Photo by angeal

– Doug McConnell

One of my favorite regions on earth is the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. It embraces a huge and magnificent territory including Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. I’ve been traveling there since I was very little. I’ve been there in every season and never tire of the landscape, its history and its wildness.

Some years ago, it got a little wilder when wolves, once exterminated in the region, were reintroduced after years of contention and controversy. The return of the wolves has not been cheered by one and all. Their return has been challenged by local ranchers and others. Emotions have run high on all sides and legitimate debates about the fate of the wolves have ensued over the years.

I suppose it’s easy for an outsider to say, but I’ve favored bringing the wolves back home to Yellowstone for a very long time. They belong in these mountains and they help complete the ecosystem. I’ve lived in wild places around the West, and the presence of wolves has always moved and inspired me. The first time I ever saw a wolf was on a lonely road late one night many years ago in Alberta, Canada. I was driving to Alaska and the wolf, in a sense, welcomed me to the wildness ahead before loping off into its dark domain. That moment remains etched in my memory.

We human beings have initiated the earth’s greatest extinction episode in 65 million years. It heartens me to see us try, here and there, to reverse the tide. We’ve taken so much of nature out, it’s good to see us put at least one piece back where we found it.

I hope you enjoy a journey we took, early one morning, to YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK AND WOLVES. Then check out another of our other stories about the region: GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK.