The Howling Wilderness

In the early 1980s I took a job with the Young Adult Conservation Corps at Yellowstone National Park. I worked with a botanist who was studying the overpopulation of elk. I developed a love affair with elk, much as Doug Smith did with wolves [“The Howling Wilderness,” interview by Al Kesselheim, January 2021].

Rather than take a ride to the office each morning, I walked the trail where the cow elk sheltered and got to know them individually. I wondered about wolves: Why not bring them back to Yellowstone to keep the elk population in balance?

I went into another vocation, but I have always remained interested in wildlife at Yellowstone. When the process of reintroducing wolves there started, I supported the endeavor, even though there were heated discussions about wolves versus livestock. I hope to get back to Yellowstone someday, even if it’s just to hear the howl of the wolf and the bugle of the elk.

Alicia Aery Frosini Sugar Loaf, New York

Doug Smith responds:

Misty’s question is a good one, and I get it a lot. I, too, wish we could stop studying everything. With wolves, however, we don’t stop for two reasons. One, wolves are controversial, and data and scientific evidence are the best ways to counter the untrue things people say about them. And two, the best kind of research is long term; short-term research answers the basic questions, but long-term work gets beneath the surface of biological systems and studies variation over the years.

There is so much pressure on wildlife that we will not save it unless we counter misinformation with knowledge.

I’ve toyed with the idea of not renewing my subscription, but now that I’ve read your January 2021 issue, I’ll do no such thing.

Al Kesselheim’s interview with Doug Smith carried me back to my short residence in Montana. I spent my weekends there hiking in Glacier National Park and the outstanding national forests around it, but I worked in the Hi-Line region, where barbed-wire fences were more common than wildlife, and I generally didn’t care for my time in the state.

I also enjoyed getting to know Sparrow — or, as he has revealed to be his true name, Michael Gorelick. His essay about his mother’s death [“The Loss”] was like a key to his self. I, too, miss my mother, though she has been dead for fifteen years.

I will renew my subscription. How could I not?

Steve Norcross Portland, Oregon

It was endearing to learn from Doug Smith [“The Howling Wilderness,” interview by Al Kesselheim, January 2021] that wolves develop monogamous relationships, live in families, and need their space. It’s unfortunate that they’re often portrayed as antagonists in stories like “Little Red Riding Hood” or The Wolf Man.

I’m not vegan, and I feel for livestock owners who have had bad wolf experiences. I understand the push and pull between man and animal. But I have compassion for the wildlife running through my neighborhood. We have replaced their natural habitats with buildings and roads, and yet we are enraged when they intrude on our space. I applaud efforts to find more places like Yellowstone that they can claim as their own.

Marie A. Daniely Oxon Hill, Maryland

Doug Smith’s descriptions of the wolf haters [“The Howling Wilderness,” interview by Al Kesselheim, January 2021] was sad and sickening. Wolves have held a special place in my heart ever since I encountered a wild one in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico.

The interview dovetailed with that issue’s Correspondence section, specifically the responses to Whitney Phillips’s perspectives on bias in today’s politics [“Dark Corners,” interview by Finn Cohen, November 2020]. Smith describes the wolf haters as a group, and they are; Phillips describes right-wing haters as a group, and they are, too.

The responses to Phillips are seriously warped. John Spiri offers contrasting points of view on Kyle Rittenhouse as a “right-wing zealot” on one hand, and an “upstanding citizen . . . who encountered violent attackers” on the other. But Spiri misses the point: no matter which way you look at it, Rittenhouse committed crimes.

The right-wing haters are vastly more confrontational, destructive, and deadly than any group from the Left.

Brian O’Keefe Santa Fe, New Mexico

I applaud Doug Smith’s long-term commitment to wolves. I met him years ago when he took our Yellowstone Institute class to an unused acclimation wolf pen — a spiritual experience for me. I am disappointed, however, that he is still collaring wolves, after already having tagged about five hundred.

When is enough enough? When does “in the name of science” become a harmful addiction?

Misty Blue Albuquerque, New Mexico

I kept setting down Al Kesselheim’s interview with biologist Doug Smith [“The Howling Wilderness,” January 2021] so I could think about Smith’s kinship with wolves, his respect for nature, and his engagement with those who disagree with him. Cheers to Kesselheim for his superb questions, and for not inserting himself too much, so that Smith could freely emerge.

Ron Weisberg Oakland, California