A Documentary film project that tells the stories of people working to preserve the legacy of wolves in Yellowstone National Park. A Wolves of Douglas County Wisconsin Film. Co Produced by Rachel Tilseth And Maaike Middleton and Directed by Rachel Tilseth. Donate Here to support this film project
About the featured photograph we see Wolf #7 in shipping container in Rose Creek pen. Photograph credit NPS Jim Peaco, January 12, 1995 from public domain YNP Wolf Restoration.
Rick Lamplugh
The shooting of 06, Yellowstone’s famous alpha wolf, was a turning point for me. In the years since her death, I have come to understand how that single bullet did more than kill the alpha female and uproot the alpha male. That bullet threw the delicate social order of the pack into life-threatening disarray. That bullet forced many wolves to choose new leaders, new roles, new lives. That bullet led to my becoming a wolf advocate. And I know I’m not alone; others have told me how the death of 06 motivated them to fight for wolves. ~Rick Lamplugh, Wolf Advocate and renowned author.
Rick Lamplugh’s path to advocating for wolves.
A few years ago, (2012) my wife Mary and I spent our first full winter living and working at the Lamar Buffalo Ranch in the heart of Yellowstone’s wolf country. We were thrilled to see wolves almost every day. Our second winter, sadly, was much quieter than the first. The valley did not resound with the howls of wolves. We did not see the Lamar Canyon wolves resting on the hillside above the ranch. Instead, we felt the shock and sadness of watching the pack disintegrate after the female alpha and one of the adult males was shot outside the park in Wyoming. Observing firsthand the destructive impact of hunting on wolves we had come to know and respect, started me thinking about advocating for wolves.
My experiences and learning during those three winters became the basis for a book, In the Temple of Wolves: A Winter’s Immersion in Wild Yellowstone. As the book became an Amazon best seller, I grew certain of the debt I owed wolves. If I was going to benefit from writing about them, I must speak for them as well. I became a wolf advocate.
Eventually Mary and I heeded the pull of Yellowstone, left Oregon where we had lived for 36 years, and moved to Gardiner, Montana, at the park’s north entrance. We have been surprised to learn that Gardiner sits smack in the middle of a number of controversies: the dispute over hunting Yellowstone wolves outside the park; the debate whether wolves help or harm the ecosystem and the local economy; the concern about overuse of and development around the park; the community effort to stop a possible gold mine on the park’s border; the outrage over the plan to remove grizzlies from the endangered species list; and the battle to stop the slaughter of park bison.
While living at the Lamar Buffalo Ranch—a wildlife-filled bubble where animals roamed without fear of human intervention—I had stayed blissfully unaware of most of these controversies. But I cannot avoid them in Gardiner, nor do I want to. Instead, I immerse myself in the midst of these struggles. I’ve become an advocate for wildlife and wildlands.
Indie author Rick Lamplugh writes to protect wildlife and preserve wild lands. His new book, Deep into Yellowstone, is available signed from Rick at http://bit.ly/2tIEt62, or unsigned on Amazon: http://amzn.to/2tgPU3E.
His best seller, In the Temple of Wolves, is available signed at http://bit.ly/1gYghB4, or unsigned at http://amzn.to/Jpea9Q.
A signed set of both books is available with free shipping at http://bit.ly/2uYTtsU.
“Inside the Heart of Wolf Advocacy-The Yellowstone Story” A Documentary film project that tells the stories of people working to preserve the legacy of wolves in Yellowstone National Park. A Wolves of Douglas County Wisconsin Film. Co Produced by Rachel Tilseth And Maaike Middleton and Directed by Rachel Tilseth.
To support the film project go to Plan B Foundation ” Inside the Heart of Wolf Advocacy” and donate