Wolves, Part III

The title of this post should actually be "Nature Knows Better." And because of people that disagree, wolves are being endangered, but only here in the West. This articled entitled "The Big Bad Wolf Makes Good: The Yellowstone Success Story and Those Who Want to Kill It" by Chip Ward details it eloquently.

Read the article, but this gist is this. Wolves are, in fact, a key part of the ecosystem in Yellowstone and the surrounding areas. (Imagine that!) Without them, there is literally less water. Fewer wolves mean more elk. More elk mean over-grazed willows. Fewer willows mean fewer beavers. Fewer beavers mean fewer dams, fewer dams mean fewer wetlands, fewer wetlands mean fewer fish, birds, bugs, and amphibians, as well as less water distribution. You push that first domino, and the whole bunch topples.

Wolf reintroduction wasn’t a scheme designed to undermine vacationing elk hunters or harass ranchers who graze their cattle on public lands. It wasn’t done to please some cabal of elitist, urban environmentalists eager to show rural rednecks who’s the boss, though out here in the West that interpretation’s held sway at many public meetings called to discuss wolf reintroduction.

Let’s be clear then: the decision to put wolves back in Yellowstone was a bold experiment backed by the best conservation science available to restore a cherished American ecosystem that was coming apart at the seams.

When wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone in the mid-nineties, the ecosystem bounced back. They were taken off the endangered species list, and hunters were free to shoot to kill. In August of this year, they were put back on the endangered species list by the federal government. There are, of course, objections from local farmers and hunters, and the article addresses them well. But ultimately, nature knows better:

Think of wolf reintroduction, then, as a kind of hinge-point between the two paradigms. After centuries of not leaving the natural world’s order to chance, micro-managing wherever we could, we are now encouraged to take a chance on Nature, to trust the self-organizing powers of life to heal ecosystems we have wounded....We now understand far better the many ways in which nature’s living communities are astonishingly connected and reciprocal. If we could only find the courage to trust their self-organizing powers to heal the wounds we have inflicted, we might become as resilient as those Yellowstone wolves.

I just searched google images for "wolf hunting." Don't worry, I covered my eyes before any actual tears fell, but needless to say, I'll never do that again. I did find this gem, though:
Oh, buddies.