The wolves have finally come back to the one and only Yellowstone National Park. Since they came back to the park in 1995 the park has regained some of its animals back and more plants have returned to their former glory, and a new law has gone into effect about when and where they can be hunted or trapped.

“They keep the ecosystem under control,” said Ella Miller, a seventh-grader on the Majestics team, meaning that the wolves kept the elk population down, which keeps the grass green for their living environment.

Under the new law, each hunter or trapper can only kill up to 10 wolves. The only way you can kill them is if they go outside of the boundaries of Yellowstone and into Montana, Wyoming or or Idaho.

The last pack of grey wolves in Yellowstone National Park were killed off back in the 1920s. All of the wolves were killed because there were no laws stopping the cattle ranchers from doing so. The ranchers did not like the wolves in their areas, the wolves would kill their cattle and deprive them of their money.

 “It wasn’t a horrible idea, ” said Chloe Kim, a seventh-grader on the Majestics team at Rachel Carson Middle School, “however, I don’t think they thought it through enough.” Although, once it was done they could have never seen what was going to happen next.

It’s still debated if when the wolves left it had a chain effect. When the wolves were gone, the elk population dramatically increased, and this meant that something was going to happen. The elk were overgrazing and killing off most of the tender willow and aspen trees. This led to a lot of birds and beavers leaving. When the beavers left, all of the dams started breaking. This allowed water to flow through so fast that it wasn’t able to be soaked up. That led to a lot of grassland and dry shrub-lands.

While the wolves do a lot to keep their environment safe and well, they only keep a few animals in check. They are of vital importance when it comes to balance.

The ranchers in Yellowstone had started to kill off the wolves in the late 1800s. When this happened, it not only impacted the environment but also the humans. Cattle ranchers, people that manage big farms, can raise and sell their animals, like cows. With the wolves out of the way, the cattle ranchers could then proceed to raise their livestock without having to worry all of the time if a wolf decided to have a snack. Also, this probably explains why the ranchers were so upset when the wolves were brought back into Yellowstone.

There are a lot of different opinions about this topic. Some people are pro-wolf, some are pro-ranchers and others are stuck in the middle. Mrs. Kristden Oliver, a opinions. seventh grade teacher on the Majestics team and Chloe Kim both had very different 

 Mrs. Oliver said, “There is no way to confine wolves; humans have to find a way to make it work.”

Chloe Kim said, “Keep them contained in a certain area.”

The wolves in Yellowstone are a tricky topic when it comes to balance, and we have to find a way to make it work. 

Mrs. Oliver said, “They are majestic, beautiful creatures, but you have to be respectful because they are dangerous.”