How the wolf release in Yellowstone 'healed' the lands in less than 20 years.

[Sunlei]

When wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in the United States after being absent nearly 70 years, the most remarkable "trophic cascade" occurred. What is a trophic cascade and how exactly do wolves change rivers? George Monbiot explains in this movie remix.

The wolf has been portrayed as hunter that brings the end of life to other animals.. What good could come from releasing wolves back into a wolf-less nature reserve? Well.. apparently a lot of good can come from that! The release of the wolves in The Nation Yellow Stone Park has strangely made the reserve flourish with life again and the rivers rise and teem with life once again!

[rurallib]

1. Big rec - thanks for this.

[G_j]

2. excellent video!

highly recommended!

[Xolodno]

3. kicking to watch later...

[madokie]

4. Is that awesome or what?

Thanks I enjoyed that

[Jim__]

5. I hope that is a long-term effect. - n/t

[Sunlei]

6. Good News! :)

[panader0]

7. Recommended.

[scarystuffyo]

8. beautiful video

[Xyzse]

9. I heard that grazing and natural predators create a more diverse environment that

Helps places return back to how it was.

[lovemydog]

10. Thank you Sunlei! Here is Los Lobos' How Will the Wolf Survive?

I love this song & felt like hearing it again. Have a wonderful day!

[Sunlei]

18. Thanks! I love that Los Lobos song!!

[2naSalit]

11. K&R!!!

I was just there yesterday and saw wolves and all the other wildlife there. It is beautiful to see and experience, was a beautiful day and I got to share the experience with several others who were there for the same reason... to see this marvel first-hand.

THANKS FOR POSTING.... CAN'T BE POSTED OFTEN ENOUGH!!!

[zipplewrath]

12. Not so clear

http://goodnature.nathab.com/video-did-the-reintroduction-of-wolves-truly-change-yellowstone/

Recently, however, some, such as Arthur Middleton, a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, are challenging the way that we have thought about the wolves’ role in Yellowstone since the mid 1990s. Writing in “The Opinion Pages” of The New York Times, Middleton states that the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone is far more complicated and nuanced than can be explained by a trophic cascade. He argues that:

“The strongest explanation for why the wolves have made less of a difference [in Yellowstone National Park] than we expected comes from a long-term, experimental study by a research group at Colorado State University. This study, which focused on willows, showed that the decades without wolves changed Yellowstone too much to undo. After humans exterminated wolves nearly a century ago, elk grew so abundant that they all but eliminated willow shrubs. Without willows to eat, beavers declined. Without beaver dams, fast-flowing streams cut deeper into the terrain. The water table dropped below the reach of willow roots. Now it’s too late for even high levels of wolf predation to restore the willows.

“A few small patches of Yellowstone’s trees do appear to have benefited from elk declines, but wolves are not the only cause of those declines. Human hunting, growing bear numbers, and severe drought have also reduced elk populations. It even appears that the loss of cutthroat trout as a food source has driven grizzly bears to kill more elk calves. Amid this clutter of ecology, there is not a clear link from wolves to plants, songbirds, and beavers.

[2naSalit]

15. Interestingly

this "opinion" is based on one study where the info in the video is based on a considerable number of studies that have been ongoing for nearly two decades (look up Ripple, Beschta et al... OSU). I live here and have been watching this for the entire time and I suspect that the one study may have some interesting data but not enough to base an entire poopoohing of all the other data that suggests otherwise.

[Calista241]

13. Good post.

Wolves rule!

[calimary]

14. K&R!!!!!!!!!!!

[2naSalit]

16. K&R!!!

again.

[geardaddy]

17. I saw this film on Nature.

Excellent film!

[rhett o rick]

23. I did also. I would love to see it again. nm

[G_j]

19. Why the Beaver Should Thank the Wolf

Why the Beaver Should Thank the Wolf
By MARY ELLEN HANNIBAL

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/29/opinion/the-world-needs-wolves.html?_r=0

By MARY ELLEN HANNIBAL
Published: September 28, 2012

This month, a group of environmental nonprofits said they would challenge the federal government’s removal of Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in Wyoming. Since there are only about 328 wolves in a state with a historic blood thirst for the hides of these top predators, the nonprofits are probably right that lacking protection, Wyoming wolves are toast.

Many Americans, even as they view the extermination of a species as morally anathema, struggle to grasp the tangible effects of the loss of wolves. It turns out that, far from being freeloaders on the top of the food chain, wolves have a powerful effect on the well-being of the ecosystems around them — from the survival of trees and riverbank vegetation to, perhaps surprisingly, the health of the populations of their prey.

An example of this can be found in Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park, where wolves were virtually wiped out in the 1920s 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.

Stands of aspen and other native vegetation, once decimated by overgrazing, are now growing up along the banks. This may have something to do with changing fire patterns, but it is also probably because elk and other browsing animals behave differently when wolves are around. Instead of eating greenery down to the soil, they take a bite or two, look up to check for threats, and keep moving. The greenery can grow tall enough to reproduce.
..more..

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6310211.stm

Wild wolves 'good for ecosystems'

Reintroducing wild wolves to the Scottish Highlands would help the local ecosystem, a study suggests.
Wolves, which were hunted to extinction in Scotland in the late 1700s, would help control the numbers of red deer, the team from the UK and Norway said.

---

[bullwinkle428]

20. Countdown to Sarah Palin attempting to counter-point, and arguing

for shooting these wolves from a helicopter.

K&R.

[VA_Jill]

21. Thank you!

Love this, and love the songs of the wolf. They are our brothers, not our enemies.

[liberal_at_heart]

22. K&R

[Aerows]

24. Absolutely AWESOME.

Thanks for posting this!

[eridani]

25. Keystone predators balance the ecolocy. n/t

[G_j]

26. k