Wolf reintroduction was huge and beautiful. Maybe decades later measured culling is needed. We just don't want to wipe them out again and everybody the poorer.
The framing of this as states rights vs activist judges skips over the actual science question. Wolf populations hitting 6-7k in the lower 48 is the recovery metric, sure, but the spatial distribution matters way more than the aggregate number. Yellowstone's trophic cascade effects showed wolves regulate entire ecosystems, not just livestock. The rancher depredation losses are real (and should be compensated fairly), but they're statistically tiny compared to other livestock loss vectors like disease or weather. I get why this plays well politically in rural areas, but presenting state management as automatically more scientific than federal oversight is backwards. States have economic incentives that dont always align with ecological outcomes.
Wolf reintroduction was huge and beautiful. Maybe decades later measured culling is needed. We just don't want to wipe them out again and everybody the poorer.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=W88Sact1kws
Wolf gotta eat too.
The framing of this as states rights vs activist judges skips over the actual science question. Wolf populations hitting 6-7k in the lower 48 is the recovery metric, sure, but the spatial distribution matters way more than the aggregate number. Yellowstone's trophic cascade effects showed wolves regulate entire ecosystems, not just livestock. The rancher depredation losses are real (and should be compensated fairly), but they're statistically tiny compared to other livestock loss vectors like disease or weather. I get why this plays well politically in rural areas, but presenting state management as automatically more scientific than federal oversight is backwards. States have economic incentives that dont always align with ecological outcomes.