the reason. Previously the elk were able to roam free without much threat, besides from coyotes. Now that the wolves have been reintroduced the ecosystem has regained a keystone species, helping to restore the natural balance. In turn the vegetation has thrived, in the areas where the wolves have been established. Researchers have noticed an abundance of new growth vegetation likely due to the thinning of the elk population by the wolves. As fewer elk graze on young saplings a greater variety of plants are able to grow.
Although it is too early to tell how much the wolves are impacting the vegetation, there are several species of plants that have seen significant growth in population sizes. Willow and aspen are a few of the plants that are thriving now that the elk population has been redistributed around Yellowstone National Park. These specific plants are “important for many bird species, small mammals, beaver and moose.”, along with the wolves (Smith, Douglas W. 338).
