Twenty-five years ago Sunday, trucks carrying wolves arrived at the North Entrance and marked the beginning of that species’ restoration in Yellowstone. The wolves would spend the next ten weeks in pens, acclimating to their new surroundings. On March 21, 1995 they were released–making it possible to see a wild wolf in Yellowstone for the first time in nearly 70 years. In the first years following wolf restoration, the population grew rapidly as the newly formed packs spread out to establish territories with sufficient prey. The wolves have expanded their population and range, and now are found throughout the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. More recently, a biological count last April indicated 61 wolves in 8 packs within Yellowstone, while others migrated outside of the park into Montana, Idaho, Wyoming; and recently one small pack was seen in Colorado.
