The Return of the Grey Wolf in the Lamar Valley - 30 years Later
What does a wolf understand that we humans cannot see? Image: ©Gloria Anderson
Mark Seth Lender, team member, Living on Earth, Explorer in Residence, and discoverer of avian naturalist, Smeagull the Seagull.
©Mark Seth Lender All Rights Reserved
A few years ago, Living on Earth’s Explorer in Residence, Mark Seth Lender, went to see the wolves at work for himself.
To listen to Mark telling the story, check out Public Radio’s Living on Earth, where it was first run in 2019
✓ Travel Tips
Where: Lamar Valley, Yellowstone National Park.
When: Winter is best
How: Small group and a professional guide.
Note: Prepare for extreme cold and long waits - but it’s worth it!
Contact us.
✍︎Editor's note: In 1995, if you happened to be in Yellowstone National Park at the exact right spot at the exact right moment, you might have seen a grey wolf streak across a broad, grassy plain for the first time in 70 years. The wolves were back! And they immediately began to shake things up!
Today, the park's ecosystem is more balanced and robust; apex predators make prey animals healthier. Elk are returning to traditional seasonal behavior, and beaver colony numbers are up; both developments help stabilize streams, control seasonal runoff, and create habitat for fish to thrive. Willow stands have gotten healthier, making the moose happier, and songbird numbers have increased. And Yellowstone National Park’s resident grey wolves have made the Park’s Lamar Valley famous among wildlife lovers worldwide.
Go to the end for an update on the Trump Administration’s mission to delist wolves.
The Sporting Life.
Grey Wolves, The Lamar Valley, Yellowstone
Leaping and loping, with tongues lolling, the snow falling, their great paws snowplowing, down the slope they come. Toward level ground. Down. And down. They are early. The sun hidden below the mountains. The snow blue. The sky blue black. The stillness pure white.
Down.
And down.
Trotting now in their dog-like way along the bank they go. Above where the river flows. Past where elk have nibbled the alder to stubble, and the land in a blanket of winter ten feet deep. The river is iced over. It is a bridge across the valley they do not cross but turn, to the west’ard and the low hills.
And are hidden.
And appear again.
Then into the rolling contours of the land -
And gone.
Gray wolves! Hunting!
The next day beside the ice where I’d last seen the pack, an elk now stands by himself. Antlers five feet across. His lines. His stature. He could be cast in bronze.
Except that he moves.
He turns his head and looks at the hind part of him, at what the wolves have done to him.
The pack lolls nearby. They are in a hollow just above the river. Sleeping and waking and stretching and going back to sleep. But in their winter-thick coats, in an hour the sun becomes uncomfortable, and they mill about and, on some indiscernible signal, begin to howl, all together, confirming to each other their order and unity. A young wolf in need of an additional teaching is nipped and knocked over and he yelps and cries but is unharmed.
The wolves leave.
They have no intention of finishing what they started.
But they cannot help it, the consequence of too many elk there for the taking.
Which does not enhance their reputation.
They are too much like us for their own good.
The Elk, the Wolves, and the Ecosystem
“Did you know that Yellowstone collects data on what wolves eat? The data is then added to the 26 years of research since wolves were reintroduced in 1995.” “Yellowstone continues to be one of the best places to observe predator-prey relationships, and the data we collect helps guide wolf research and conservation all over the world.” –Doug Smith, Senior Wildlife Biologist. Thanks to Yellowstone National Park
Mark’s Field Notes
The elk lived for two days. Then it was over. American bald eagles and ravens arrived, and a single golden eagle swooped in and chased the other birds away. At one point, a coyote appeared. Coyotes in Yellowstone know they are no match for wolves. He pulled at the frozen remains with great urgency. Finally, the tension became too much, and he ran off.
David Mech (the first biologist to develop a significant scientific understanding of wolves) necropsied the carcass. The postmortem damage scavengers had done did not matter to Mech. What he was after would be found not in flesh but on the skin and in the bones. The pelt was infested with winter ticks, especially around the neck. The marrow inside the femur was like gelatin, pink and translucent, instead of solid and red. The wolves had made the right choice and the right kill. The elk, statuesque on the outside, was starving to death on the inside. Starvation came from overpopulation because, in our wisdom, we had exterminated the wolves, leaving elk to multiply out of control for decades. And suffered in the tens of thousands a far worse death than the one I had witnessed.
Today, Elk are No Longer Starving, Thanks to the Wolves
Over the last 30 years, wolves have done their part. Elk are no longer starving; the population is correct and stable; the aspen, grazed to the nub, are at last returning to the slopes. Unfortunately, throughout the West, many (not all) ranchers and farmers are out killing off the wolves despite the fact that about 20% of their livestock die every year from the weather- both freezing and hot, artificial feedlot crowding and resultant disease, and accidents- doing far more damage to a farmer’s bottom line than wolves, who take fewer animals by an order of magnitude than high-country lightning. It is estimated that 1% of the total losses are due to wolf predation. 1%
Update on the Status of Grey Wolves - September 2026
The Trump Administration’s Execututive Order
✍︎Editors Note: On September 4, 2026, President Trump signed an Executive order, “Supporting America’s Ranchers.” The Order does NOT delist wolves from the Endangered Species Act - the president does not have that authority. However, it does order the Secretary of the Interior to determine whether Gray Wolves (Canis lupus) and Mexican Wolves (Canis lupus baileyi) have met recovery criteria for delisting.
The order also calls for legislative recommendations to remove or reduce ESA protection for wolves. This is the larger issue. In 2022, the first Trump administration also tried to delist wolves. Thankfully, the courts ruled that the USFWS did not adequately justify its interpretation of key ESA requirements for delisting.
The new Executive Order shifts the wolf debate from administration processes and judicial interpretation of the ESA to congressional policymaking. This Wildlife Society release breaks down the new edict. In short, the new order provides a path to delist wolves without considering the best available science.
Fast Facts: Wolves by the Number$
✓ 84 Wolves
The total wolf population in Yellowstone National Park in January 2026.
✓100-110 wolves
The average number of wolves in Yellowstone National Park annually since 1991.
✓ $80 Million per year
The average tourist income specifically from wolf watchers in the Greater Yellowstone Area?
✓ 59 Head of livestock
2025 Wyoming: According to Wyoming Game and Fish, wolves killed or injured 59 head of livestock in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
✓1%
Percentage of ranchers’ total annual loss due to wolf predation.