Jun 2, 2024
Recently I read “The Wolverine Way”, by Douglas Chadwick. It’s a
book from 2012 that really dives into the lives of wolverines, a
small mammal with a cantankerous reputation that the US Fish and
Wildlife Service late last year announced would be a threatened
species. The book is a fascinating biography, if you will, of
wolverines. Chadwick has an engaging writing style and Glacier
National Park provides a fascinating backdrop for the story, two
things that keep the story flowing.
One thing that he mentions that struck me is how important Glacier
National Park is for the wolverines survival. He notes that the
surrounding national forests offer much the same habitat that
wolverines need, but points out that the national forests don’t
provide the same protection from hunting and trapping that national
parks do.
Of course, with wolverines gaining protection under the Endangered
Species Act as a threatened species, the animals will have the same
protections in national forests and other public lands.
Still, do we sometimes take for granted the protections that
national parks provide for species that are either losing habitat
elsewhere, or don’t have the same protections from hunting and
development that the parks provide? To continue this discussion,
we’re joined by Kent Redford, who runs Archipelago Consulting,
through which he helps individuals and organizations improve their
practice of conservation, and Bart Melton and Ryan Valdez from the
National Parks Conservation Association. Bart is a senior director
of NPCA’s Wildlife Program, while Ryan is the Association’s Senior
Director for Conservation Science and Policy.