![]() ![]() Research from the park has shown that wolves have helped revitalize and restore their ecosystem, increasing populations of countless species from birds of prey, to pronghorn, and even trout. In the short time since wolves were reintroduced to the park in 19, the region went from having no wolves at all to having one of the highest concentrations of wolves in the world. Nowhere have trophic cascades been studied more closely than in Yellowstone National Park. From the smallest organisms to the largest, and all the natural forces that shape their world, everything is connected. The study of such trophic cascades has made clear that when one element of an ecosystem is altered, the cumulative effects of the change may not be immediately apparent, but they can be far-reaching and profound. When wolves return to a region, they can alter the population, distribution, and behavior of their prey, which impacts the other creatures living there-plant and animal-and in doing so they change the landscape itself. This top-down cascade of effects exists alongside bottom-up effects, all within the same ecosystem. Wolves exert both direct and indirect effects on their ecosystem influencing their prey, their prey influencing the plant and animal species beneath them, and so forth down the chain. For this reason, wolves are considered a keystone species. This makes their presence especially important. Existing in relatively low numbers, especially when compared to other animals like deer, they disproportionately affect the ecosystems in which they live. Now, the Fish and Wildlife Service will review the decision.Wolves and other top-level (or apex) predators greatly influence their environment. Meanwhile, Idaho allows practices such as hunting at night and from the air, as well as paying bounties for dead wolves, a tactic that once helped lead them to near-extinction, according to the AP. The Humane Society of the United States has argued that Montana is waging "an outright war against wildlife." Montana's Republican-led House of Representatives passed two bills in March 2021 that allowed snares to be set for wolves and extended wolf trapping season for an additional 30 days - even though there are only an estimated 850 wolves in the state, the AP reports. Since Montana and Idaho were delisted more than a decade ago, the two states have encouraged hunting gray wolves. Hunter Nation, an advocacy group against increased regulations, said that it prefers "to trust local experts and conservation and hunting partners" rather than "activist judges" who "don't spend time in the woods or never have to deal with the negative consequences of an uncontrolled wolf population." New Mexico's wolves never lost federal protection. Congress delisted Montana and Idaho in 2011, and Wyoming in 2017, according to the Associated Press. White's decision only applies to 44 of the Lower 48 states, and does not include Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and New Mexico. Just three days prior to the judge's ruling, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland published an essay in USA Today mourning the current state of the gray wolf species. White, of United States District Court for the Northern District of California, found on Thursday that the 2020 decision was based only on recovered gray wolf populations in the Great Lakes and Northern Rocky Mountains, and did not take into account threats to the species in other portions of the U.S. Two years ago, the Trump administration removed them from the list - and from the protection of federal law. Gray wolves of Yellowstone National Park 01:01Ī judge in California ruled on Thursday that gray wolves should be protected by the Endangered Species Act. ![]()
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