Why Restore Wolves in North America?

Wolf restoration efforts help to ensure the long-term survival of wolves, contribute to a healthy ecosystem and provide cultural benefits.

Restoration Ensures Long-Term Survival of Wolves

The long-term survival of any species depends on the size, number and connectivity of its populations: the larger and more connected, the more likely wolves are to persist in the face of threats such as drought, habitat alteration, disease or food shortages. Determining how many populations of what size can assure the long-term survival of a species is neither an easy task nor one likely to be accomplished without professional disagreement. But clearly, the approximately 5,000 gray wolves existing today in the lower 48 states are a mere shadow of the hundreds of thousands of wolves that once roamed the continent.

Wolves Help Maintain Ecological Integrity

Predators and predation play a dynamic and essential role in maintaining the health of ecosystems. Wolves prey mostly on animals that are young or elderly, sick or injured, and weak or unfit, thus keeping prey populations healthy and vigorous (Carbyn 1983). By preventing large herbivores such as deer and elk from becoming overpopulated, wolves help maintain native biodiversity. When deer and elk become too abundant for their habitat, they overgraze it and may destroy the plant base, making the habitat less suitable for other species.

Removal of wolves from large areas of the United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries altered the natural relationships among animals ecologically associated with wolves. This disruption led to increases in some species and declines in others, adversely affecting biological diversity. Removing large predators allowed smaller, more generalized predators to increase their numbers, range and exploitation of food sources. For example, when gray wolves were eliminated, coyote numbers exploded. Similarly, elimination of red wolves from the southeastern United States was followed by an increase in coyotes and raccoons, which in turn caused a reduction in wild turkeys (Miller et. al. 1997).

In Yellowstone National Park, scientists are documenting the important role reintroduced wolves are playing in rebuilding greater biodiversity within the ecosystem. Since the reintroductions in 1995 and 1996, studies have demonstrated the wolf’s ability to cull weak and old ungulates (hooved animals such as elk and deer) (Smith, Peterson and Houston 2003) and to reduce long-term concentration of elk herds and the damage they do to sensitive meadows and wetlands (Ripple and Beshta 2004). In what is known as the cascade effect, wolves are exerting influence over a multitude of species within the park’s ecosystem. Elk, wary of the reintroduced top predator, have altered their grazing behavior. With less grazing pressure from elk, streambed vegetation such as willow and aspen is regenerating after decades of overbrowsing. As the trees are restored, they create better habitat for native birds and fish, beaver and other species. In addition, wolves have reduced Yellowstone’s coyote population by as much as 50 percent in some areas, which in turn increased populations of pronghorn and red fox (Crabtree and Sheldon 1999).

Cultural Importance of Wolves

The cultural importance of wolves runs the gamut from the spiritual to the moral, from the aesthetic to the recreational. Wolves can even have positive economic importance for communities close to wolf populations.

The peoples who inhabited North America when Europeans first arrived were well acquainted with wolves. Many Native Americans, incorporating wildlife into their everyday and spiritual lives, ascribed wolves with powers ranging from the creation of tribes to the ability to heal the sick. For example, the Arikara believed a wolfman spirit made the Great Plains for them and for other animals. The Cheyenne credited wolves with teaching them how to survive by hunting. In the northern Rockies, the Nez Perce tribe has played a leading role in restoring wolves to Idaho. Tribal school children named one of the first reintroduced wolves “Chat Chaaht,” which means “elder brother.”

Since the 1970s, numerous public opinion polls have found that an overwhelming majority of Americans supports efforts to protect and restore wolves (Williams, Ericsson and Heberlein 2002). In general, survey respondents who favor wolves cite ecological and cultural reasons for their views. Many respondents point to our obligation to future generations for maintaining and restoring natural ecosystems that include wolves. Some people value wolves as a symbol of nature’s beauty and believe that their presence contributes to the wilderness experience. Indeed, a number of studies have shown that wolves are so appealing to people that the animals have had a positive effect on tourism and associated industries in areas where the animals are present.

Literature Cited
  • Carbyn, L. N. 1983. Wolf predation on elk in Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba. Journal of Wildlife Management. 47(4): 963-976.
  • Crabtree R. L. and J.W. Sheldon. 1999. Coyotes and Canid Existence in Yellowstone. pp. 127-163 In Clark, T.W., A.P. Curlee, S.C. Minta and P.M. Karieva. Carnivores in Ecosystems: The Yellowstone Experience. Yale University Press: New Haven, CT. 429pp.
  • Miller, D.A., L.W. Burger, B.D. Leopold and G.A. Hurst. 1997. Wild turkey hen survival and cause-specific mortality in central Mississippi. Paper presented to Annual Meeting of the Wildlife Society. Snowmass, CO; September 21-27.
  • Ripple, W. J. and R. L. Beschta. 2004. Wolves and the Ecology of Fear: Can Predation Risk Structure Ecosystems? Bioscience. 54(8): 755-767.
  • Smith, D. W., R. O. Peterson and D. B. Houston. 2003. Yellowstone after Wolves. BioScience. 53(4): 330-340.
  • Williams, C. K., G. Ericsson and T. A. Heberlein. 2002. A quantitative summary of attitudes toward wolves and their reintroduction (1972-2000). Wildlife Society Bulletin. 30(2): 575-585.