July 25, 2009. The 5:30 Wildlife Viewing was optional but I wanted to see the wolves so I got up at 5:00 and braved the cold mountain air. We went east of the Ranch where Ric McAltaire was stationed. He works with the Yellowstone Wolf Project and he informed our instructor, David Guillard, that he spotted some wolves about a mile and a half east of the Ranch. We positioned our spotting scopes and viewed the wolf activity near the banks of the Lamar River. There were 2 gray wolves – the alpha pair and two black yearlings. They belong to the Druid pack, one of the packs reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995. Ric said that this pack is made up of 14 members. The wolves were completely eradicated in 1920 because people thought they were destructive to livestock and they pose a great danger to the residents. After 75 years, they were reintroduced to Yellowstone to keep a healthy balance in the ecosystem. They keep the elk population in control and they also support a big population of scavengers and smaller carnivores like the coyote. A bonus to our wolf-watching was sighting an old gray-tipped grizzly in the same vicinity as the wolves.
We went back to the ranch to prepare and eat breakfast. At 8:30 we left for Gardiner, Montana for the morning session with Dan Tyres, a US Forest Service Biologist. He updated us on their work on wolverines and lynx but emphasized that they work mainly on land management. After lunch, we went to the Gallatin Forest and hiked up Beartooth Mountain. The evening session was spent discussing about Mesocarnivore policy.
