An Exhibition a Lingering Controversy a Place Called Thorofare
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50490-PoWest 3/8/05 9:01 AM Page 1 SS PP RR II NN GG 22 00 00 55 DRAWN TO YELLOWSTONE: An Exhibition A Lingering Controversy A Place Called Thorofare BUFFALO BILL HISTORICAL CENTER • CODY, WYOMING 50490-PoWest 3/8/05 9:01 AM Page 2 Director’s Desk by Robert E. Shimp, Ph.D. Executive Director Summer 2005 brings exciting exhibitions and programs ummer will be here before we know it. This is any museum enthusiast is bound to find all the always an exciting time here at the Buffalo Bill makings for fun and engaging western experiences SHistorical Center, and Summer 2005 will be no here in Cody, Wyoming. exception. Our outstanding programs and exhibitions This year also marks the 10th anniversary of the are guaranteed to attract and excite young and old alike. reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Two exceptional exhibitions will engage our members Park. Until I moved to Wyoming, I don’t know that I and visitors this summer. Peter Hassrick, former fully appreciated how controversial this issue really Executive Director of the BBHC, curated Drawn to was; it takes on a very different dimension for those Yellowstone: Artists in America’s First National Park living within the confines of the Greater Yellowstone that features several of our finest works from the Area. From the beginning, our Draper Museum of Whitney Gallery of Western Art. This exhibition will Natural History has endeavored to sort out the issue, explore Yellowstone from the viewpoint of artists in being sensitive to the opposition on the one hand, the mid 19th to the late 20th century. A Place Called and employing scientific research on the other. Thorofare: People, Wilderness, and Wildlife Management In this issue of Points West, we’ve included informa- celebrates the 50th anniversary of a Wyoming Game tion covering the many sides of the issue, and we and Fish Department backcountry cabin outpost encourage you to study the dialog and form through photography. Both are “must see” exhibitions your own opinions. Comments are welcome at for those interested in the natural history of the [email protected]. Northern Rockies. So now is the time to put that trip to Cody on your Factor in the 24th annual Plains Indian Museum calendar. Our website has all your trip planning infor- Powwow, the Larom Summer Institute in Western mation. Take a look at www.bbhc.org. We hope to American Studies, and the various gallery presentations, see you soon! I tours, and workshops throughout the summer — well, P O I N T S W E S T © 2005 Buffalo Bill Historical Center. Written permission is required to copy, reprint, or distribute Points West materials in any medium or format. All photographs in Points West are Buffalo Bill Historical Center photos unless otherwise noted. Address correspondence to Editor, Points About the cover . West, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, 720 Sheridan Avenue, Cody, Wyoming 82414 or [email protected]. Carl Preussl, Old Faithful, 1929, oil Editors Mark Bagne, Marguerite House on canvas, 34.125 x 24.125 inches. Book Review Editor: Nathan Bender Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Copy Editors: Lynn Pitet, Joanne Patterson Designer: Jan Woods-Krier/Prodesign Wyoming. Designated purchase with Photography Staff: Chris Gimmeson, Sean Campbell donations from the Arlington Points West is published quarterly as a benefit of membership in the Gallery, Dr. and Mrs. Van Kirke Buffalo Bill Historical Center. For membership information, contact: Nelson and Family, Thomas & Jan Jones Shannon Nygard, and William E. Director of Membership Weiss Fund. 3.01 Buffalo Bill Historical Center 720 Sheridan Avenue Cody, WY 82414 [email protected] The Buffalo Bill Historical Center is a private, non-profit, educational institution dedicated to preserving and interpreting the natural and cultural history of the American West. Founded in 1917, the Historical Center is home to the Buffalo Bill Museum, Whitney Gallery of Western Art, Plains Indian Museum, Cody Firearms Museum, Draper Museum of www.bbhc.org Natural History, and McCracken Research Library. 1 50490-PoWest 3/8/05 9:01 AM Page 3 Points West I Spring 2005 Contents Bison ford the Yellowstone River in the Park’s Hayden Valley. FEATURES DEPARTMENTS 3 Ten Years of Yellowstone Wolves 11 YELLOWSTONE CORNER 1995–2005 . From my research as a “Living on the edge: wolves and human communities wolf biologist in Yellowstone National Park, I’ve in the Greater Yellowstone Area” come to believe that wolves have been pawns by Charles R. Preston, Ph.D. in a larger cultural and philosophical battle. 19 PERSPECTIVES By Douglas Smith, Wolf Biologist. “Perspective from a special collection” by Wally Reber 7 The Predator and Prey Battle . 23 EXHIBITIONS The issue of wolf impacts on prey, particularly elk, “Thorofare through the shutter” by Marguerite House may be the most pressing of all controversies swirling around the restoration of wolves to 27 BOOK FORUM Yellowstone. By Douglas Smith, Wolf Biologist. 28 NEWS BRIEFS 8 Tenth Anniversary brings little 29 COMING UP solace to wolf opposition . Cowboy Songs & Range Ballads Camps seem to still exist on both sides of the issue and all positions in between. By Marguerite House 15 Artists in America’s First National Park . In the long history of America’s search for ways to express its national identity and find artistic inspiration in its places of natural wonder, Yellowstone has played a particularly beneficial role. By Peter H. Hassrick 21 This library is anything but quiet Visit us online . This year, the McCracken Research Library marks its 25th Anniversary with a number of The Buffalo Bill Historical Center’s website contains more special events. By Nathan Bender information about many of the stories in this issue, including the Draper Museum of Natural History and the Greater Yellowstone Area. Visit us online at www.bbhc.org. Magazine of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center • Cody, Wyoming 2 50490-PoWest 3/8/05 9:01 AM Page 4 Ten years of Yellowstone wolves 1995–2005 By Douglas Smith, Wolf Biologist, Yellowstone National Park ne of this country’s last sophical battle. The last great wilderness areas is wolf in Yellowstone is Olocated in the southeastern believed to have been corner of Yellowstone National killed in Lamar Valley Park. This area, anchored by the in 1926. At that time, Thorofare region, is the most Congress sanctioned pred- remote spot in the continental ator control in the Park, United States. Those, like me, and predator control was who have traveled there, know the mindset of most people its grandeur, its mountains, its everywhere, although bears animals, and its wildness. For were spared because they most of the twentieth century, contributed to visitor en- there were no verified sightings of joyment. In part, predator wolves traversing this vast land- eradication was “how the scape. The area’s apex carnivore West was won.” The range had been eradicated as part of a was made suitable for live- larger predator control campaign stock through predator many decades ago. removal. Since the summer of 2001, Absent for almost seven decades, the gray wolf and its lone- Then in 1973, Congress some howl have been restored to Yellowstone National Park visitors to the Thorofare have as the result of a reintroduction effort that is now in its tenth passed the Endangered reported hearing wolves almost year. (Gary Kramer/USFWS Photo) Species Act (ESA), writing every night. Around dusk, when into law the restoration of the calmness of evening sets in, Although many opposed endangered species to suitable the wolves let loose. Their ancient “ their return, a plan was habitat. Wolves were listed as song rings out with amazing regu- endangered species in 1974. larity to the wonder of backpackers, developed to restore wolves This represented a policy rever- horseback riders, and kayakers sal for the federal government paddling across Yellowstone Lake to the northern Rocky from sanctioned eradication to from the north. Mountains of Idaho, restoration. The ESA was evidence These echoing howls are not that times were changing. Wolf limited to the Thorofare, but are Montana, and Wyoming. restoration has, in large part, now heard throughout Yellowstone ” been about this change in atti- as the result of an effort that took decades, involved tude, and attitudes will continue to dictate the future many, and culminated in the reintroduction of wolves of wolves. to Yellowstone National Park in 1995 and 1996. This Still, it wasn’t until 1990 that Congress and the story is special and unique. first Bush administration ordered wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho. PREDATOR CONTROL AND THE ESA Although many opposed their return, a plan was From my research as a wolf biologist in developed to restore wolves to the northern Rocky Yellowstone National Park, I’ve come to believe that Mountains of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. The wolves have been pawns in a larger cultural and philo- goal was to reach thirty breeding pairs for three 3 50490-PoWest 3/8/05 9:01 AM Page 5 successive years across the northern Rockies. A breeding Rocky Mountains, were similar to Yellowstone in ter- pair was defined as an adult male and female with rain and prey type. In addition to the Canadian two offspring that survived until December 31st of wolves, ten wolf pups from northwest Montana were that year. released in Yellowstone in late winter 1997. The rein- Upon achievement of this goal, wolves would be troduction of these pups was not very successful, as removed from the endangered species list and turned they spent the winter in a pen rather than learning in over to the respective states for management, assuming the wild.