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Decade of the Wolf: Returning the Wild to Yellowstone
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Product Description
"By piquing our imaginations, by sparking in us a sense of wonder, Yellowstone's wolves have done much to invigorate our sense of place, even our sense of generosity, rekindling relationships that allow us to again feel at home in the world."
-- Douglas Smith, Wolf Project Leader
For millions of people around the world, the image of wolves running free through Yellowstone National Park has become the ultimate symbol of the American wilderness. The release of thirty-one Canadian gray wolves in 1995 and 1996-arguably the most controversial feat of conservation in our nation's history-sparked a new-found passion for these remarkable animals and the unbound lands that sustain them.
Few were prepared for the outpouring of emotion sparked by the reintroduction of these wolves, and for the changes that came, both in the land and in the minds of men, with that experiment. For the first time, Douglas Smith and Gary Ferguson recount the first ten years of this historic endeavor. The journey of the wolves themselves and the people who faithfully followed them through the wilds of Yellowstone make for unforgettable reading.
Here are intimate details about the lives of these animals, including wonderful stories about survival and family dynamics. Smith and award-winning nature writer Gary Ferguson weave together never-before-published scientific discoveries with spell-binding tales of the wolves' behaviors. The wolves have not only survived, but completely changed the ecosystem, spilling a fresh measure of wild across the world's first national park. . DECADE OF THE WOLF serves to mark the end of the opening act of this inspired, often tumultuous tale of preservation.
DOUGLAS SMITH, PHD, Wolf Project leader, has studied wolves for twenty-four years and has worked on the reintroduction in Yellowstone since its inception. He lives in Gardiner, Montana.
GARY FERGUSON is an award-winning nature writer whose books include The Great 0 Divide: The Rocky Mountains in the American Mind, Hawks Rest: A Season in the Remote Heart of Yellowstone, and The Yellowstone Wolves. He has written for numerous publications including Vanity Fair, Outside, the Los Angeles Times, and Men's Journal. He lives in Red Lodge, Montana.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #645157 in Books
- Published on: 2005-04-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 256 pages
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Wolf biologist Smith and nature writer Ferguson (Hawks Rest) deliver a compelling inside look at the Yellowstone Wolf Recovery Project, covering the 10 years that have passed since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made the controversial decision to reintroduce wolves into the national park. Their book is a detailed look at how the return of the wolves—once among the most numerous of North American predators—has provided scientists with a chance to witness "the dynamic forces of nature that drove this region before the coming of the Europeans" as well as to puzzle out what wolves mean to the area's ecosystem. Smith worked on the project, and the two authors offer hard facts (e.g., the number of elk killed by wolves each year is 9% of the elk population; the average life span of a wolf in Yellowstone is 3.4 years) as well as impressionistic "Portraits" of individual wolves that reveal their "epic lives, full of struggle and conquest." It's a perfect balance to Hank Fischer's Wolf Wars and will please fans of that well-received overview of the controversy. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* In 1995, after an absence of 70 years, wolves were returned to Yellowstone National Park. Trappers captured 14 wolves from three packs in Canada and transported them to acclimation pens in the remote north of the park, from which they were released 10 weeks later. Seventeen more from four packs followed the next year, and it is from this 31-animal nucleus that the current 170 wolves in the park descend. Smith has worked with the Yellowstone Wolf Project since its inception and has studied wolves for more than 25 years. With the help of nature writer Ferguson, he has produced a marvelously intimate look at the ups and downs of wolf reintroduction. From problems with their release (the wolves initially would not leave the acclimation pens) to the only wolf that escaped before the official release (he hung by his teeth until he could scramble over the chain-link wall), Smith was in the thick of it all. Well illustrated with black-and-white and color photographs, this intimate history of the return of the top predator to Yellowstone will find an eager audience. Nancy Bent
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
--Pete Fromm
“Gary Ferguson tells [his] story with a naturalist’s rigor, a local’s compassion, a writer’s heart, and an outdoorsman’s soul.”
--Pam Houston
Customer Reviews
A must read for those who follow the Yellowstone wolves
No one is more qualified to write about the Yellowstone wolves than the wolf project leader of the Park for the last 8 years, Dr. Douglas Smith. Gary Ferguson is a very accomplished writer about western wilderness and wildlife issues. I read almost every one of his books in one sitting.
The book is a series of stories about individual wolves, packs, plus well known and lesser known events in the Park's wolf recovery. Chapters also explain concepts of wolf biology, and the effects wolves are having on America's first national park.
Those people who go to Yellowstone to watch wolves or follow these events will want to snap this book up.
Others interested in wildlife will find it less compelling, but still a useful and good read.
The book is a fitting story of ten years of wolf recovery in Yellowstone Park. Still to be told is the history of wolf recovery in areas outside the Park, especially in Idaho where the number of wolves outnumber those of the Park almost three to one.
Readers will enjoy a number of photographs of wolves and wolf interactions with other animals in the photo insert in the middle of the book. Many of these, such as those in the Park's remote Pelican Valley, could only be taken by the Park's wolf biologists.
Realistic View of the Life of a Reintroduced Wolf
I have followed the wolf reintroduction project with great interest since the very beginning. After many trips to Yellowstone and time spent hiking and camping in the backcountry of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem since the wolf reintroduction; I have yet to see a wolf in the wild. However, hearing them howl in the woods at night is enough to give a person goosebumps. Just knowing they are out there is enough for me.
This book is an excellent summary of the wolf reintroduction project and how the wolves have fared up to this point. The first hand accounts from Doug Smith about his experiences over the years will make you yearn to have the job and type of lifestyle that he is able to live everyday. Yet, this book is very realistic about the future of the wolves in Yellowstone and beyond. We all must learn to come together to make this world a better place, one step at a time. Until a balance can be found between the environmentalists and "big business" we will be less likely to see such a huge undertaking again to return some of last pieces of wilderness in the United States back to what they might of been so many years ago.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in where the Yellowstone wolves are now and for anyone who has fallen in love with the majestic landscape of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. We have a great deal to be proud of and we owe Doug Smith, Mr. Babbitt and all the others who were brave enough not only to imagine but to actually take the steps needed to reintroduce this great animal back to a small area in which they used to roam.
A remarkable decade indeed
This is an engaging and informed account of perhaps the most important environmental story in recent years, the successful reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park. The authors have been involved in this project from the ground up, and it shows. They provide an impressive amount of information but even more important, they use some fascinating stories to convey the behavior of these remarkable animals. I've been fortunate enough to see the Yellowstone wolves, but when I see them the next time, it will be in a new light.
