Frank Clifford was a reporter and editor for the Los Angeles Times from 1982 until 2007, covering government and politics, including two presidential campaigns, before focusing on environmental issues. As the paper's editor for environmental news from 2001 to 2007 he was in charge of a series of articles on the impacts of worldwide ocean pollution, for which his paper won a Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism in 2007. He is the author of one book, The Backbone of the World: A Portrait of the Vanishing West Along the Continental Divide (2002/Broadway Books). Clifford currently works as a freelance writer based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
What drew you to write about the wolves?
Smithsonian offered me the assignment two months after wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains had been removed from Endangered Species Act protection. During that time more than 40 wolves that ranged outside of Yellowstone Park had been killed. Their future clearly hinged on people's willingness to leave them alone if they weren't doing any harm. Extinct in the region since the 1930s, wolves were reintroduced to the park in 1995. The economy and the ecology of the area both benefitted as the new wolves attracted more visitors to the area and reduced the size of huge elk herds that had been crowding out native plants and animals. But as the park's wolf population grew, many of the animals left the park and some of them preyed on livestock. This story explores a question raised by that reintroduction. We brought back wolves partly out of nostalgia for the wildness of a long gone frontier. Now that wolves are back among us, how much wildness are we willing to tolerate?
What surprised you the most while covering this story?
The debate over wolf protection has been passionate at times, but the attitudes toward wolves by people who live closest to them are not always cut and dried. The hostility traditionally expressed by western livestock associations and local elected officials doesn't reflect the views of many residents, including some ranchers, who search for ways to coexist with wild predators, including wolves and grizzly bears.
Did you have any favorite moments that didn’t make it to the final draft?
At the end of a long day wandering around the park, looking for wolves and not finding any, I'd returned to my car and started driving toward the exit when I found myself staring at several members of a wolf pack arrayed across the road, 50 feet in front of me, like a welcoming committee. Nine in all, there were pups and grown-ups, some howling, some playing, others just sitting on their haunches watching me approach. It was clear to me in an instant why nearly 100,000 people say they come to Yellowstone each year just to see wolves.
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Comments (4)
you have a little missed spelled words in your article. but it is also a good article.
Posted by Trey on February 24,2010 | 10:21 AM
How much wilderness can people tolerate? Wolves in the Midwest,once threatened with extinction,today are numerous enough to cause frequent problems for livestock owners, especially in Great Lakes northern areas.University of Wisconsin researchers have been working to determine how many ofthe 600 or so wolves in their state might be culled to maintain a viable population, easing predation threats for farmers and ranchers.That would mean,of course, no legal open season on wolves. This approach could be a winning formula for maintaining the wolf among the nation's iconic symbols of wilderness. Outdoors folk could still hope for the elusive thrill of a wolf sighting and research-tested wildlife policies could ease the burdens for livestock raisers who need realistic solutions to wolf predation problems. JAS
Posted by J. A. Schwartz on June 19,2009 | 06:50 PM
I have lived in Wyoming and Montana most of my life--in fact, I grew up in the same town and my brother went to school with Dave Freudenthal, the Governor of Wyoming. Throughout my childhood, I went tent camping in Yellowstone several days every year with my mom & brother. I am a big supporter of wolf reintroduction and have followed the Yellowstone project fairly closely over the years.
I do understand the frustration of ranchers but I'm not sure that some of them are interested in finding a reasonable solution--it seems that they are just hell-bent on eliminating the entire species. When I heard about the original Wyoming Wolf Management Plan (which was basically "shoot on sight"), I was ashamed to think that I am a Wyoming native.
Several months ago, when I read the article in Smithsonian Magazine on using guard dogs to protect livestock from cheetahs in Africa, I immediately thought about the wolves in this area. Have any ranchers considered using the Anatolian or other guard dogs to protect against wolves? It seems that they are costly but would be worth their weight in gold if the plan worked. And perhaps the Defenders of Wildlife or a similar organization would consider assisting with a project like this...
Posted by Brett Hodson on April 12,2009 | 02:09 PM
Fascinating piece, and great to learn of Frank's continuing involvement in the environmental field. I'm wondering now, 44 years later, if one of the seeds for this interest wasn't our mutual roommate's going after with his bayonet (I think) the unfortunate bluejay that had chanced to fall down the fireplace chimney of our Yale College dorm room one spring day back in dear old New Haven?
Posted by Russ Sale on April 10,2009 | 01:31 PM