Ok, I will agree with that. But you have to start somewhere. Our wolf population hasnt always been strong. We used to never see/hear them. Now I can almost guarantee it. At one point we were a lot like Colorado.^^^ There's a difference when elk/deer are accustomed to wolves and when elk/deer arent.
Also, How are the moose in Oregon doing with wolves being there?
Well put, also borreal toads are awesome still haven’t seen any above 8.5k ft but I’m always in the look out.I have seen the ecological studies done on Yellowstone that points to the positives of introduction, but Colorado is not Yellowstone. The amount of populations and private land in Colorado is huge. I also don’t think CPW takes us hunters seriously, not when there biggest resource to manage is people. It was a mistake to combine parks with game and fish. Everyone I talked to this year had a crap year for hunting and it’s a shame to think of how much money in travel and gear and money to a different county I alone put into it not to mention thousands of other hunters.
Seeing Polis happily release wolves in this hopes of a natural ecosystem is ridiculous. So many things would need to be done to go back to a Colorado pre-settlement that are impossible and not in the best interest of the population living here. Let wildfires burn up ski-towns, eliminate reservoirs of water storage, and even small things like stop pouring mag-chloride on roadways of highways and streets that drain into waterways. But these things have safety implications so we don’t. Wolves only receive the love because they are a charismatic macro vertebrate. The same level of care and passion and social media posting isn’t done for lesser species like the boreal toad or black footed feret. Its hard for people to understand that hunters our conservationist. We want to preserve what we have, but that challenge is increased constantly.
I think I would have been fine with wolves migrated into Colorado, with proper management, but I wish we’d stop trying to act like we understand all the implications and know what’s best for the ecosystem. I have an ecology degree from CSU where we were spoon fed climate change stuff, a lot of my friends turned against it. We were trying to understand the ecosystem and world on a mile high view. I always argue that I’m more concerned with localized change (reduce pollution, reuse, and be mindful of your impact) and witness had that change may impact outwards. Point is I wish we’d stop taking the broad approach to understand the ecosystem and I think this wolf reintroduction was done with that mindset.
Don't put much ( better yet, any) faith in these "studies".I have seen the ecological studies done on Yellowstone that points to the positives of introduction, ....
That’s fair. I I know how it goes, most make a study to try and prove a point and when there point is disproven, “it seems this factor unfairly contributed to our results” or “further testing would need to be conducted, but we saw strong evidence that we were right”. I was just trying to convey that it would be impossible to use the studies from Yellowstone for Colorado. That seems to be where the talking points go. “No more overgrazing of riparian zones along streams, healthier ungulate populations, balance of predator prey” and yada yada.Don't put much ( better yet, any) faith in these "studies".
I know from 2 people directly who have been part of these"studies" (one in YNP, the other was MT fish and game -decades ago ) where the official conclusions were in complete contradiction to the actual study results. I have no reason to believe the conclusions fed to the public nowadays is any more unbiased or the conclusions less pre-determined.
You do realize that one of the goals of the people behind all of this “re-wilding” is that they don’t want you to hunt at all???and give some ground, if we want to keep our hunting traditions alive.
^^^ There's a difference when elk/deer are accustomed to wolves and when elk/deer arent.
Also, How are the moose in Oregon doing with wolves being there?
Years ago I worked on a YNP Beaver-elk-willow dynamic study with CSU researchers. The key finding was that in small streams, the beaver won't come back unless the willow comes back, and the willow won't come back unless the beaver come back. This is because small streams incised so deeply over the decades in the absence of beaver & their dams that the groundwater table declined so much that willow roots can no longer reach it. This process got triggered by the explosion of the elk population overgrazing willow, which corresponded to no wolves and no hunting in YNP. Some researchers at Oregon State made some sweeping conclusions on how the YNP beavers would rebound following the reintroduction of wolves. While rebounding beaver may be possible for larger rivers, these CSU researchers demonstrated that there are exceptions for smaller streams. You can read all about it in this good article written for the general public audience here: https://www.hcn.org/issues/46.21/have-returning-wolves-really-saved-yellowstoneDon't put much ( better yet, any) faith in these "studies".
I know from 2 people directly who have been part of these"studies" (one in YNP, the other was MT fish and game -decades ago ) where the official conclusions were in complete contradiction to the actual study results. I have no reason to believe the conclusions fed to the public nowadays is any more unbiased or the conclusions less pre-determined.
Evidently they're doing great, the Indians just had a season.