![]() ![]() And what impacts, I'm not going to get into my thoughts on the statewide wolf management of Montana, but at least here in northern Yellowstone, there's a minimal amount of livestock depredation that's associated with the Yellowstone wolves. This year, in northern Yellowstone, I think it's important that we work once again, to really understand what the data says and what the science says. ![]() But those are things that we have to deal with. So there'll be a lot of conversations there. ![]() And we have a lot of information and data and a lot of work that's been done over the last 22 years. And it can't be a static number, the number needs to be based on science. But I have no illusion, there's a difference of opinion that people have about what that number needs to be. I think that we've embarked on a bison management plan that we hope will put the right population parameters on bison. I think about what the real threats are from bison to Montana agriculture. And we've got to continue to work on separating fact from fiction. They're the only species that we constrain to the Yellowstone boundary for the most part, with the exception of a couple of tolerance zones outside the west and north sides of the park. KK: What are some of those threats and challenges that the park is dealing with currently?ĬS: Well, if you take bison, and it's important that people understand that climate change is changing how we've managed that population, and right now, bison are still constrained. We still today find ourselves in some critical decision space in regard to wildlife conservation, and transboundary conservation, reconciling divergent opinions about what is the right number of, pick a species to be in the park. And I think that was a really critical part of kind of where we are today in that reintroduction. It also was never designed to be an elk farm, which is basically what it was prior to us putting predators back on the landscape here. Obviously, a lot of people have opinions on wolves in this area, but from an ecosystem standpoint, the wolves were really kind of the missing link that was needed put the ecosystem back into balance. I think probably the single biggest wildlife conservation success story was the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone in the mid-90s. Not just here in Yellowstone, but across the country. That led to a considerable amount of very positive conservation-related, environmental-related legislation where we really started to take things a lot more seriously in regard to wildlife conservation, or maintaining the environment and improving the environment, and the conditions that we live in. I think it's a collective movement that really kind of started with the Leopold Report in the 60s. Can you talk a little bit about how that happened? Who was involved in making that change?ĬS: Well, it's not only one person. Kamila Kudelska: You were saying 50 to 60 years ago, kind of trying to return Yellowstone to what it was meant to be. And some really important efforts have been made along the way to kind of get us to where we are today. And so we've slowly kind of put the pieces back together, this ecosystem, really over the last, say, 50 or 60 years. And even 50 years ago, feeding bears out of garbage dumps so visitors can see them. We reduced the bison population from tens of thousands to less than 25 animals. We killed all the mountain lions, all the wolves, and reduced the grizzly bear population. Wyoming Public Radio’s Kamila Kudelska asked the park’s Superintendent Cam Sholly about the park’s earlier days.Ĭam Sholly: And if you think about 100 years ago, which isn't that long, you know, we extrapiated almost every predator in this park. In the last 150 years, there have been a lot of successes and mistakes. It created the first national park that was meant to protect over two million acres of land for the benefit and enjoyment of people. ![]() Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act into law. ![]()
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