Yellowstone wolf biologist honored
By SCOTT McMILLION, Chronicle Staff Writer
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — The head of Yellowstone’s wolf project
has been honored with awards from both the regional and national directors
of the National Park Service.
Doug Smith, who has been working with wolves here since they were
reintroduced in 1995, said he felt humbled by the awards. He credited his
colleagues, volunteers in the wolf program and his wife for making his
work a success.
He also thanked the wolves.
“Riding their coattails through this has been relatively easy,” he said
Wednesday at a ceremony held during a scientific conference.
Smith, a Ph.D. biologist, oversees management of the about 150 wolves
running the park in about 14 packs.
His job also includes dealing with ranchers who live near the park, the
news media, scientists and bureaucrats.
“And he still hasn’t lost his sense of humor,” noted his boss, John
Varley, the chief of the Yellowstone Center for Resources.
Wolf recovery is controversial among people, but has been a howling
success from the wolf’s point of view.
“What you have done,” said Lee Talbot, one of the authors for the Richard
Nixon administration of the original Endangered Species Act in 1973, “is
exactly what we hoped would happen with many, if not most, endangered
species.”