The Parks and Wildlife Commission recently considered not introducing wolves into Colorado. That’s too bad, because wolves are coming. They may already be here. You don’t think so? Then why is there a wolf sighting form on the CPW website and why do so many Coloradans claim to have seen Canis Lupus in the high country?
Theories on how top-tier predators order and stabilize landscapes have now been proven. To understand the potential for wolves in Colorado, it is vital to learn lessons from two decades of wolf recovery in Yellowstone National Park.
I teach my college students that wolves brought butterflies back to Yellowstone. I explain that wolves cut the coyote population in half. With fewer coyotes there are more small rodents and mammals aerating the soil and providing better grasses. But the largest and most dramatic effect has been culling the Yellowstone elk herd. By 1995 the ungulates had done severe damage to the park. Wolves changed that.
Elk had grown lazy and lived in riparian zones eating willow sprouts and young aspen trees that could not rejuvenate. As wolf packs began to hunt elk, the wapiti were slowed and caught in downed timber along rivers and streams. So elk learned safety meant higher sagebrush benches where they could see and smell better.
With fewer elk, plants recovered. Aspen thrived. And in this new thicker forest of riverine vegetation, beaver colonies established small pools, attracting other animals, insects, and yes, butterflies.
Wolves, wilderness and elk: Canis Lupus in Colorado | GJSentinel.com.