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Chapter 14. Weaving Wildness: The Paradox of Teaching About Wilderness and Place
- University of Nevada Press
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c h a p t e r 1 4 Weaving Wildness The Paradox of Teaching About Wilderness as Place g r e g g o r d o n After three days of fruitless searching for wolves, I suggest we sleep in until seven, but the students want to get up again at five-thirty for anothertry.Althoughit’smid-July,Yellowstone’sLamarValleyisvirtually empty of people, save wolf biologist Rick McIntyre. He informs us that his radio telemetry is picking up a few signals from the Slough Creek Pack. Rick waves at the steep hill behind us and says, “They should be visible from up there.” The university students need no more encouragement; they race up the hill and quickly set up spotting scopes. Clearly visible on the mountainside bench opposite us, four young wolves chase three adult bison, testing them for weakness. Generally, wolves prefer easier prey, such as elk. However, by midsummer the elk have scattered into the high country, and the wolf pups are still too young to travel that far. These sub-adult wolves simply don’t know any better than to tackle such formidable prey. The alpha female of the pack watches their antics, with bemusement perhaps. In their romp among the bison, they unveil a weakness in one of the cows; the alpha takes notice and joins the chase. 2 0 4 m e e t i n g t h e c h a l l e n g e s Possibly the cow had been hit by a car or suffered from some previous injury or malady. Nevertheless, the wolves are on her heels like dogs herding cattle. In less than a minute, the wolves have pulled the bison to the ground and are feasting. The following dawn we return and so do the wolves. But now a big male grizzly sits chewing on an old elk carcass nearby. The wolves soon eat their fill of bison and head over to torment the bear, rushing in and nipping at him or grabbing pieces of meat from under his nose. The bear lunges at them but won’t leave the carcass. Finally, some of the wolves grow bored of this game and flop in the grass. Two others ease in and feed off the carcass side by side with the bear, who apparently decides that chasing wolves isn’t worth the energy. Eventually the two wolves rejoin the others and leave the bear to finish his meal in peace. Finally satiated, the grizzly waddles up the hill and into the woods for a nap. As soon as he leaves, the wolves return to the elk carcass. Meanwhile, four coyotes, a female and three pups, have discovered the bison carcass. Unbeknownst to the coyotes, however, six wolves are feeding on the elk. From our vantage point, the bench opposite resembles a stage where the drama unfolds before us, with the actors unaware of each other. Suddenly the alpha wolf notices the approaching coyotes and begins stalking them. Two of the other wolves follow her lead. The mother coyote raises her head when she spies the wolf. She turns tail just as the wolf bolts for her. The coyotes scatter, the pups going one way and the mom going the other. Despite their superior size and speed, the wolves are laden with full bellies, and the coyotes have a considerable lead. The wolves soon abandon the chase and settle down to guard both carcasses. The coyotes retreat to a nearby knoll and [18.208.203.36] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 08:08 GMT) g r e g g o r d o n 2 0 5 yip at the wolves. The alpha female ignores them but vigorously begins digging up an old coyote den, perhaps just to show them who’s boss. Although Yellowstone’s wildlife is world renowned, disappointingly few visitors see the park in its larger context, as the heart of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, home to thousands of humans as well as elk, bison, bears, and wolves. While Yellowstone is firmly lodged in our nation’s consciousness, the central question for an educator is how to teach about this as a real place, rather than just another stamp in a national park passport. After years of teaching university field studies programs, I’ve realized that to fully know a place we need to develop an experiential understanding of its ecosystem dynamics. Teaching about place requires full physical, emotional, and intellectual immersion, weaving...