Today was our day to learn about wolf Management. To start the day, we traveled to the Lamar Valley to see if we could see more wolves. On the way we saw some coyotes jumping into the snowbank after some rodents. When we got to our location, we couldn’t see any wolves. We saw plenty of bison, and all of the wolf watchers had left, so we knew the wolves weren’t present in the valley. Bison are about the size of a very large cow, but they are a lot more lean and they are taller. They can also run 40 mph, so imagine a herd of cattle running that fast and listen to how fast it is.
Our first hike, was to find an old wolf kill. It was about a half a mile from the road, and the elk was very large. Our second hike was up to the acclimation pens. The purpose of the pens was to help the wolves get used to their new environment. The round trip hike was 3 miles long. It was mostly uphill to the pens and downhill to the bus. The acclimation pen, being such a historic part to the park was probably my favorite part of the day. I enjoyed seeing the place where the wolf reintroduction started.
To finish the day, we had a presentation by Nate Varley. His presentation generalized the information about the wolf reintroduction, the economic benefit of wolves to be reintroduced, and the ecologic benefits of wolves. The wolves reintroduction cost $30 million/10 cents/taxpayer, and they benefit the economy with $70 million income.
Today was a great day overall, I am looking forward to see what we can find tomorrow.
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It sounds like you guys had a great day even though you didn’t see any wolves! Can you tell me a little more about the acclimation pens, because that sounds very interesting. Also were the bison spread out or were they in a herd?
The Acclimation pen is a 1 acre large fenced area with about 20 foot high chain link fences. The fence is designed to prevent the wolves to escape. There is a spot in the pen where the biologists could separate the wolves from each other. They called it Wolf #10s timeout pen. He would bully wolf 7&9, so they would separate them. The purpose of the pens was to help the wolves become comfortable in their new environment. Their natural territory was in Canada, so they feared the wolves would run north after they were released.