BOISE, IDAHO – Seventy years ago, wolves had been virtually exterminated from the Western U.S. But the wolves’ remarkable recovery started Jan. 14, 1995, when a handful of adults were released in Idaho and Yellowstone National Park. The animals thrived, and now the Western U.S. has more than 3,000 wolves from Idaho to the Mexican border.

An ambitious new print and podcast series by the Idaho Capital Sun and Boise State Public Radio/NPR takes readers and listeners deep into the backcountry to tell one of America’s wildest comeback stories – wolf reintroduction. Reporters Clark Corbin and Heath Druzin spent 14 months trekking through harsh and remote territory to explore how politics and science have collided while these once-endangered animals struggle to survive.

Putting wolves back in the West was the most controversial wildlife program in U.S. history, and their reintroduction is a fascinating story that includes adventure, frostbite, even death threats and gunshots. 

Howl is a story about wolves and about people. Corbin and Druzin conducted dozens of interviews with people affected most by wolves. 

“We ventured deep into some of the last wild places left in the Lower 48 with two of the original people who brought wolves back by hand,” Corbin said. “And we sat down with people who have seen wolves literally eat into their profits by killing cattle and sheep. Howl is an epic story of life and death in the West that took more than a year to report and write.”

The five-part print series and five-part podcast are scheduled to launch Wednesday, June 4. Story installments will be released on IdahoCapitalSun.com and BoiseStatePublicRadio.org weekly each Wednesday morning thereafter. Podcast episodes will be available everywhere you get podcasts. Like all work produced by States Newsroom, the Idaho Capital Sun’s parent nonprofit, our stories are available to be picked up by any news outlet for free with proper attribution.

“You may think you know the story of wolf reintroduction in the West, but this podcast contains a lot of surprises –  wild historical details from the people who were there, unsung partners in the project, as well as new threats wolves are facing,” Druzin said. “But as you’ll hear in the podcast, it’s not just history – the story of wolves is still unfolding and they might be in bigger trouble than we think.”

“Howl” print series:

• Wednesday, June 4: Carter’s hope: After the U.S. government killed off Western wolves, a bold experiment brought them back. This is the story of how 30 years ago, biologists sought to restore America’s wildest predator in Idaho and Yellowstone.
• Wednesday, June 11: River of No Return: How the Nez Perce Tribe stepped in to save wolf reintroduction in Idaho. After the Idaho Legislature nearly derailed the entire operation, the tribe faced racist questions on whether it was capable of repopulating the Lower 48.
• Wednesday, June 18: Fixing Yellowstone: How an intact ecosystem set the stage for a wolf queen’s long reign. Despite being orphaned and repeatedly challenged for alpha status and ultimately being killed by a rival pack, Wolf 907 leaves a long legacy.
• Wednesday, June 25: Cattle Battle: How wolves and livestock collide – and how one Idaho project offers solutions. Western ranchers say their livelihood is at stake after wolves were reintroduced into the Lower 48 30 years ago.
• Wednesday, July 2: Ghost Wolves: While wolves might represent nature’s greatest and most controversial comeback, some longtime wolf advocates say they aren’t seeing wolves in the same places they always used to after the Idaho Legislature expanded wolf hunting and trapping in the state. Some scientists have openly questioned how the state of Idaho tracks and counts wolves, and some original members of the wolf reintroduction team worry 30 years of hard work to bring wolves back could be undone.

“Howl” podcast series:

• Episode 1: “Kill All The Goddamn Wolves And The People Who Brought Them”: Heath and Clark take listeners back 30 years to get the history of wolf reintroduction from the people who put the predators back on the Western landscape. It’s a wild story of gunshots, death threats, frostbite and close encounters with canis lupus.

• Episode 2: “The Unwritten Law”: Heath and Clark travel to the Nez Perce Reservation to tell the little-known story of the tribe’s crucial role in bringing wolves back when the state of Idaho boycotted the program. Under their management, the wolf population exploded, exceeding even the most optimistic predictions.

• Episode 3: “Yellowstone”: Heath and Clark get lost backpacking in Yellowstone National Park on the trail of wolves with Doug Smith one of the top wolf experts in the world. Along the way, Smith shows listeners that the return of wolves has changed the iconic park’s landscape.

• Episode 4: “Cattle Battle”: Heath and Clark take listeners to rural Idaho to hear from ranchers and farmers who say wolves are literally taking a bite out of their bottom lines. And they talk to a woman who is trying to save livestock without killing wolves.

• Episode 5: “Ghost Wolves”: Wolves represent perhaps nature’s greatest comeback. Exterminated from the West before the middle of the 20th Century, they now roam nine Western states. But some scientists say wolves might be in trouble again and that key states may be inflating the number of wolves through faulty science.

Reporters Clark Corbin and Heath Druzin are available to discuss the project and its findings, which include: 

• Federal overreach or wildlife success story? How different sides of the wolf reintroduction debate view the past, present and future of wolf management in the West 
• How the Nez Perce Tribe played an often forgotten, pivotal role in reintroducing wolves in the West – and faced racist backlash along the way
• How farmers and ranchers in the West are financially harmed by wolf depredation – and how the Wood River Wolf Project is finding solutions

How this project was undertaken: Reporters Clark Corbin and Heath Druzin spent 14 months trekking through harsh and remote wolf territory in the Western U.S. to explore how politics and science have collided while these once-endangered animals struggle to survive. Through their own exploration and interviews with wildlife experts, ranchers, hunters and political leaders, Corbin and Druzin have stitched together the story of wolf reintroduction – and where it stands 30 years later – in written and podcast form. 

The Idaho Capital Sun is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization. 

MEDIA AVAILABILITY: Reporters Clark Corbin and Heath Druzin are available for interviews. To arrange, contact Lara Weber, States Newsroom communications director, [email protected] or 312-952-0788. 

ABOUT BOISE STATE PUBLIC RADIO

Boise State Public Radio, part of the NPR Network, has provided non-commercial, independent public media in Idaho for almost 50 years. It features a separate News service and Music service, and in some markets, a Jazz service. It is known for its local newsroom plus national programs from NPR and other distributors. Boise State Public Radio is part of Boise State University and serves two-thirds of the population of Idaho through 27 transmitters & translators, as well as digital platforms.

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