Maui and Montana

Ramona and I just returned from an academic meeting in Maui.  We found new confirmation that economics is really a sub-set of behavioral ecology (or evolutionary biology if you prefer).  Here's an example. 

After an all night flight, we awoke at our ranch this morning with 3" of snow and a large herd of elk on our place less than 1/2 mile south of our house--and another group of 25 cow elk in our hay yard only 10 yards west of our lawn.  This new set of events was probably precipitated by the return of wolves to Greater Yellowstone. 

We've had 100+ elk on and off our place all winter.  While we were in Hawaii they were recurrently running east and west, over and through fences.  They tore through a fence on our east section line and 35 horses left our place and got out on Cottonwood Rd.  Neighbors put them in a hayfield with intact fences. 

Until a few years ago elk stayed at higher elevations in the Gallatin National Forest a few miles south of our place.

Now wolves hang out there, killing the occasional cow elk. The smarter elk have moved down to farm & ranch lands, after hunting season people are less dangerous than wolves.  (Might there be an analogous process among people?)  A few wolves follow, spook them, and elk tear about. Mischief, damage, and accidents naturally follow. 

Ramona and I long advocated the return of the wolf--the last being killed in Yellowstone Park by the Biological Survey of Dept. of Interior in 1927.  With the last major predator gone, the number of elk exploded to far beyond carrying capacity.  The plant ecology was degraded, beaver starved out, and erosion worsened.  Everything is connected to everything else.    

In my early writings advocating wolf return some twenty years ago I argued that ranchers should be permitted to shoot problem wolves, those chasing livestock.  The Greens of course were outraged by my position--as were fellow ranchers who were vehemently opposed to even passive reintroduction, the kind we favored.  I hadn't considered the higher order consequence, i.e., fence destruction and stray livestock.    

Last November 45 horses got out through our west fence line and were on U.S. 191, the main road to Yellowstone Park.  Two were hit and killed.  Fortunately, no drivers were injured--just luck.  If one had, would he or she been killed by wolves?   Does the bullet kill the person or is it the person holding the gun?  I believe the answer is the same. 

Ramona and I spent several thousand dollars rebuilding fences last fall; now we will have another large bill.  I bought a few miles of 5/16" steel cable which we'll staple on the top of the barbed wire.  I like the elk but want them to go over, not through our fences.  This requires heavier wood posts.  It goes on and on. Everything is connected to everything else.    

Twenty years ago we commissioned a "Yellowstone Homecoming" poster.  It shows two handsome wolves lying down, a fine couple indeed.   Alas, I failed to anticipate the full results of the campaign we supported.  Planning rarely works as planned, good intentions often rebound.

Not all problems have solutions--but all solutions have tradeoffs.  That's an important principle of both economics and ecology.  And that's why our website is "FREE-eco.org".