Pictorial record of the wildlife management prograrm to restore wolf to the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Contains the complete collection of all annual laminated wolf charts since the beginning of the program making it possible to trace the genealogy of wolves and packs. Also included are detailed records of the founders of the program and their fates.

"Celebrate the 25th anniversary of the greatest wildlife management experiment of the 20th century with Charting Yellowstone wolves, the pictorial record. Read the stories of individual wolves and follow their pedigrees from the homes of thier ancestors in Canada. Contained her is the complete collection of all annual laminated wolf charts since 1995. Written tales describe the lives of each wolf in detail. Learn how to access their genealogies in Ancestry.com."--Back cover.

In Decade of the Wolf, project leader Douglas W. Smith and acclaimed nature writer Gary Ferguson describe the journey of thirty-one Canadian gray wolves that were released in 1995 and 1996 into Yellowstone National Park and the people who faithfully followed them. The wolves have not only survived but completely changed the ecosystem, spilling a fresh measure of wildness across the world’s first national park. This updated edition includes additional wolf profiles, newinformation on the effects of climate change and disease, and a retrospective on what the scientists have learned during this extended study of the Yellowstone wolves.

This beautifully illustrated volume on the Yellowstone Wolf Project includes an introduction by Jane Goodall and an exclusive online documentary. The reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park was one of the greatest wildlife conservation achievements of the twentieth century. Eradicated after the park was first established, these iconic carnivores returned in 1995 when the US government reversed its century-old policy of extermination. In the intervening decades, scientists have built a one-of-a-kind field study of these wolves, their behaviors, and their influence on the entire ecosystem. Yellowstone Wolves tells the incredible story of the Yellowstone Wolf Project, as told by the people behind it. This wide-ranging volume highlights what has been learned in the decades since reintroduction, as well as the unique blend of research techniques used to gain this knowledge. We learn about individual wolves, population dynamics, wolf-prey relationships, genetics, disease, management and policy, and the rippling ecosystem effects wolves have had on Yellowstone’s wild and rare landscape. Featuring a foreword by Jane Goodall, beautiful images, a companion online documentary by celebrated filmmaker Bob Landis, and contributions from more than seventy wolf and wildlife conservation luminaries from Yellowstone and around the world, Yellowstone Wolves is an informative and beautifully realized celebration of the extraordinary Yellowstone Wolf Project.

All royalties from sales of this book go to Yellowstone’s wolf recovery project Few animals inspire such a mixture of fear, curiosity, and wonder as the wolf. Highly regarded but often misunderstood, the wolf has as many friends as enemies, and its reintroduction into Yellowstone National Park has sparked both fascination and controversy. Early in Yellowstone’s history, wolves were thought supernaturally evil, and scores were destroyed. Northern Rocky Mountain wolves were native to Yellowstone when the park was established in 1872, but “predator control” led to determined eradication, and by the 1940s they were gone. Amid much fanfare, however, wolves were reintroduced to one of the nation’s oldest national parks in the 1990s. This comprehensive reference documents the prehistory, management, and nature of the Yellowstone wolf. Historian-naturalist Paul Schullery has assembled the voices of explorers, naturalists, park officials, tourists, lawmakers, and modern researchers to tell the story of what may be the most famous wolf population in the world. This unique book includes numerous scientific studies of interest to wolf enthusiasts and scholars of western wildlife issues, conservation, and national parks. In a new afterword, Schullery discusses recent developments in the recovery project.

Historical records and intensive field surveys 1975-77 provided information on the population history, ecology, and current status of wolves (Canis lupus) in Yellowstone National Park and vicinity. Wolves occurred in unknown but seemingly low densities during the latter 1800s in several areas of Yellowstone where they were controlled periodically until 1926. Populations apparently began increasing about 1912, primarily in the northeast, and may have reached nonequilibrium levels of 30-40 animals (postwhelping). Intensive control 1914-26 removed at least 136 wolves, including about 80 pups. During this period Yellowstone wolves characteristically lived in packs of 3-16 members, some of which followed the ungulates in their seasonal migrations. Litters averaging 7.8 were born in late March and April, primarily in the north central sector of the park. Limited evidence suggests that elk (Cervus elaphus) were important food for wolves during all seasons. Wolves either survived the control era or moved in shortly thereafter for singles, pairs, and a pack of four were reported the following decade. Resident wolf packs, however, were eliminated from Yellowstone National Park by the l940s. Large canids have been sighted intermittently to the present, but their identity has not been established. Singles and pairs comprised 89% of 116 "probable" reports over the past 50 years. Speculation about factors limiting the Yellowstone wolf population considers its relative geographic isolation from viable wolf populations and possible genetic problems (including wolf-coyote hybridization) associated with prolonged minimal population status. A transplant of wolves from British Columbia or Alberta, or perhaps Minnesota, is recommended to restore a viable population of this native predator to Yellowstone National Park.

A dazzling photographic and scientific portrait of how wolves are changing the very nature of Yellowstone. Highly acclaimed for its accuracy and photography of wild wolves. “The book is breathtaking! For anyone who has traveled to Yellowstone in recent years and seen the wolves, this book is must reading.” —National Wildlife Federation “Outstanding and very accurate. (Halfpenny) puts all the scientific research into common language. He fills in with personal observations. The stories really personalize what happened.” —Ed Bangs, Wolf Recovery Coordinator, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service