Geos 220
Writing Assignment
Re-introduction of the Wolf in the Southwest
There still remains, even in the United States, some areas of considerable size in which we feel that both red and gray [wolves] may be allowed to continue their existence with little molestation. Where are these areas? Probably every reasonable ecologist will agree that some of them should lie in the larger national parks and wilderness areas: for instance Yellowstone and its adjacent national forests. Aldo Leopold Wolf Re-introduction into Yellowstone National Park
The wolf has been re-introduced elsewhere besides the American Southwest, including notably into Yellowstone National Park beginning in 1995. Yellowstone thereby serves as a case study for comparing and contrasting with the wolf re-introduction into the American Southwest. See here various resources about the Yellowstone experience:
Note #1: The pdf password for articles is the same as for other course materials.
Note #2: For the purpose of efficiently inputting text into your References Cited section, you may copy text inside the brackets and paste into your document file. This is the only copy-and-pasting allowed in this assignment.
- [National Park Service. 2014. Wolves in Yellowstone.] The Yellowstone National Park web page on wolf re-introduction. A starting point for info.
- [Robbins, J. 2004. Lessons from the WOLF. Scientific American 290(6):76-81.] A review of results of the re-introduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park. A comparison for the re-introduction program in the Southwest.
- [National Geographic Magazine. March, 2010. Wolf Wars.] Wolf reintroduction in the Northern Rockies.
- [Ripple, W.J., and Beschta, R.L. 2012. Trophic cascades in Yellowstone: The first 15 years after wolf reintroduction. Biological Conservation 145:205�213.] A summary of ecological effects of re-introduction of the wolf to Yellowstone. An example of what can happen due to re-introduction of the wolf. (Note: don't bog down in the details of methodology, but do make it the last page, a nice visual of the entire paper.) Question: Might these effects also occur in the American Southwest?
- [Sustainable man. 2014. How wolves change rivers.] A 4.5-minute video of ecological effects of re-introduction of the wolf to Yellowstone. Cool footage. Note: The narrator says deer a lot when elk are in being depicted.
- Restoration or destruction: the controversy over wolf reintroduction: This Journal of Young Investigators is organized by college undergraduates. This site gives info on the Yellowstone wolf re-introduction, which allows for comparison with wolf re-introduction into the Southwest.
- [Middleton, A. 2014. Is the wolf a real American hero? New York Times.] This op-ed disputes the notion that re-introduction of the wolf into Yellowstone has been 100% positive.
- [Gertz, E. 2014. Has the reintroduction of wolves really saved Yellowstone? Popular Science.] An op-ed questioning the simplicity of the claim that the wolf saved Yellowstone by itself.
- [Arizona Daily Star. 2014. Endangered Rocky Mountain wolf possibly near Grand Canyon. October 30.] Doh! Could a Yellowstone wolf have made it to northern Arizona?
- [National Geographic Magazine. May, 2016. The comeback of the wolf into Yellowstone.] Updated numbers on the Yellowstone re-intro program.
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