AMERICAN WOLF STUDY GUIDE

STUDY GUIDE AMERICAN WOLF, Nate Blakeslee

GROUP 1:

14-16:  Define trophic cascade and ecological interconnectivity in relation to wolf extirpation and reintroduction in Yellowstone. How could these concepts help oppose the recent Idaho Wolf Depredation Law?

68:  Why does Neimeyer shoot the Idaho Sawtooth Wolf pack from a helicopter?  Do you agree with him that this is a "necessary evil" if wolves are to live in central Idaho?

77:  After wolf reintroduction, how did the elk behave differently and why were "weekend warrior" hunters less likely to be successful?

--What happened to the hunting outfitters in Crandall, WY? Is this part of what westerners must accept to have wolves in the ecosystem?

118:  When Earthjustice attorney Doug Honnold argues wolf recovery "is not about science, not sentiment. Wolves belong in the Northern Rockies because they play a vital role in the ecosystem," how is he moving from an aesthetic, anthropocentric argument to an ecoentric argument for wolf recovery?

122-123:  How does Earthjustice attorney Doug Honnold argue that the state wolf recovery plans in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming at 100 wolves per state is based on politics not science?  

Why is the management plan of 1200-1400 population of wolves in the Upper Midwest important to this argument?

123:  What do you think of a wolf management plan that allows hunters to kill 2/3 of the current carrying capacity population of wolves "with no repercussions"?

124:  What is wrong with three states managing wolves with three different management plans?

124-125:  Define genetic diversity and genetic exchange.  Earthjustice attorney Doug Honnold argues that in order for states to develop wolf recovery plans, the US Fish and Wildlife have to show evidence of "genetic exchange" between the Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana packs. 

Why does he think this barrier will prevent the delisting of wolves from Endangered Species Act protection?

126:  Before she faints!, the Earthjustice attorney team made the argument that "a population of 1000 wolves across the region was necessary to ensure that connectivity was maintained, yet (states) propose to manage at a fraction of that number." (126). 

 Why is this a central argument against delisting wolves from the ESA and giving states control?

129:  What drives anti-federal government sentiment in Westerners? 

How are politicians "using wolves" as a tool to increase the hatred of the federal government and how are their policies of wolf eradication to one off the ESA a means of getting elected?

130:  Define carrying capacity. How is the statistic that Yellowstone Park wolves (cannot be hunted) declined by 43% without human management evidence that wolves will reach a self-regulating population in the Nothern Rockies ecosystem?

132:  Why is the new law allowing for hunting of wolves year-round unsound regulation when one considers that wolves breed in March and April?

178:  What was Montana Senator John Tester's rider that affected wolves in the Nothern Rockies?  Why is this an undemocratic, unscientific way of regulating wolves?

185:  List the specific effects of trophic cascade on Yellowstone species:

231:  What does the pack do when 0-6 dies?  How does this add to empathy for wolves and wolf packs?

239 and 251:  When a leader in a wolf pack dies, the pack can splinter and this likely leads to an increase in livestock depredation.  So, how is Idaho's wolf hunting law actually hurting the constituents it hopes to help?