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Running With Wolves

 

Woman with bear in background

On April 27, 1947, American forester and conservationist Mollie H. Beattie was born. The first woman Director of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Beattie fought to conserve species by managing whole ecosystems rather than waiting until individual species were endangered.

She oversaw the successful reintroduction of the northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf into Yellowstone National Park. Under her watch, over 15 national wildlife refuges were added to the wildlife service system.

Wolf

“What a country chooses to save is what a country chooses to say about itself.”

Mollie Beattie

Named in her honour, the Mollie Beattie Wilderness in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, contains approximately 3,200,000 ha (8,000,000 acres) in the Brooks Range that includes a combination of arctic, subarctic, and alpine ecosystems. And the wolves Beattie reintroduced to Yellowstone’s Crystal River? Today’s small generation still hunts together and is called “Mollie’s Pack”.

There’s more! Here is what Beattie’s wildlife vision with gray wolves has accomplished since 1995:

B Bondar / Real World Content Advantage