Restoring the American Wilderness
The Wolves' Triumphant Return
Jennifer M. Brown, Curriculum Connections -- School Library Journal, 3/13/2008
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Jean Craighead George first introduced young people to wolves’ gentle nature through her 1973 Newbery Medal-winning novel, Julie of the Wolves (Harper, 1972), the story of a girl adopted by a pack of animals that treats her more humanely than her fellow villagers did. George offered readers an intimate view of these creature’s social rituals, how they vie for rank within the pack, cooperate on a hunt, and create a sense of community.
In her new picture book The Wolves Are Back (Dutton, 2008), George reveals yet another benefit of this species: its key role in keeping its habitat in balance. In the early 20th century wolves were considered dispensable predators, but their disappearance had devastating consequences for the biodiversity and ecological balance of the regions they inhabited. Her book details the astounding impact this animal’s return has had on the flora and fauna in Yellowstone National Park.
The Wolves Are Back reads like a paean to wolves. Your own love affair with wolves began some years ago, didn’t it?
I first became interested in wolves after I read Dr. L. David Mech’s account of them. [Mech] was studying aggression and rank, and how the whole group keeps the peace. Wolves fight for rank. Well, they don’t really fight—they assert rank. They fix the entire pack with rank: alpha, beta, on down the list to omega—the guy that rolls over on his back.
I traveled to the Naval Arctic Research Station [in Barrow,Alaska]—which is now called the Arctic Research Station. [At that time] there was a host of scientists working there, and together we flew over the area in a plane. One of the scientists commented, “This is just like suburbia. Look, the father’s coming home, and the puppies run out of the den, and jump up and down to greet him.”
That trip began with an idea you had for an article, isn’t that so?
Yes. I told my editor [at Readers Digest] about Mech’s research and how it turns out that wolves are social. He said, “Go do that story!” But they never took my article—they condensed Mech’s book instead. But I had all this material and I thought, “I’m going to write a book!” And I did—Julie of the Wolves.
The Wolves Are Back (George) © 2008
In your picture book, The Wolves Are Back, you state that “By 1926, there were no more wolves in the forty-eight states.” Your book suggests that at the time that the directors of the national parks instructed rangers and hunters to “shoot every wolf they saw,” scientists hadn’t yet realized the creatures’ role in maintaining the environmental balance.
by Wendell Minor
The wolves showed [scientists how essential these animals are to the ecosystem]. People wanted the wolves, they wanted to hear them—to hear the chorus of the wilderness. So park directors brought them back. But they didn’t realize what this would mean…they did not foresee the whole cycle of events [that would follow]—that that the wolves would chase other predators out of the valley, that the birds would return [now being able to feed on the grass the elk had been eating], and so on.
And it wasn’t until 1995 that wolves were reintroduced into the United States?
That’s right. And the very next year, I went to Yellowstone—I’ve been going every year since they’ve reintroduced them—and the wonders are many. [Scientists] began a 10-year study in 1995—that’s now in its 12th year! Others started coming to see what was happening to the Yellowstone environment, observing the elk run up into the hills and measuring the growth of trees on the riverbank [which had stopped eroding since the grass grew back]. The birds returned—they hadn’t seen those birds in that valley for a long time—and the badgers and ground squirrels. The ground squirrels brought the eagles.
It’s remarkable. Everything has been helped by the wolves’ return. And the wolves are very patient with the other animals. They let [the others] come up when they’re feeding. As long as there’s enough to feed their pack, they don’t mind sharing.
Your narrative does such a thorough—and poetic—job of describing how each part of Yellowstone National Park’s ecosystem has improved with the presence of the wolves, including the cessation of riverbank erosion. Do you think scientists understand the importance of what is going on there today?
The biologists and mammalogists recognize the importance of the developments I mentioned; [it’s clear from] the scientific journals.
Has Yellowstone has been restored to balance, or does it still have a way to go?
I think it still has a way to go, but it’s on the right track. It takes a while for trees to grow and badgers to come back, but it will be in balance in 5-10 years.
How important is it for young people—or citizens of all ages, for that matter—to recognize nature’s delicate balance?
It’s important to recognize that you can’t wipe out any one species because they’re all interlocked. They manage the Earth.
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