The presence of grizzlies and wolves in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho is considered a great conservation achievement that citizens should be proud of. Both species also are key attractions in a multi-billion-dollar annual nature tourism economy. Their value alive is exponentially greater than any costs they bring to the livestock industry, big game herds or wildlife management agencies. They are among the icons that also make Greater Yellowstone a bastion and bellwether for biodiversity. Photo courtesy Yellowstone National Park
EDITOR'S NOTE: Why do so many of us take the marvel of biological diversity for granted? In Greater Yellowstone, we have the most complete, intact array of original native mammal species in the Lower 48. And all of them, from grizzlies to elk, pronghorn to mule deer, are still able to migrate long distances or move seasonally disperse. This ecoregion, which has Yellowstone National Park as its geographic center, holds every mammal and bird species that was here in 1491, the year before Europeans arrived on the continent. In the essay below from Dorothy Bradley, the veteran former state legislator and Montana gubernatorial candidate who lost a narrow race to Marc Racicot riffs on the trend of biodiversity loss that is now playing out around the globe. — Mountain Journal
by Dorothy Bradley
New scientific findings this month are hitting the headlines touching on the planetary loss of species, increasing extinctions and fading biodiversity. One can hope that this will help awaken humanity regarding the grim impacts of human numbers on this planet, not to mention our extravagant and impactful lifestyles.
But this should not be our first jolt of reality. We have watched and loved the movies of the beautifully spoken naturalist David Attenborough and read the words of the late brilliant scientist E. O. Wilson, to mention a few.
What might be different today, in contrast with last year, is that the solution to the loss of biodiversity is suddenly being coupled with the solution to climate change. It is suggested, even touted, that if we can stop pouring carbon into the atmosphere to slow climate change (which to date we have not), then we will simultaneously and conveniently stop the massive rate of extinction of species.
While slowing climate change is a necessity to saving species, including the human species, it clearly won’t stop extinctions. Extinctions have more to do with habitat – space, food, water, health, safety and species reproduction.
While slowing climate change is a necessity to saving species, including the human species, it clearly won’t stop extinctions. Extinctions have more to do with habitat – space, food, water, health, safety and species reproduction.
“Human overshoot” is a helpful term describing the problem, used by the World Wildlife Fund and others, spotlighting the immense loss of wildlife populations in the last 50 years due to global pollution, industrial development, expansion of agriculture, indiscriminate hunting, habitat fragmentation and, increasingly, the loss of habitat due to rare earth mining and massive expansion of solar and wind, designed to help us go green and at such a pace that the economies of scale will hopefully make it affordable.
The situation is beyond depressing, referred by some as “earth meltdown." It is not resolvable by a person or a family or a community. But by addressing it in small chunks, there are ways in which a person and a community can make a difference—throwing stranded starfish back into the ocean, one at a time.
We in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho—in this very decade—have an opportunity to protect the wildlife habitat of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and other islands of natural wellbeing from further shrinking.
We have the opportunity to vigorously protect the Wilderness Study Areas in our national forests and BLM lands, eventually providing for their permanent protection, honoring the opportunity that was handed down to us from previous generations of Montanans, counting on our intelligence and commitment.
These visionary people started the wilderness process, providing for the beloved Lee Metcalf Wilderness, the Lincoln-Scapegoat and others. But without the time and resources, they left the remnants in safekeeping to us. I can vouch for this since my father, Charles Bradley, was among them.
"Stella" the wolverine is among a handful of wolverines that have been documented by remote cameras operated by the Cascade Wolverine Project. There are just a few hundred wolverines at most left in the Lower 48. Not only are they facing loss of critical snowy habitat from climate change and incidental kill by fur trapping, but studies show that backcountry snow sport recreation displaces wolverines. Photo courtesy Cascade Wolverine Project. Visit its page at cascadewolverineproject.org
We are fast losing this opportunity to follow in their footsteps as more blue-ribbon rivers turn green with algae, more migration corridors are blocked by unending traffic, more food sources are lost, and more industrial-level recreation continues its unhindered invasion.
But this is our time to make a difference and do our part for protecting species, even if it is just one small spot on the beleaguered planet – one starfish separated from the receding ocean.
Each day I look at the Crazies and the Bridgers and wonder how long rare and imperiled wolverines will find their home in our backyard. While these are national lands, we are the fortunate ones who use them.
But we are only one in many species of inhabitants, and this luxury burdens us with responsibility. If these fellow inhabitants—our neighbors—are lost, it is on our watch, and we are to blame.
About Dorothy Bradley
Dorothy Bradley, who makes her home today in Clyde Park, Montana in the northern reaches of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, is a former eight-term Montana state representative. Bradley ran for governor in 1992 and narrowly lost to Republican Marc Racicot. At age 23, she helped organize Montana’s first Earth Day and won a seat in the Montana House where she was the only woman in 1971. She was among the young people present during Montana's constitutional convention in 1972 who helped produce a modern constitution touted as being among the most foresighted in the country. Among its provisions is that all citizens have "the right to a clean and healthful environment." Bradley also was at the forefront of women's rights, conservation and pondering water policy, which is especially important now in a time of climate change.
