Burleigh McCoy

Okay.

30 years of wolf reintroduction.

We're recognizing that anniversary with this episode.

What is the debate?

You sound skeptical of this wolf narrative.

Is there another side to the story?

So today on the show, we explore the legacy of wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone National Park three decades on.

You're listening to Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR.

Okay, Burleigh, so we're talking about a dispute among scientists regarding this Yellowstone wolf narrative.

So for a long time, the story went that when wolves were reintroduced in 1995, so 30 years ago, the entire ecosystem became altered.

Where did that narrative come from?

Okay, so he's a tree guy, this Eric.

I had no idea that elk ate trees.

They sound voracious.

So essentially their hypothesis was less wolves meant less animals.

Aspen trees.

Okay.

I can see how a straightforward narrative then emerged from this finding that the livelihood of the trees was somehow linked to the wolves.

Okay.

What does Eric think of all of that, the guy we met in the beginning?