Brandon McHugh
August 13, 2015
Environmental Ethics
Reintroduction of Wolves in Yellowstone National Park
Environments today that we consider as “natural” or “wilderness” are not particularly wild or natural. The areas of land that have unmanaged ecosystems, where humans are not allowed to disturb, are places that the government set boundaries, named, and created regulations for. A society as advanced as the humans on earth must have areas of wilderness regulated by the government. Fortunately, humans have governments that will manage our areas of natural wilderness. Considering Glen Cole’s statement in ‘A New Environmental Ethics’ on Yellowstone National Park, “The primary purpose of Yellowstone National Park is to preserve natural ecosystems
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This final result of the wipeout of wolves was directly related to Congress granting funds to kill off remaining wolf populations in fear of their primary food source like elk and moose being eliminated. Farmers were also in great support of getting rid of the wolves, as they would often kill livestock affecting farmer’s livelihood. With the passing of the Endangered Species Act in 1973, there was hope for the reintroduction of the wolf. However, residents of the surrounding areas of the park felt as though the wolf only brings destruction wherever it goes. Nonetheless, in 1974 the Department of Interior and the USFW appointed a wolf recovery team to implement a plan to eventually recover the once thriving wolf …show more content…
Without wolves, elk and deer populations rise too high and they over consume vegetation. This increases erosion on riverbanks, increasing turbidity in river waters and decreasing overall productivity. Also, in the winter months, elk and other large omnivores are not feeding regularly enough, and usually die of starvation or disease and other creatures, wasting fuel for food web, do not consume their remains quickly enough. The introduction of wolves is essential to bringing back the ecosystem to a healthy flow. Wolves eating habits are much more irregular than other primary predators, in that they can only consume about 20 pounds of meat before having to lie down. Between November and May, wolves provide about 29,000 pounds of meat to forest scavengers while humans leave 73,000 pounds just from January to mid February. It is clear that humans leave larger amounts of meat in a much shorter period of time. This makes it so most of the meat that is possible for left over animals to eat goes bad for scavengers, while wolf kill remains can consume the leftovers. This enables scavenger animals to feed on leftover remains, creating a healthier middle part of the food chain. Wolves also help maintain the most fit and robust elk populations as they feed on the weaker and smaller specimens. Douglas
Sixty years after the extirpation of wolves in the Northern Rockies and Great Plains of America, biologist and ecologist in Yellowstone National Park reintroduced wolves into a declining ecosystem that once thrived during their presence. The reintroduction brought immense controversy into the West and continues to stir outrage among anti-wolf groups. These anti-wolf supporters argue wolves are ruthless predators that cause destruction to natural environments and livestock. Conversely wolf advocates and scientists suggest that wolves are a keystone species that are essential to the natural regulation of our Western ecosystems. Although pro and anti-wolf advocates can agree that wolves have an effect on livestock, ungulate populations and ecosystems,
The author writes of personal experiences and thoughts to show the importance of the Wildlife refuge in more than just a factual standpoint. Carter notes how disappointed and saddened he would be if the Refuge was destroyed, “Standing on the coastal plain, I was saddened to think of the tragedy that might occur if this great wilderness was consumed by a web of roads and pipelines, drilling rigs and industrial facilities.” This adds power to the argument furthermore, as he demonstrates his attachment to the area and animals living there, “During bright July days, we walked along ancient caribou trails and studied the brilliant mosaic of wildflowers, mosses, and lichens that hugged the tundra… we watched muskox, those shaggy survivors of the Ice Age, lumber along braided rivers that meander toward the Beaufort Sea.” This then gives us a connection to the Refuge so we are more affected to the possible outcome of it being built into an industrial
The first pack of Nine mile wolves that was reintroduce into Pleasant Valley was not too soon after relocated. Having them reintroduced was an extremely controversial issue. The main issue between the wolves and residents was the preying on cattle. “The wolf is a meat-eating machine
For farming families of the Southern Plains, the plight of the Great Depression was made all the more harrowing by the onset of the Dust Bowl, as readers of The Grapes of Wrath will remember well. But, for environmental historian Donald Worster, the twin calamities of the Depression and the Dust Bowl were no unlucky coincidence. " My argument," Worster declares, "is that there was a in fact a close link between the Dust Bowl and the Depression -- that the same society produced them both, and for similar reasons. Both events revealed fundamental weaknesses in the traditional culture of America, the one in ecological terms, the other in economic.
There is an estimated 60,000 wolves in Canada. Farley Mowat studies the grey wolf in his book Never Cry Wolf (1963). Throughout the book, Mowat uses the rhetorical strategies pathos, logos, and personification to disprove the misconception about wolves. The book is about a scientist (Farley Mowat) that flies into the Canadian Barrens in order to research wolves. His goal is to prove that wolves are killing thousands of caribou for sport, but he find that the wolves are not to blame for the decrease in caribou populations.
Wolves can control the population of moose by killing the weak moose, making the pack stronger. This promotes a stronger pack and allows wildlife to access the vegetation they need. Without the wolves, the moose would just overgraze. The moose overgrazing leave no food for any other species, which then leads to dirty
In a way they are correct however, the wolves started the growth of the ecosystem again. More birds began to come because the terrain regained strength causing trees to be healthy and stronger. The birds made habitats there causing hawks and other prey to come due to the increase of birds. Beavers began to build dens in the rivers again which also provided a home for amphibians, otters, and other animals. The circle of life began to blossom again and it all started with the wolves contribution to the ecosystem.
Sadly, many Americans believe that losing the wolves would not be a bad thing for the prey’s sake, but in all reality losing the wolves would be devastating. One major thing that is present in all ecosystems, the place in which animals live, is a trophic cascade. A trophic cascade is explained in the essay as a “sequence of impacts down the food chain” (578). Hannibal gives the reader this example: “…In Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park … wolves were virtually wiped out in the 1920’s and reintroduced in the ‘90s. Since the wolves have come back, scientists have noted an unexpected improvement in many of the park’s degraded stream areas”
Now that there is more wolves, there needs to be more food and there isn’t enough deer or rodents so the wolves go for the livestock. Also with the wolf population rising that means there is a decrease in the deer population witch upsets many hunters. Since wolves were almost extinct in the 1930s there population has only rose and is getting bigger every single year (Zhang). Now that the population had rose a great amount since then a lot of hunters and farmers think that we should be able to hunt them and regulate their
Wild Law was a term first construed by author Cormac Cullinan to refer to human laws that consist of Earth’s jurisprudence. Politics, legal theory, physics, and ancient wisdom are foretold in Cullinan’s book Wild Law to inform and recognize a movement of nature’s rights just as human rights impacted the twenty first century. Cormac Cullinan illustrates our ability to transform our systematically industrialize society to enable our rediscovery of human’s practical role in the Earth’s system. Humanities survival depends on Earth’s health and our transformation of governance systems so that humans are reunited with the ecological matrix which includes biological perseverance and diversity. Instead of dominating nature our actions must be consistent
The Private Lands and Habitat Program seeks to avail advice and resources to private landowners involved in the conservation and establishment of wildlife habitat on their land. The Wildlife Management on Private Lands Program guides the protection of individual areas and habitat. On the other hand, the Wildlife Habitat Assessment Program that provides information and recommendations that will conserve fish and wildlife resources to local, state and federal agencies that approve, allow, license, or construct developmental projects. Additionally, the agency runs a student internship program that seeks to provide students with a realistic view of what a career with TPWD entails. This program comprises the agency’s efforts to uphold the corporate responsibility to the local
The underlying reasons for the belief, impression or thought that the US gov-ernment must continue to fund national parks is often overlooked, misunder-stood or unheeded. In his essay, “Government Must Preserve National Parks.” Author Todd Da-vidson builds a cogent, detailed and absorbing argument by employing a varie-ty of rhetorical techniques and persuasive strategies, most notably, an array of pertinent facts and statistics, appeal to emotions, and a logical argument to persuade his audience that the US government must continue to fund national parks.
This essay by Terry Tempest Williams, is describing us first the massacre of the prairie dog that occurred at the Cedar Ridge Golf Course, where over 400 prairie dog where gassed to death. There are 5 species of prairie dog and they are now threatened and might be in extinct in couple of years. The people wanted to exterminate the dogs because they were running the range because they consume a large amount of green grasses and forbs. According to Williams, “Prairie habitat not only for themselves but also for other grassland species. Prairies dog create diversity, destroy them, and you destroy a varied world (p86/87).”
Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat is a non-fiction story about naturalist Farley Mowat, on an expedition to find out why so many caribou were being killed. Mowat’s superiors believed that wolves were killing the caribou. He spent almost a year investigating the wolves’ way of life focusing on a small pack made up of two males and a female with her pups. Mowat camped near their den and observed their eating and hunting habits. He observed that wolves rarely ate caribou and when they did, it was the weak and sick ones.
Wolves, when in groups, are universally threatening and recurrently feared. This being known, they are often portrayed as an evil or opposing force. Although, on occasion, they have also been known to be referred to as “noble creatures who can teach us many things.” (http://www.wolfcountry.net/) But consequently, despite the popular interpretation of wolves and their characteristics, each story presents its own interpretation of their many characteristics.