** May 2010 ** 


     Yellowstone is a different place this spring. Of course each year is different, some change, small or obvious, catches one's attention; how cold or warm it is, the amount of snow, what wildflowers are blooming. As we drive through the Park I am conscious of what is missing: the Haydens, the Druids, and the Slough Creek Pack. Between 2002 and 2007 we were graced by a Park with a northern range literally littered with wolves. I remember watching the Druid Pack lounge for hours in their rendezvous site when the pack was 36 members strong. From Hellroarin we followed 24 Leopold wolves march in a V below us. Rushing back and forth from Dave's Hill to Hitching Post, we didn't know what to take in first.
     All that was a gift. Wolf numbers in the Park have now dipped to the lowest number since reintroduction in 1995. Poor pup survival, interpack conflict and, most insidious - mange - have sharply impacted the population. This loss sinks in deeply when I think of the Druids and their struggle to survive. All those wolves I watched from the road (and sometimes in the road!) appear in my mind: 21M, 42F, 253M, 375F (302's daughter and a personal favorite), and on and on. I didn't know last June it would be our last time to see the Druid Pack as we knew it. Or the Sloughs, or any of the wolves we were accustomed to seeing so easily. For me, they are still here.
     Back in Austin, 527's collar rests on a table. I opened the box - finally the night before we left. I held the collar still wrapped in a white envelope, felt the lump where the battery was. It is a heavy thing. No wonder wolves hate them. Still there is magic in that collar. I imagine what she looked like, what we lost. There have been recent sightings of wolves near Hellroarin believed to be the remaining Cottonwood Pack - 2 blacks and 3 grays, including a pup - 527's pup.

Christine Baleshta - May 2010