CONS: WHY SHOULDN'T WOLVES BE REINTRODUCED INTO YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK
(Contributed by Scott Berggren, Biology lab partner)
For many people, the reintroduction of gray wolves back into Yellowstone National Park is an exciting thing. Since the early 1900's, the gray wolf has been a stranger to Yellowstone National Park. So when ideas of bringing the wolf species back to the National Park, many people were excited and were ready to do anything to help the wolf species make their home again in Yellowstone National Park. However, there are other people that are much concerned with the idea of reintroduction of gray wolves back into Yellowstone National Park. The reasons for opposition to reintroduction of gray wolves are numerous, so I will only cover a few of them. First, I will tell you about how the wolves will affect the hunter harvest. Second I will tell you how the wolves will affect domestic livestock. Finally I will tell you how the wolves will affect the availability of the land for those who come to visit Yellowstone National Park.
Yellowstone National Park is abundant in many game animals. Hundreds of hunters travel to Yellowstone each year to hunt for their favorite game animal. In Yellowstone, hunters annually harvested an average of 14,172 elk, deer and moose during the 1980's. A recovered wolf population (about 100 wolves) would kill about 1200 ungulates a year which represents 8% of the total average hunter harvest of elk, deer and moose in Yellowstone during the 1980's. These figures have many hunters furious about the reintroduction of the gray wolf. It is not that the hunters don't want the gray wolf to be reintroduced into Yellowstone, it is that they do not want the elk, deer and moose herds to decrease in size.
Every year, thousands of cattle, sheep and other livestock graze the Yellowstone or surrounding areas. The reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone has many of the ranchers worried about their herds. Due to these concerns many park officials and others analyzed the problem. They estimated that during the first 5 years of the reintroduction, livestock losses to wolves would likely be very few, if any, because of the intensive wolf monitoring and management. During the next 5 years or so, as packs became established and began to reproduce, dispersing animals will try to establish new packs and territories. Depredations of domestic livestock by wolves are estimated to average 19 cattle and calves per year with the majority being calves. Depredations on sheep are estimated to average 68 sheep and lambs. Wolf depredation on domestic dogs is expected to be very infrequent, but will be emotionally disturbing to some of those affected. Many ranchers are hoping that a solution that is good for both the wolves and the grazing herds will be found.
The last concern is the restriction of land use for many of Yellowstone's visitors. Due to the fact the wolves are going to need to be isolated from people, many areas that were once open for exploration from visitors, will now be closed. This includes many large sections of land, trails, and even some roads. There will even be some activities that will be restricted or eliminated. Snowmobiling will be very heavily restricted and even eliminated in some areas of the park. Most people will probably be all right with this idea, but there are others that will always be strongly opposed.
Overall, most people are for the reintroduction of the gray wolves into Yellowstone. Those that have concerns for the reintroduction would like to see the wolves in Yellowstone, but at the same time don't want other things related to Yellowstone to be harmed.
Figure 3 Wolf feeding on Ungulate
