Where were you 15 years ago?

Do you remember?  I know where we were because 15 years ago today, Defenders of Wildlife and all of our supporters were watching the first wolves being reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park.  It's been an amazing 15 years watching those wolves grow and expand throughout the region as they regain their rightful place and restore balance to the Yellowstone ecosystem.  Since that day, we here at Defenders have worked extensively to cultivate on the ground relationships with ranchers, state wildlife managers, stakeholders and citizens in the Northern Rockies area to help find ways for wolves and humans to live in harmony.   Check out some of our accomplishments over the last 15 years here!

It's been an amazing journey since the first wolf returned to Yellowstone in 1995 and we have made great strides in our efforts to help these animals find acceptance and tolerance. But there is still so much work to be done as we continue to fight for a sustainable population of wolves in the region that is managed based on sound scientific reasoning rather than the politicized, illegal plans that are in place today.  Thank you so much for all your help and support over the last 15 years!

 

Gray wolf population declining in Yellowstone Park…

A goodarticle in USA Today that talks about the overall decline of wolves in Yellowstone Park pointing to a few different reasons for this, including the Montana hunt and the decimation of the Cottonwood Pack.

Wolves = Awesome for our public lands

This is a great article that covers in-depth the importance of top predators, like wolves, to biodiversity in ecosystems.  Where wolves are found you will also find an ecosystem that is healthy and strong and teaming with biodiversity - and make no mistake about it, in the greater Yellowstone area the wolves are the reason for this re-emergence of this native species biodiversity.  It's all connected.  Ecosystems need balance and when they don't have top predators, as the article points out, the whole ecosystem and balance shifts.  It has been documented over and over again from the sea otters in California and their relationship to sea urchins and the underwater kelp forests to the deer of the east coast that have eaten the native plants and biodiversity out of the Appalachians, if you are missing a key piece of these puzzles you will change and weaken the entire ecosystem.