The wolf today inspires polarized emotions. It is
viewed by some as a slavering, rapacious killing machine; by
others, as the noble symbol of a lost wilderness. In the
fascinating Decade of the Wolf: Returning the Wild to
Yellowstone, biologist Douglas Smith and nature writer
Gary Ferguson seek to sort myth from reality. They describe wolves’
actual lives and habits as well as the effects they’ve had upon the
ecosystem of the national park since their reintroduction in 1995.
Those effects are myriad. Willows flourish, riparian
zones revive, pronghorn fawns stand a better chance of growing up,
and eagles, ravens and magpies feast — all, the authors
believe, due to the restoration of wolves to Yellowstone. Smith,
head of the Yellowstone Wolf Recovery Project, explains that when
wolves are present, elk avoid places with limited visibility, such
as brushy riverbanks. Without elk lounging in riparian areas,
willow shoots grow and beaver ponds appear. Meanwhile, as wolf
packs kill elk and bison, at least 14 other species also thrive by
scavenging the carcasses. But coyotes decrease in number, and their
prey, such as the pronghorn, rebounds.
The Yellowstone
packs regularly draw crowds of awed “wolf groupies.” But other
people remain violently opposed to wolf reintroduction, illegally
shooting or poisoning the animals. Wolves do kill livestock, but
the authors argue that they are hated far out of proportion to any
damage they cause — perhaps as a remnant of old superstitions
that portrayed them as satanic. In the end, they are neither good
nor evil, just wild animals facing an uncertain future.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Bringing back the wolf = bringing back the habitat.
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