Wolves in Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, and the North Fork of the Shoshone River: Simulating Ungulate Consequences of Wolf Revovery (original) (raw)

1991, The UW National Parks Service Research Station Annual Reports

The gray wolf (Canis lupus) was extirpated from Yellowstone National Park by U.S. Government personnel during 1914-1926. Since then, occasional reports of wolves in Yellowstone National Park have been recorded (Weaver 1978), but no recent records exist of wolves breeding in the park. In recent years, public attitudes towards predators have changed such that predators are more commonly viewed as an integral component of natural ecosystems (see e.g., Mech 1970, Despain et al. 1986, Dunlap 1988). An increasing proportion of the American public desires that wolves be reestablished in Yellowstone National Park (McNaught 1987, Bath 1991). ln 1987, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved a Recovery Plan for the Northern Rocky Mountain wolf (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service 1987). Before proceeding with wolf recovery, however, Congress appropriated funds in 1988 and 1989 and directed that studies be conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service to determine t...