Wolf reintroduction program still controversial 25 years later

BOZEMAN, Mont. — In January of 1995, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service moved gray wolves from Canada into Yellowstone National Park, marking the beginning of the wolf reintroduction program.

The Flying Diamond Ranch spreads over 1,200 acres in the Paradise Valley of Montana.

For 45 years, the Davis family’s livelihood here has been tied to raising and selling cattle.

Martin Davis says his was one of the first ranches to encounter wolves after the reintroduction.

Davis says they’ve seen plenty of wolves, even saw them circling cows, but so far there's been only one verified wolf kill on his ranch.

“We still don’t love wolves, you know, that's our livelihood out there. However, now that they are off the Endangered Species List, our hands aren’t tied like they were back in those early days. And so we still have wolves, but the aggressive ones toward livestock I think are reduced because the depredation -- at least around the valley here -- has fallen way off now that we can hunt them,” he said.

By 1997, 41 wolves were living in Yellowstone National Park as part of the federal wolf reintroduction program, restoring the only missing member of the park’s native mammals.

Wolves were completely wiped out from the United States except in northern Minnesota.

Bringing them back was controversial and faced both stiff opposition and overwhelming support, according to Douglas Smith, senior wildlife biologist for Yellowstone National Park.

There are about 2,000 wolves in the greater Rocky Mountain region. Only about 100 of them are in or around Yellowstone National Park. It is this very small percentage that gets almost 100% of the attention.

Doug Smith, senior wildlife biologist for Yellowstone, says in the early years, a lot of people said, “They’re going to kill all our game, they’re going to hurt people, they’re going to prey on livestock. And by and large it hasn’t been that bad. They did not wipe out the northern Yellowstone elk herd as some people said they would. Some politicians said there’d be a dead child within a year, or somebody would be injured -- that hasn’t happened in the tri-state area. And they also didn’t fix every ecological ill either.”

In 2002, wolves reached the federal goal of about 150 in the park. Thus, wolves in this area were removed from the Endangered Species Act in 2011, going from protected to fair game for hunters.

“Cougars are back, wolves are back, coyotes are back, bears have always been there. It’s as pristine as it’s ever been since 1972. It’s nice to have this little spot that’s natural, which is the objective of the US National Park Service," Smith added.