Passing the Time in Golden

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The night passed uneventfully even though there was the threat of rain in an increasingly ominous sky. But there was no rain and I woke up to reasonably clear conditions and a nice enough seeming day. I headed out to the highway and it was still closed. It was supposed to be closed until around 1 in the afternoon, with a moderate degree of confidence. Wanting to know exactly what moderate might mean (if moderate meant it would likely open at the appointed time or shortly thereafter, I would wait it out; if not I would think about heading on the much longer detour to the south), I headed back to the visitor information offices. After discussing it with them, I learned that the road south had winter driving conditions and high water that was threatening bridges and ferries. It seemed the best course would be to wait for the mud slide to be cleared. Ah! Driving through the mountains in Canada can be such an adventure.







This meant I was going to be needing something to occupy myself for the morning. The information people suggested I might want to go and check out the Wolf Conservation Centre. I had seen the signs along the highway and thought it sounded interesting. Now was as good a time as any. So off I went to find it. It was located in a valley near the Golden valley. It was a nice area to drive through anyway. As also suggested, I went driving along a raging river that came down from the upper reaches of the valley, but I stopped where the road was washed out. Kermit (my car) isn't equipped for that sort of thing after all.







Then I headed into the wolf centre. It's located in a forested area. I don't know exactly what I expected. I suppose I thought I would see wild wolves that had been rescued from certain death after being hit by cars or some such. They had been rescued, but they were basically domesticated wolves. They had been born into zoos, or into situations where they would be “pets,” if such a word can ever truly be applied to what would, under ordinary circumstances, be a wild animal. Whatever arrangements had been made for the wolves had fallen through and the animals were to be euthanized. The owners of the wolf centre would come to hear of this and, if there was space on their property, they would take the wolves in. They only have space for 8 or ten animals, and in cages that are really much too small for wolves (I learned at the centre that a wolf's territory can be as large as 20 or 25000 square kilometers), but I suppose that a live wolf in captivity being used to educate people on why wolves shouldn't be kept in captivity or bred as pets is better than a dead wolf who isn't doing anyone any good and didn't ask for or deserve such a fate. And they are not always in their cages. They are taken out regularly into the wilds for more far-ranging exercise. I'm not sure how they know to come back, but it seems they do. And in other ways they are well cared for. They get a good diet and aren't tortured or tormented. And because they mostly came young enough for good imprinting, they are quite tolerant of the humans around them and get quite a bit of affection.







A 30 minute talk gave a lot of information about wolves and their place in the environment and eco-system. They are a very important species, to the point they are considered a keystone species. That means that if they are removed from an eco-system, the system collapses and completely changes character. A dramatic example given was that of Yellowstone National Park in the United States. After it was established as a national park, the warden wanted to attract visitors. He felt that the best way to do that would be to have more elk for entertainment (read: destruction by hunting). Wolves are predatory and eat elk. So to get more elk, the wolves should go. A program was launched to eradicate the wolves from the park. It was a complete success. The last wolf in Yellowstone was shot and killed in 1929. After this unqualified success, the warden got his wish. The elk population flourished. Soon there were more than 20000 elk in the park. The success didn't end there. They became slow and ponderous creatures, as they no longer had anything to fear, barring the occasional hunter with a shotgun. They grazed at will, and came out of the forest. They took their time in grazing and so were able to eat everything in one area before moving on. The willows and the aspen were soon wiped out, and the park became all meadows and grasslands. Meanwhile the coyote population was skyrocketing as well. Wolves are natural enemies of coyotes and keep their numbers down. With the coyotes flourishing, the foxes disappeared. With the disappearance of the trees, the birds had nowhere to make nests or to roost. Bears had no berries to eat and so they disappeared. And the beavers had no trees to make dams. So they headed off to other areas as well. With no dams, the waterways ran free, and there were no spots for waterbirds. All the birds were gone. The wardens and park visitors looked around now and wondered why things were so different. The park wasn't so nice any longer. Scientists were called in the 1950's to figure out why. They came up with the answer. The wolves were gone and the results were the park as it became. With great alacrity, the park service got right on with a solution. Some 45 YEARS LATER, in 1996 and 1997 they came to the Canadian authorities and asked for some of our wolves. Thirty-one wolves were sent to the park to establish new wolf packs. Soon there were wolves active in Yellowstone once more. And the elk population declined to a proper level. And the trees started to grow again. And the birds returned. And the bears prowled around again. And the beavers started building dams. In a startlingly short time, about 8 years, the eco-system was declared healthy and viable again.







Canada, of course, learned tons from this. Sometime in the past ten years we started asking questions like why there are so many elk in the Banff townsite, why there are no beavers in the park, why the trees are disappearing, why there are so few birds. Yep, we sure learned a lot from the Yellowstone study. And we haven't stopped killing wolves yet, either. What may keep us from completely embarrassing ourselves is that there is so much of Canada that is remote and unpopulated that the wilderness remains relatively unspoiled and we don't have the access to the wolves to bring about their destruction and annihilation.







Well, after the talk, I walked around and looked at all the exhibits and information. It is a good presentation, but they really do seem to think they are helping wild wolves. I don't know about that. I think they are helping what would have been captive, more-or-less domesticated wolves, and trying to get people to act on the situation with the wild wolves.







It was still a good way to spend a few hours.







I headed back to the highway and found it just re-opening. Unfortunately, the highway had been closed for about 24 hours. It's the main route for trucks and so there were several hundred trucks lined up and waiting for the road to re-open. I didn't want to deal with that, so I went and had lunch for an hour to let all the trucks and all the maniacs who don't know anything about how mountains can do things like this to head off first. That way the grumpy, angry truck drivers and the maniacs wouldn't be hurting me should any of them do something incredibly stupid.







I set out myself by shortly after 2 in the afternoon. The going was still very slow. That many vehicles, and so many of them trailer trucks, really clog up a two lane highway. What would take about 2 hours under normal circumstances, took over 5. I ended up arriving in Merritt BC at about 9:30. After travelling through rain and even bits of snow, I decided I had had enough and found a nice little campground sitting beside a river. I got myself settled and left the rest of the trip for the next day.

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Photos

Golden scenery
While I was waiting for the centre to open, I checked out the scenery and the swollen rivers.

Wolf pup
The Wolf Rescue Centre is continually rescuing baby wolves from certain death.

Wylie
This is the grand old man of the Centre, the alpha male Wylie.

The Centre
This is the Wolf Rescue Centre, a rather unassuming place sitting in the forest about 20 minutes from Golden.