Wolves may be “unwitting restoration biologists” states Jim Robbins, a freelance journalist out of Helena, Montana.
He explains the positive effects wolves have on the ecosystem. Playing russian roulette with wolves’ lives only serves to marginalize this vital apex predator.
Wolves can work their magic outside of Yellowstone and Glacier National Park, if only wildlife managers would allow them to live in peace, instead of killing them to please two, small interest groups.
If only……
Lessons from the Wolf
Several scrawny cottonwood trees do not usually generate much excitement in the world of ecology. But on a wind-whipped August afternoon in Yellowstone National Park’s Lamar Valley, William J. Ripple, a professor of botany at Oregon State University, stands next to a 12-foot-high cottonwood tree and is quietly ecstatic.
“You can see the terminal bud scars,” the bespectacled Ripple says, bending the limber tree over to show lines that mark a year’s growth o f a foot or more on the broom-handle-size trunk. “
You can see that elk haven’t browsed it this year, didn’t browse it last year and, in fact, haven’t browsed it since 1998.”
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Posted in: gray wolf/canis lupus, biodiversity
Tags: “Lords of Nature”, appreciating wolves, wolves and trophic cascades
Boulder White Clouds Council
Exposing The Big Game
Footloose Montana
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Lockwood Animal Rescue Center
Louise du Toit
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Mercy For Animals
Northern Idaho Wolf Alliance (NIWA)
Predator Friendly®- Because Wildlife Matters
Project Coyote
Project: Wolf
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Wisconsin Wildlife Ethic-Vote Our Wildlife
Wolf And Wildlife Studies: Jay Mallonee (Independent Wolf Biologist)
Wolf Song of Alaska
Wolves in english ! Les loups en anglais !
WWP's Gray Wolf Page
Yellowstone To Yukon Conservation Initiative
OF COURSE,ECOSYSTEM NEED WOLVES! OF COURSE! ONLY THE BASTARDS WOLVES-HUNTERS-KILLERS THINKS THAT,NO!!! IT’S NORMAL…. THEY ARE SO STUPID,THEY ARE BRAINLESS!!!
Wow, great article! And I’m sure that the effects haven’t been seen only in Yellowstone, but in the whole West
Thanks Loua,
I’m always amazed at the effects wolves have on their surroundings. Yet the people that should care, the state game managers, don’t seem to care. They keep killing wolves for ranchers and agribusiness. We need a sea change in the West, this is an unbelievable tragedy.
N.
Yep, it is just a huge tragedy for the wolves.Jesus! The willow hasn’t been browsed since 1998! Really wolves are “to Yellowstone what water is to the Everglades”
Loua…are they even listening? They have no idea why predators have been put on this earth. They think they’re a threat when in reality they are saviors.
N/