The Impact That

Reintroduced Wolves
Have on Yellowstone
National Parks Diverse
Ecosystem


Hunter Roberts
English 2010







PROFILE
Will wolf reintroduction to Yellowstone National Park hurt communities surrounding the park? The
reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone affects more than just the animals in the park. The surrounding
communities around the park are also affected by the encroachment of these predators. Packs of
wolves that have spread beyond the park have found an easy prey in livestock. The live stock is easy to
prey on because of high their numbers and they are usually slow moving. John Helle is an example of
someone who has been affected by the wolves. These wolves have affected his livelihood and how he
makes his money. Helle, is a sheep herder in Montana who is constantly fighting wolves that are killing
sheep in his herd.
John owns Helle and Rombouillet Sheep Ranch in Montana. Before these attacks Helle had no
idea that wolves were even near his ranch. The first attack occurred early one summer. Helle, riding
through the mountain meadows of his ranch began to notice sheep had gone missing. There were not as
many small lambs running in the flock. Then the gruesome scene was discovered, many lambs were
lying in the tall grass, their wool covered with blood and the scent of rotting flesh filled the air. The adult
sheep in the herd were not in any better condition. Bite marks on the neck of the sheep had become
infected. Maggots crawling in the wounds from what had to have been canine teeth of a big predator.
Helle realizes that he must put these sheep down in order to end their suffering. The attackers turned
out to be a pack of five grey wolves.
Helle, now is an advocate for the ranchers and the livestock and put up a fight towards
conservationist groups who are fighting for the protection of the wolf. He claims that the wolves have
been portrayed as a nice, fuzzy, furry little animal that looks good on a poster. But from a ranchers
point of view the wolf is anything but cute. Helles efforts to get this problem brought into the light is
based on the fact that its not only the dead sheep that are costing the ranchers money. The animals that
survive the attacks are also affected by the wolf attack. He explains that sheep become spooked after
being attacked which puts the sheep under additional stress and causes them to lose weight and even
contract diseases which makes them less marketable.
Because of John Helle and many ranchers that are dealing with the same problem. The
state of Montana has issued kill on sight permits to ranchers. These permits allow ranchers like John
Helle to kill wolves they see attacking their livestock or to even kill wolves that are near the livestock.
John Helle says that wolves are going to be costly, They are an expensive animal to manage. The next
step he says is to figure out how to live with the wolves.
You might be hard pressed to find a rancher/farmer who agrees with the reintroduction of the
wolf. Many of the ranchers hate wolves and want nothing to do with them. Through research, I have not
found any. Yet, the benefits of the wolves around the ranches were found. The wolf is an apex predator.
They hunt in packs and are very good at doing what they do. The rodent population has decreases since
the wolf reintroduction. The way that this may help the ranchers is that cows will not break legs in holes
dug by the rodents. Wolves will control deer and other herbivore populations saving grass for ranchers
stock as well.
John Helle is still fighting wolves but learning to deal and live with them. To pur this issue into
perspective, imagine a street gang leisurely walking into a convenient store dressed in black head to toe.
As soon as they enter the store a frenzy erupts. People scatter, orders are shouted, merchandise in flung
from the shelf into bags, and the thieves run off into the night. To Helle, wolves are the thieves, and his
sheep are the stolen merchandise. The reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone affect more than just
the animals. Humans are affected equally as much if not more. The lively hood of ranchers and farmers
has taken a toll due to these animals and is going to keep growing unless managed.

Ranches With Wolves. By Tess Wiley
March 18, 2010
http://montanaliving.com/People/Ranches-with-Wolves-366?nhc10000309=10
Return of the Wolf Wolves on the Range by Daniel Person
April 15, 2010
http://tetonvalleynews.net/news/article_9fe91f1c-480d-11df-ad43-001cc4c03286.html













Proposal
(multimedia I emailed to you)

Many people claim that if wolf numbers in Yellowstone National Park keep escalating then the
park will lose its ecological diversity. If theres more wolves, then there will be less prey species like
deer, elk, moose, etc. These claims make sense, an ecosystem can only hold so much of one species
before other species become impacted, which in turn will cause another species to be affected and so
on. This is known as a trophic cascade. Think like a hunter. If you kill one other animal that is one
less animal that can affect another. My studies in wildlife biology and my passion for hunting
and conservation have caused me to come to one proposed solution. Yellowstone National Park
needs to allow wolf hunting and issue a set number of permits per year to keep wolf numbers
in order.
The average number of wolves in a pack in Yellowstone is about 10 wolves per pack,
Which doesnt seem like a huge number until you break it down into what one wolf can eat. On
average, to reproduce successfully a wolf needs about five pounds of food per day, but one
wolf can eat up to 22.5 pounds of meat in one sitting. Going with the lesser of the two, a pack
of wolves would need around 50 pounds give or take a few pounds per day to survive and
reproduce. In Yellowstone the wolves major prey source is the Rocky Mountain Elk. Like most
predators, the wolf will hunt and single out the smaller weaker animals in a group (which would
likely be elk calves). An elk calf on average weighs around 35-50 pounds. Do the math. In order
to survive the pack would have to kill 1-2 elk calves a day. Over the course of a year, wolves
have a huge impact on the elk herds.

(Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Web 2012)
The graph shows both the wolf population in the GYA (greater Yellowstone area) and
also the elk population since the reintroduction of the wolves.
If Yellowstone were to offer wolf permits to sportsmen either through a draw system
where hunters apply in a drawing for wolf permits, or through an auction system where hunters
bid for the chance to hunt the wolves, the park will gain revenue because highly sought after
tags have been known to sell for up to $250,000, and the park could set prices on the tags. It
would not take a lot of time to determine a hunting season on wolves. Yellowstone could set
the number of tags they want to issue based on the current wolf numbers and issue less or
more tags depending on the year.
A wolf hunting season in Yellowstone could offer a huge educational benefit to the
parks and the wildlife biologists who focus on the wolf populations there. Yellowstone could set
required harvest reports and tests on wolves that are harvested in the park. This would be a
series of dental and health-related tests on wolves that have been harvested within the parks
boundaries. These tests can determine age, health, diet, and disease records on wolves
harvested in certain areas of the park. Which can help the overall well-being of wolves in the
park. If a wolf harvested in the northern region of the park has a disease, they can track down
which pack it came from and determine if the disease has been passed to other wolves and
stop it before it spreads to wolves throughout the entire park.
The biggest objection concerning this proposal is the Lacey Act and the Code of Federal
Regulations which prohibit the removal of any animal alive or dead from inside Yellowstone.
The law was put into place to help avoid the reintroduction of non-native/invasive species into
an area where they can cause harm or spread disease. This may be hard to find a loophole or
get around. But if the numbers of wolves get out of hand then there just might have to be some
changes made to the law in order to protect the future of the park.
Anti-hunters will protest this proposal to the end. Animal rights is becoming a
bigger deal every day. Animal rights activists claim that hunting is just a killing sport. These
activists base their arguments off of opinions and not solely off of facts. It is hard to get the
point across to someone who is so passionate about their beliefs. This proposal is not to
eradicate all of the wolves in Yellowstone it is to harvest a set number of wolves in order to
conserve the future of the park and the other animals in the park. It is not a full blown
extermination.
The positive outcomes of this proposal is that the ecosystem in Yellowstone will keep its
diversity through healthy conservation practices. The numbers of predators and prey will stay in
check and will not cause over population, over grazing, or fight for territory in the park. It is
hard to imagine Yellowstone National Park without its plant and animal diversity. Yellowstone is
home to hundreds of different species of animals and plants. Going to Yellowstone and seeing
buffalo, elks, bear, moose, wolves, deer, beavers, rabbits, etc. is all part of the experience.
These animals and the diverse ecosystem add to the natural beauty of the park. If wolf numbers
keep getting out of hand you may be taking your children to see a bloodfest. Wolves fighting
over their most recent kills, the growing pack number would cause wolves to fight to the death
over territory. The park could get overrun if the wolf numbers get uncontrollable. Human lives
can be put at risk, if a human runs into a starving pack of wolves the outcome might not be on
the side of the human. Keeping the populations of wolves in check will help keep these animals
around for future generations.

Kowalewski, David. Howling about Trophic Cascades Australian Journal of Environmental
Education, v28 n1 p17-26 Jul 2012 Web
http://eric.ed.gov/?q=wolves&id=EJ100069
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Get the Facts Web 2012
http://rmefblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/get-facts.html
Big Wolf Run Ranch, About Wolves Web 2010
http://www.bigrunwolfranch.org/about_wolves.html
National Parks Service U.S. Department of the Interior Wolves in Yellowstone 2012 Web
http://www.nps.gov/yell/naturescience/wolves.htm
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Elk Facts web
http://www.rmef.org/ElkFacts.aspx
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Lacey Act web
http://www.fws.gov/international/laws-treaties-agreements/us-conservation-
laws/lacey-act.html




REPORT
Many people disagree with the reintroduction of the wolves into Yellowstone. Many of
these people base their reasonings off of ignorance. Opposing arguments mainly focus on the
wolves hunting habits and how they kill animals for fun, food, sport, etc. People dont realize
the greater effects of wolves on lower organisms. From research that I have done it was difficult
to find reasoning to agree with because it was mostly biased opinions. The top 5 reasons for
opposing wolf reintroduction are
1. Some people do not like, or trust, wolves. Like all predators they are not to be messed
with. They are trained killers and hunt in numbers which can cause an uneasy feeling
when in the presence of wolves.
2. This money could/should be spent on human problems such as hunger, etc.
3. Some of the people in the area were alive when the government was encouraging the
removal of the wolves. The change in policy does not make sense to these people.
4. In 1996 wolves released in YNP are known to have killed 12 sheep and one dog. The
wolves responsible were captured and moved (when possible). One wolf returned to the
area in which it had killed sheep and was killed by federal agents.
5. Some ranchers believe that the losses will be much greater than estimated, and will
drive them out of business.
(Natalie Carroll, John B. Dunning, Jr., Arthur Freeman)

When it comes to wolves, people think the only affect they have on their ecosystem is
the killing of their prey. That isnt the case. Since the reintroduction of the wolves into
Yellowstone National Park, there is a trophic cascade that affects organisms in the ecosystem all
of the way down to the plant level. A trophic cascade is, A more modern co-evolutionary and
wilderness approach--trophic cascades--suggests that top predators, whose effects flow down
to fundamental biological processes, are co-equal causes of ecosystem health. (Kowalewski,
David. Howling about Trophic Cascades Australian Journal of Environmental Education, v28 n1
p17-26 Jul 2012) Wolves have a direct effect on not only elk in Yellowstone, but they indirectly
affect all the way down the trophic cascade to the plant level, mainly aspen trees. In the
research done by William J. Wipple Eric J. Larson, Roy A. Renkin, and Douglas W. Smith.
Trophic cascades among wolves, elk and aspen on Yellowstone National Parks northern range
studies the indirect effect of wolves on aspen trees throughout the trophic cascades.
The study was based on plots of aspens that had been permanently installed for long
term monitoring. There were aspens planted both inside wolf pack territory and outside of wolf
pack territory to determine the differences and to determine if the reintroduction of wolves
had any effect on the aspen regeneration by effecting elk movements, browsing patterns, and
foraging behavior.
I believe wolves have a positive impact on the aspen populations in Yellowstone
National Park. The impact that wolves have on elk causing the predator alertness might make
the elk move around more and not stay in one place and overgraze an area. The impact of
wolves caused an increase in aspen growth in areas where there was high wolf traffic
Aspen numbers have been declining in Yellowstone National Park which causes concern
through the trophic cascade process. The impact of one species will generally impact another
and so on. Research is being conducted to determine the causes of this decline. Some of the
factors considered are climate uctuation, mammalian predation on elk, re suppression, and
ungulate browsing. It has been determined that grazing by elk has been a major contributing
factor to the decline of aspen trees in Yellowstone National Park. To understand how wolves
can indirectly affect aspens, an understanding of how the species (elk) that wolves directly
affect can damage aspen growth.
Elk eat the smooth white bark of aspen trunks, resulting in growths of thick corky bark
reaching as high as the elk can reach. This practice can stress aspen and allows cankers and
fungi to attack mature stems. Elk also heavily browse new aspen sprouts emerging from the
clonal root system, inhibiting stem growth and maintaining some aspen stands in a shrub form.
(WJ Ripple, EJ Larsen, RA Renkin, DW Smith.2001)
The National park service decreased the elk population up until 1968, by transplanting
to different areas outside of the park. No dramatic increase of aspen populations were
recorded.
Wolves were extirpated from the park between 1914-1936. There were at least
136 wolves killed in that time frame. Ripple and Larsen (2000) hypothesized that aspen decline
in YNP may be related to the removal of a trophic cascades interaction where wolves modied
elk movements, density, and foraging behavior. (WJ Ripple, EJ Larsen, RA Renkin, DW Smith.
2001) When wolves were reintroduced in 1995, the packs flourished. By 1998 there were 112
wolves living in 11 packs in Yellowstone. This study was based off of 4 packs in the northern
region of Yellowstone. Mapping was used to determine the high and low use areas of wolves in
the park. The high use areas were occupied by the Druid, Rose Creek, and Leopold wolf packs.
Research was conducted using the Kernel Method, We combined the aspen inventory with the
wolf telemetry data to select our sample. The software program KernelHR was used to develop
a xed kernel estimate of high-use areas for wolves in the three packs The kernel method is a
statistical technique for estimating the density of a distribution (presence of wolves) at any
point, where a kernel (a probability density) is placed over each observation point in a sample
(WJ Ripple, EJ Larsen, RA Renkin, DW Smith. 2001)
The conclusion of the research shows that wolves may have an effect on the aspens as a
result of trophic cascades. Since wolves were reintroduced to YNP in 1995, elk have been their
preferred prey and annually comprise >80% of observed kills. In addition to the killing of elk,
wolf predation may also cause modications in elk behavior that may benet northern range
aspen. This hypothesis is based on the theory of predation risk where the presence of a
predator may cause prey to alter their foraging behavior. (WJ Ripple, EJ Larsen, RA Renkin, DW
Smith. 2001)
I believe that without the wolves reintroduction to Yellowstone and their impact on the
environment the aspen levels would be drastically declined and would drastically start affecting
other plants and animals in the area and take away the ecosystems diversity in the park. Areas
with high elk population may have lost all aspen growth whatsoever causing the elk to move
elsewhere to overgraze another area. Wolves contribute to the beauty of the park without
them there might not be as many trees in the park. Wolves have a positive impact on the lower
trophic levels in Yellowstone National Park.




Kowalewski, David. Howling about Trophic Cascades Australian Journal of Environmental
Education, v28 n1 p17-26 Jul 2012 Web
http://eric.ed.gov/?q=wolves&id=EJ100069
William J. Wipple, (Professor; Director, Trophic Cascades Program) Eric J. Larson, (University of
Wisconsin Stevens Point; Environmental Biology & Biotechnology, Medicine, Plant & Animal
Science) Roy A. Renkin (National Park Service; Vegetation Program Leader) and Douglas W.
Smith (biologist; project leader for the Yellowstone Gray Wolf Restoration Project in
Yellowstone). Trophic cascades among wolves, elk and aspen on Yellowstone National Parks
northern range Biological Conservation, 2001 web
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320701001070
Natalie Carroll, John B. Dunning, Jr., Arthur Freeman, Constance A. Hallberg, and Janice Morgan
Reintroduction of the Gray Wolf to Yellowstone National Park: A Case Study Purdue
Bioethics Workshop, May 1997 Web
http://www.bioethics.iastate.edu/classroom/graywolf.html