The wildlife of the United States has not fared well over the last few hundred years. Yes, the recovery of the American bison is an incredible conservation success story—although it is tempered by the story of how humans slaughtered the bison in the first place. The history of the USA is filled with tales of abundant wildlife being hunted to extinction or near-extinction. Take the passenger pigeon, which was once the most abundant bird in North America, numbering an estimated three to five billion animals, and was wiped out by humankind within the space of a century.
The grizzly bear’s story isn’t quite that horrible, but it hasn’t had an easy time. Grizzlies have been prized by hunters and vilified by ranchers and farmers. Our own government has, at times, participated in—or encouraged—their slaughter. Historically, they ranged through much of the western USA, getting as far east as Missouri, but now there are only about 1,500 left, clustered mostly in Northern Montana and the Yellowstone region. (Consider this: A grizzly bear is the central image of the flag of California, and yet no grizzly has been seen there since 1922.)
While there are now many people who would like grizzlies to rebuild their numbers, there are plenty of other people still fighting to have them eradicated. (And, sadly, wolves have probably fared even worse.) The fortunes of grizzlies can shift dramatically depending on who is in office as president of the United States. Under Barack Obama, the practice of baiting grizzlies by hunters was declared illegal in much of the country; under Donald Trump, it was declared legal once again.
There also remains the issue of space. We have an incredible national park system in this country, but still, that isn’t enough. A large carnivore like a grizzly needs a lot of land. At a certain point, even a large area such as the Yellowstone/Grand Teton region can only support so many bears. If there aren’t protected wildlife corridors to allow the bears to get from one protected area to another, their populations won’t be able to grow—and the isolated populations will lose genetic diversity.
So what can you do? (1) Support organizations that fight for conservation and wildlife protection. (2) Write to your political representatives. A lot. Unsure who to write to or what to write about? Don’t worry, those conservation organizations will be happy to help you do that. I’ll list a few of them at the end of this essay. But before I do…
There’s one more really easy thing you can do to protect wildlife:
Don’t be a touron.
I did not make that term up. It’s quite popular because, sadly, there are an awful lot of tourons. If you doubt me, google the term.
I wholeheartedly encourage you to see animals in the wild. But if you do, treat them with respect. Don’t approach them too closely. Don’t feed them—or leave food where they can get to it. Don’t antagonize them in an attempt to get a great selfie. Don’t venture off marked trails. And for Pete’s sake, don’t litter. Doing any of these things degrades the environment and can endanger the animals. (It might also endanger you, although it is very rare for any wild animal—even a grizzly—to attack a human unless it is provoked.)
Okay. I’ve said my piece. Here’s that list of organizations:
First off, I’m a big fan of the World Wildlife Fund, whose animal crimes division continues to advise me on these books: worldwildlife.org.
Defenders of Wildlife does a particularly good job of focusing on helping carnivores: defenders.org.
Visiting our national parks is one of the greatest vacation deals on earth. The relatively small amount it costs per car to enter doesn’t even come close to covering the costs of operating them. The National Park Foundation helps cover the difference. If you want to keep our national park system going—and help it protect and study wildlife—visit nationalparks.org.
If you are looking to help protect the wildlife and ecology of Yellowstone in particular, Yellowstone Forever supports research and conservation efforts, like the Yellowstone Wolf Project: yellowstone.org.
Finally, if you want to help American bison and Native American culture at the same time, check out the InterTribal Buffalo Council, a collection of sixty-nine federally recognized tribes from nineteen different states whose mission is to restore buffalo to Indian Country in order to preserve their historical, cultural, traditional, and spiritual relationship for future generations. Reestablishing healthy buffalo populations on tribal lands helps reestablish hope for Indian people. Returning buffalo to tribal lands will help heal the land, the animal, and the spirit of the Indian people: itbcbuffalonation.org.