Killing Varmints

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Wolves in Yellowstone: A Short History - Killing Varmints

Written by Nelson King

Article Index
Wolves in Yellowstone: A Short History
Killing Varmints
Controversial Comeback
The Battle Raged
Post-Reintroduction
After Ten Years
Conclusions
All Pages

Page 2 of 7

During the late 1800s, as ranches and farms spread into the valleys of the Yellowstone region, the native buffalo were killed and replaced by cattle, sheep, and other domesticated animals. It was inevitable that wolf packs would discover a new food source –- livestock. Predators are obviously unwelcome to those who raise animals, as they make the economics more precarious. A big spring snowstorm might kill hundreds of stock animals, but that’s an act of God that the ranchers can’t do much about. If a pack of wolves appears and begins to take livestock, there is something to do about it -– kill them. Traditionally, settlers moving into America’s frontier immediately began to exterminate local predators -- varmints. The general opinion was that anything which made the business of farming or ranching more difficult -- prairie dogs, buffalo, wolves, or coyotes -- should be eliminated.

Wily the wolf might be, but it’s no match for human hunters with technology: accurate long distance rifles, sophisticated traps, and above all, poison. Coordinated programs of predator extermination began in the early 1900s, which included coyotes as well as wolves. This was not just a practice of local ranchers and farmers, but a professional enterprise of bounty hunting supported by state and federal agencies, notably the federal Bureau of Science. This eradication was effective; by the 1930's the wolf population in the lower United States was almost entirely wiped out. In 1924, the last known wolves in Yellowstone, two pups discovered near Soda Butte, were officially killed by park rangers. For seventy years there were either no or very few wolves in the greater Yellowstone region. They were eliminated even from the national park and surrounding national forests because it was feared if any remained, they would spread back into the private lands.

Yellowstone without Wolves

As might be expected, after wolves were removed, elk herds increased in population, reaching new highs during the mid-1930’s. The increased number of elk apparently resulted in overgrazing in parts of Yellowstone. Park officials decided that the elk herd should be "managed." This meant that for about thirty years the park elk herds were culled: Each year some were captured and shipped to other locations, a certain number were killed by park rangers, and hunters were allowed to take more elk that migrated outside the park. By the late 1960’s the herd populations dropped to historic lows (less than 4,000 for the Northern Range herd). This caused outrage among both conservationists and hunters. The park service stopped culling elk in 1968. Then the elk population rebounded and twenty years later there were more elk in Yellowstone than ever (the Northern Range herd reached 19,000); overgrazing returned.

Meanwhile, other things happened: Coyotes survived the extermination programs and without the wolf competition, increased in numbers throughout Yellowstone and became the dominant predator. However, more coyotes meant fewer rodents and other small game, which reduced the population of foxes, hawks, and eagles. In periods where the elk flourished, the aspen trees in the park declined, which contributed to the disappearance of beaver that rely on aspen for a primary food source. Today we catalog these and many other similar effects, mostly in hindsight. What was missing in the 1940’s and 50’s was a sense of what we now call ecology.

Many of the concepts of ecology, such as the relationship of prey and predator (the food chain) or the cycles of growth in plant life (part of biological succession), were developed in the 19th century. However it was not until the mid to late 20th century that an understanding of ecology, ecosystems, and environmentalism gained widespread scientific and public acceptance.In Yellowstone the acceptance of these ideas prompted a slowly developing re-evaluation of how to manage the park’s plant and animal life. Partly because of the poor track record for hands-on management (like culling) and partly because study of Yellowstone as an ecosystem was beginning to reveal just how complex and variable the system could be; more and more ideas were floated about ‘restoring the natural balance.’ That meant, as much as possible, supporting natural regulation; letting natural forces take their course. Among the ideas on how to do this was the reintroduction of the wolf to control the elk population.

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