COLORADO Wake Up!

Yellowstone National Park concluded its longest study on the reintroduction of wolves and the purported “trophic cascade” made famous by a video claiming wolves change rivers. The researchers monitored 21 riparian sites over 20 years and the following was their conclusion…

“We conclude that the restoration of large carnivores to the food web failed to restore riparian plant communities on Yellowstone’s northern range”

In short, the oft-cited benefit of wolves restoring the environment was found to be false - at least over a 20-year period. I’ve often said and will say again that human timelines are much shorter than nature’s timelines and we humans tend to be impatient.

What we do know is that since wolf reintroduction in 1995, the northern Yellowstone elk herd’s population has gone from approximately 17k to less than 4k in 2013 to about 6k today. We also know that elk make up 85% of a wolf’s diet, wolves kill about 22 big game animals per wolf per year, and wolves cause a 32% (specifically 24-43%) decrease in pregnancy rates in elk leading to lower calf to cow ratios which makes it harder for elk numbers to recover.

This doesn’t make wolves good or bad - it’s just facts about a prolific and efficient apex predator. What it does mean is that all species need to be managed. Colorado’s wildlife is in for a rude awakening with no CPW plan to control the wolves’ population or establishment of a carrying capacity.