After a long, foggy drive across Beartooth Pass (10,947 feet), I arrived in the Lamar River Valley just after sunrise. There I found hundreds of other hopeful "wolf watchers," scanning the landscape with their binoculars, spotting scopes and telescopic cameras. Indeed, this Valley, in the northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park, has become the wolf-watching mecca of the Lower 48 ever since these apex predators were reintroduced to the Park ecosystem, in 1995.
Finding an empty pull-off (not easy), I began my own search and fortunately located an adult black wolf, trotting across the valley floor; even more stirring was the chorus of a pack, howling from Specimen Ridge, which rises above the south edge of the Lamar Valley. Other sightings included a grizzly, rummaging through a meadow at the base of the ridge, a lone coyote, searching for rodents in the riverside wetlands and a couple hundred bison, browsing along the road and on hills above the valley. Though mule deer and pronghorn were observed, elk remained out of view despite the cool, cloudy weather.
By keeping the elk population in check, Yellowstone's wolf packs have allowed the Park's ecosystem to recover from over-grazing and forest damage. Of course, they have also restored the "wildness" which the Park was meant to protect. Today, I was honored to witness their return.
Finding an empty pull-off (not easy), I began my own search and fortunately located an adult black wolf, trotting across the valley floor; even more stirring was the chorus of a pack, howling from Specimen Ridge, which rises above the south edge of the Lamar Valley. Other sightings included a grizzly, rummaging through a meadow at the base of the ridge, a lone coyote, searching for rodents in the riverside wetlands and a couple hundred bison, browsing along the road and on hills above the valley. Though mule deer and pronghorn were observed, elk remained out of view despite the cool, cloudy weather.
By keeping the elk population in check, Yellowstone's wolf packs have allowed the Park's ecosystem to recover from over-grazing and forest damage. Of course, they have also restored the "wildness" which the Park was meant to protect. Today, I was honored to witness their return.
