Now that was fun. Nature-savvy, interested and diverse gathering. Every single person wrote down the name of Ben’s book, and one woman said she wanted to come help at the beaver festival. One of the attendees was a long time reader of this website (JoEllen) who was one of our first followers. Everyone was very enthusiastic about the presentation, (even Jon who has definitely heard it all before.)
If I was preaching to the choir, it was the very best kind of choir,
Now I can rest on my beaver laurels until spring when I present to Audubon. That gives me lots of time to focus on the grants and applications which are due in winter. Ahem.
In the meantime I heard from BYU radio yesterday that our beaver interview will be coming the week of the 17th when their new program launches. I’ll keep you posted.
This came up yesterday at my talk, and because of Ben’s great book I was able to explain there was more than wolves needed for recovery.
Yellowstone’s wolves are back, but they haven’t restored the park’s ecosystem. Here’s why.
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyoming – Yellowstone’s wolves are back, helping revive parts of the ecosystem that changed drastically when this top-of-the-food-chain predator was killed off nearly a century ago. But Yellowstone is still not 100% back to normal – and it may never be.
“You put the predator back, that’s great, but conditions have changed so much in the intervening decades that putting the predator back is not enough to restore the ecosystem,” said Tom Hobbs, a Colorado State University ecology professor. “There’s not a quick fix for mistakes like exterminating apex predators.”
It’s a sign of both the promise – and the limitations – of a multi-decade wildlife recovery effort. The reintroduction of the wolf nearly 25 years ago to the country’s first national park has brought change: Overpopulated elk herds have thinned, allowing some willow and aspen groves to return and thereby creating better habitat for songbirds and beavers.
One of the questions raised in the discussion afterwards was whether all animals matter equally, or whether some animals mattered more than others. Being a regular reader of this site, I’m sure you can guess where I came down in that argument.
Today, nearly 25 years after wolves were reintroduced into the park, the top predators have helped parts of the ecosystem bounce back. They’ve significantly reduced elk herds, opening the door for willow, aspen, beaver and songbird populations to recover. But the wolves haven’t been a silver bullet for the ecosystem as a whole.
“This idea that wolves have caused rapid and widespread restoration of the ecosystem is just bunk,” Hobbs said. “It’s just absolutely a fairytale.”
