How wolves changes rivers
- Thread starter michaelmaltby
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vikingBerserker
Lieutenant General
WOW!
That was really fascinating, thanks for posting!
That was really fascinating, thanks for posting!
yulzari
Staff Sergeant
I must keep an eye on my local rivers now that wolves have spread past us and are only 150km away from Paris.
- Thread starter
- #4
michaelmaltby
Colonel
"...I must keep an eye on my local rivers now that wolves have spread past us and are only 150km away from Paris."
Not sure the same situation will apply ... the connection with river health was through deer over population and grazing inducing bank instability and soil erosion .... Unless you have a large deer/chamois population in and around agricultural France. The sheep farmers will be complaining though.
Not sure the same situation will apply ... the connection with river health was through deer over population and grazing inducing bank instability and soil erosion .... Unless you have a large deer/chamois population in and around agricultural France. The sheep farmers will be complaining though.
Wolves are amazing and beautiful animals. I actually got to get upclose and personal with a Gray Wolf from a conservation center last month. Such a great experience.
Interesting video! Thanks for sharing.
mikewint
Captain
The Butterfly Effect no less. However -
Murder of Yellowstone Wolves Threatens Area Renaissance By Mike Di Paola Sep 2, 2013 11:01 PM CT
The air in Yellowstone National Park is chilly at the crack of dawn, even in August. If you want to see a wolf, you get up early and shiver.
It's more difficult right now to spot a wolf, says Marc Cooke, president of Wolves of the Rockies. He means both the time of year -- wolves are less active in summer -- and the recent decline in wolf numbers, which he attributes to the devastating impact from the needless trapping and hunting season.
At last count there were 95 wolves in the park, traveling in 11 packs. A few years ago there were almost twice as many. Part of the decline is due to the natural ebb and flow of ecological systems, but hunters can legally shoot wolves when they stray outside the park into Wyoming, Montana or Idaho, even if they're wearing radio collars.
Just last week, a collar-wearing female wolf that had killed a chicken was shot by a resident of Jardine, Montana.
As tenuous as the population is, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed to delist the species, which is currently designated as endangered or threatened in most of the lower 48 states. The wolf would still be protected in Yellowstone, but would be at the mercy of bloodthirsty types just outside the park when the hunting season opens in September.
After a couple days, I finally catch the briefest glimpse of a pair of black wolves, loping over a rise and out of sight in the park's stunning Lamar Valley. Though I'm looking through a spotting scope and the wolves are more than a mile off, the scene takes my breath away.
Wolf Renaissance
As an apex predator, wolves are essential to an ecosyste's health. Soon after reintroduction to Yellowstone in 1995, wolves helped cull the overpopulated elk herds. This led to a rejuvenation of verdant ground cover that the elk had been mowing down, which in turn attracted animals that rely on low foliage for cover and food.
Yellowstone wolves are undoubtedly responsible for a renaissance of songbird and beaver populations and a lot more.
You could argue that they've affected everything through the system,� says wolf biologist Doug Smith, Yellowstone�s longtime wolf project leader. Wolves have been good for fish, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates.
Wolves are even good for another top predator, the grizzly bear, which feeds on berries that bounced back with the reappearance of wolves.
We've got the most predators, or carnivores, in Yellowstone in the park's entire history, says Smith. Arguably, Yellowstone is as pristine as it's been in its entire history.
Weak Culled
Wolves are even good for the elk herds on which they feed, since they tend to cull weaker members, thereby improving the stock. Contrast that dynamic with the human hunter, who targets the biggest specimens for his trophy.
Hunters say the wolves are depleting the native elk populations; ranchers fret their livestock is at risk. Both claims have a scintilla of truth in them, but are mostly overblown. Unfortunately, ranchers and hunters have political clout in these parts.
With 1,500-plus wolves killed in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming in the last three years by wildlife services, hunting and trapping, we are on the road to the second eradication of wolves in the Rocky Mountains, laments Cooke. Clearly state fish and wildlife agencies are not using the best available science. Instead, they appear to be puppets of the hunting and livestock producers, who have an obvious anti-wolf agenda.
Murder of Yellowstone Wolves Threatens Area Renaissance By Mike Di Paola Sep 2, 2013 11:01 PM CT
The air in Yellowstone National Park is chilly at the crack of dawn, even in August. If you want to see a wolf, you get up early and shiver.
It's more difficult right now to spot a wolf, says Marc Cooke, president of Wolves of the Rockies. He means both the time of year -- wolves are less active in summer -- and the recent decline in wolf numbers, which he attributes to the devastating impact from the needless trapping and hunting season.
At last count there were 95 wolves in the park, traveling in 11 packs. A few years ago there were almost twice as many. Part of the decline is due to the natural ebb and flow of ecological systems, but hunters can legally shoot wolves when they stray outside the park into Wyoming, Montana or Idaho, even if they're wearing radio collars.
Just last week, a collar-wearing female wolf that had killed a chicken was shot by a resident of Jardine, Montana.
As tenuous as the population is, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed to delist the species, which is currently designated as endangered or threatened in most of the lower 48 states. The wolf would still be protected in Yellowstone, but would be at the mercy of bloodthirsty types just outside the park when the hunting season opens in September.
After a couple days, I finally catch the briefest glimpse of a pair of black wolves, loping over a rise and out of sight in the park's stunning Lamar Valley. Though I'm looking through a spotting scope and the wolves are more than a mile off, the scene takes my breath away.
Wolf Renaissance
As an apex predator, wolves are essential to an ecosyste's health. Soon after reintroduction to Yellowstone in 1995, wolves helped cull the overpopulated elk herds. This led to a rejuvenation of verdant ground cover that the elk had been mowing down, which in turn attracted animals that rely on low foliage for cover and food.
Yellowstone wolves are undoubtedly responsible for a renaissance of songbird and beaver populations and a lot more.
You could argue that they've affected everything through the system,� says wolf biologist Doug Smith, Yellowstone�s longtime wolf project leader. Wolves have been good for fish, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates.
Wolves are even good for another top predator, the grizzly bear, which feeds on berries that bounced back with the reappearance of wolves.
We've got the most predators, or carnivores, in Yellowstone in the park's entire history, says Smith. Arguably, Yellowstone is as pristine as it's been in its entire history.
Weak Culled
Wolves are even good for the elk herds on which they feed, since they tend to cull weaker members, thereby improving the stock. Contrast that dynamic with the human hunter, who targets the biggest specimens for his trophy.
Hunters say the wolves are depleting the native elk populations; ranchers fret their livestock is at risk. Both claims have a scintilla of truth in them, but are mostly overblown. Unfortunately, ranchers and hunters have political clout in these parts.
With 1,500-plus wolves killed in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming in the last three years by wildlife services, hunting and trapping, we are on the road to the second eradication of wolves in the Rocky Mountains, laments Cooke. Clearly state fish and wildlife agencies are not using the best available science. Instead, they appear to be puppets of the hunting and livestock producers, who have an obvious anti-wolf agenda.
yulzari
Staff Sergeant
You would not believe how many deer live around my area. The wild boars are multiplying pest too. It might not be as bad as hitting an elk but driving into a full size boar is not to be recommended. Fiat Lupus! Bring on the wolves!
vikingBerserker
Lieutenant General
Wild boars can be pretty destructive as well, at least in my neck of the woods.
I have seen cars totaled after hitting a full size boar in Germany. They can get pretty massive there.
silence
Senior Airman
Indeed we should. Maybe someday we can make the willful deaf hear.
Wow, interesting stuff.
- Thread starter
- #14
michaelmaltby
Colonel
'...I have seen cars totaled after hitting a full size boar in Germany. They can get pretty massive there.'
Mighty tough bacon ...
Mighty tough bacon ...
Hotntot
Senior Airman
Love the film. Amazing to see how the reintroduction of one species can make such a positive change.
Nice story too mikewint.
Nice story too mikewint.
'...I have seen cars totaled after hitting a full size boar in Germany. They can get pretty massive there.'
Mighty tough bacon ...
Good Black Forest Ham...
mikewint
Captain
So that's why it is so expensive.
The LAW of UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES phenomenon - There are thousands of examples, rabbits and cane toads in Australia, Kudzu here in the South, Africanized Honey bees, side-effects of any and all drugs (sometimes serendipitous like asprin's reducing heart attacks), 1920s Prohibition, even the internet has the Streisand Effect, tall smokestacks to reduce local pollution, and on and on...
The LAW of UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES phenomenon - There are thousands of examples, rabbits and cane toads in Australia, Kudzu here in the South, Africanized Honey bees, side-effects of any and all drugs (sometimes serendipitous like asprin's reducing heart attacks), 1920s Prohibition, even the internet has the Streisand Effect, tall smokestacks to reduce local pollution, and on and on...
Aaron Brooks Wolters
Brigadier General
Thanks for sharing!
bobbysocks
Chief Master Sergeant
i do like this.....thanks for posting
yulzari
Staff Sergeant
When the Romans invaded Britain they brought with them elephants and rabbits. Fortunately only the rabbits escaped to the wild........
