Below is a list of questions and answers regarding the effort to restore wolves to Rocky Mountain National Park and Western Colorado. Before you browse the important issues below, take a moment to visit this link and sign-up to be involved in the campaign to get Estes Park to support wolf recovery.
So why does the park need wolves anyway?
- The Park needs wolves because without this important coursing predator the elk in the Park have become extremely sedentary. They linger in the river corridors browsing aspen and willow to the ground. These plant communities are integral to the survival of moose, beaver, other animals and migrating songbirds. The absence of these plant communities cause damaging ripples through out the environment. Science has now shown that restoring wolves to an area can have a profound positive effect on native plant communities in a very short period of time. For example, when wolves were restored to Yellowstone in the mid nineteen nineties, aspen and willow within wolf territories began to regenerate dramatically. Scientists studying the phenomenon concluded that plants were benefiting from the presence of wolves because wolves were keeping the elk and deer moving around more, thus preventing them from browsing the plants too heavily. The resurgence of these native plants then allowed more native songbirds and animals, such as beaver and moose to use the habitat. In short, wolves are profoundly important to their native landscapes and natural communities. For more on the science behind the ecological importance of wolves, please visit the University of Oregon website.
- You may hear spokespeople from the National Park Service say that Rocky Mountain National Park is too small to have wolves, or that the Park is located too close to heavily populated areas. In fact, Rocky Mountain National Park is not unique in its proximity to populated areas. Wolves thrive in all kinds of areas. Nor is the Park too small for wolf re-introduction. Rocky Mountain National Park is surrounded by vast swaths of federal wilderness areas and national forests. To the north, Rawah, Cache La Poudre and Comanche Peak Wilderness Areas; to the west Neota and Never Summer Wilderness Areas, to the south Indian Peaks Wilderness Area. There are also abundant National forest lands surrounding the park – Roosevelt, Arapaho, and Routt National Forests. Moreover, both RMNP and YNP abut gateway communities. Notably, WildEarth Guardians (formerly Sinapu) is arguing for wolf restoration in RMNP as part of a larger, regional reintroduction effort for wolves. There is plenty of room, not just in Rocky Mountain National Park, but throughout western Colorado for wolves to thrive and have a desperately needed impact upon the overabundance of elk in the state. The Park Service should take the lead to catalyze a regional reintroduction effort, as they did in Yellowstone. It is their original mandate to restore these natural ecological processes to the lands under their care.
Great, wolves would solve the problem that the Park is trying to resolve. What’s the down side?
- Wolves do sometimes negatively interact with domestic dogs. Just as living with bears or mountain lions in your backyard, those interactions can be prevented by responsible behavior on the part of pet owners. Just as you would not leave garbage or pet food accessible to wild animals, you would also not leave pets unattended. This is just common sense. It isn’t anything new for residents of Estes Park.
- Wolves do sometimes kill livestock. However, to listen to some of the comments by the livestock industry, one would think that wolves could bring ranchers to their knees. The facts don’t support such rhetoric, however. In places where wolves and livestock share common ground, less than one in ten thousand head of cattle are killed by wolves annually. Many more cows are killed by lightning in those same areas each year. Click here for more facts about the interactions between wolves and livestock.
- Wolves do not pose a significant threat to humans. Despite claims to the contrary, wolves are shy and avoid contact with humans. The assertion that wolves are dangerous to humans is just simply not supported by fact. You could be involved in an auto accident far more easily than be injured by a wolf, but that doesn’t stop you from backing your vehicle out of the garage every day!
Ok, so I pay attention to my pets and I’m a good steward of my livestock. Why should I care if the park has wolves or not?
- Because you are someone who investigates the facts when making decisions. Because people have incorrectly held “beliefs” about wolves is simply not a valid reason to abandon critical thinking about reintroducing them. This would be a perfect opportunity to move people past their unscientific “fearful reaction” by showing them the scientific facts instead. We should be using science and logic, not fear-mongering when making these kinds of long-reaching decisions.
- Colorado has the largest elk population in North America, and one of the largest deer populations. Without wolves to keep them moving around, they are causing drastic declines in the abundance and health of native plants, including aspen and willows. The problems facing vegetation in RMNP are emblematic of the larger ecological problems western Colorado faces in the abscence of wolves. Without wolves, native habitats are becoming increasingly less diverse and more vulnerable to invasive species and the effects of global climate change.
- At this time of frightening economic downturn, in a community that needs tourism to survive, wolves could prove to be very attractive economically. When wolves were returned to Yellowstone, they not only had a rapid positive effect on the landscape, they also brought with them a large economic benefit to the gateway communities of the park. Tourists traveled to Yellowstone from all over the country, and in fact, the world to watch the wolves interact with their packs, their environment and the Park’s elk herds. There is a good likelihood the same could happen for the gateway communities outside RMNP.
For more on the economic advantages brought by wolves click the following links:
* Wolf tourism in Yellowstone region.
* Wolves bring ecological and economic benefits.
o Wolf Recovery in Yellowstone Park: Visitor Attitudes, Expenditures, and Economic Impacts (Click to download report)
o U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service – Wildlife Watching in the U.S.: The Economic Impacts on National and State Economies in 2006 (Click to download report)
Rocky Mountain National Park has initiated a controversial culling program for it’s elk population in order to save trees from the elk.
Amazingly, this plan is underway despite the National Park Service’s own admission that the root of the problem is the lack of wolves in the park (and the region). Wolves keep the elk moving around. It’s that simple. So why did the Park Service choose bullets over wolves? Politics, plain-and-simple. Wolves come with political baggage, even though the vast majority of Americans want them to be restored and protected.
The Nature series on PBS ran an amazing special on the wolves of Yellowstone last year, using footage from Emmy Award winning photographer Bob Landis. You can view a 9 minute excerpt from the show in the player below (courtesy of PBS).
