Introducing 'Howl': How wolf reintroduction into Yellowstone and Idaho changed the West forever
On four separate occasions, Wolf 907F seized power as the alpha female leader of the Junction Butte Pack in Yellowstone National Park. Readers will learn 907's life story in part three of Howl, a new longform written series and podcast from the Idaho Capital Sun, States Newsroom, Boise State Public Radio and NPR. (File photo courtesy of Jeremy SundeRaj/Yellowstone National Park)
Whenever a reporter comes to me with the phrase 'I have an idea for a longer series,' I admittedly take a breath and start to mentally prepare to make my case as their editor to say no. Usually it's a request for things, as a small but mighty staff of four journalists, that we just don't have the flexibility to provide.
Reporting time, for one. With three to four months out of the beginning year tied up with covering the Idaho Legislature – a core mission for us here at the Idaho Capital Sun – as well as election seasons that can take a month out of our planning calendar before the primary election in May and another month before the general election in November, we very rarely have the luxury of time for truly long-term projects.
SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Financial support, for two. We're a nonprofit here at the Capital Sun, which means we rely solely on donations large and small from readers like you to keep our lights on. Any written series worth doing and worth doing well requires not just investment in reporting time, but also travel costs like mileage and hotel stays to meet sources where they are. To do deep stories real justice, we need to experience and observe these Idaho spaces for ourselves. In this case, I would soon learn, we'd also need several hundred dollars worth of audio recording equipment.
And three? Institutional knowledge of the topic and experience with controversial issues. And for this series in particular, Idaho Capital Sun senior reporter Clark Corbin was sure going to need a lot of that.
That's because his story series idea – dubbed 'Howl' – centers around the 30th anniversary of the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park and Idaho, which might quite possibly be the most controversial topic the West has ever had to offer.
'Howl,' a five-part print series and five-part podcast by the Idaho Capital Sun and Boise State Public Radio/NPR will launch Wednesday, June 4. Story installments will be released weekly each Wednesday morning at IdahoCaptialSun.com. Like all of our work, it will be available to any local news outlet to pick up for free with proper attribution. Podcast episodes will air on BoiseStatePublicRadio.org and are available on all the major podcast distributors, including the NPR app, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
https://idahocapitalsun.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Howl-Trailer_With-Credit-Language.mp3
We'll also co-host a live event that includes a panel discussion of three of our sources for this project: Former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wolf Recovery Coordinator Carter Niemeyer, Wood River Wolf Project Co-Founder Suzanne Asha Stone, and Nez Perce Tribe Watershed Coordinator Marcie Carter. We'll host the free event the evening of June 17 at Boise State University's Special Event Center. Stay tuned for more details on this special opportunity to hear directly from the people who first brought wolves back to the West 30 years ago.
We can't wait to start sharing this epic story – our most intensive reporting project to date –with all of you this summer. Here's a bit more on how this massive project came to be.
'Howl' is the largest investment in time and resources we've put toward one project at the Idaho Capital Sun. If you find value in what we do, you can support work like this with a one-time or recurring donation at IdahoCapitalSun.com/Donate. To read the weekly installments of 'Howl,' released every Wednesday morning, sign up for our free email newsletter, IdahoCapitalSun.com/Subscribe.
The second Clark said the word 'wolves,' I knew we'd have our hands full. As a fifth-generation Idahoan with farmers on both sides of my family lines, and after being an Idaho reporter for the vast majority of my career, I immediately recognized just how sticky a subject they can be.
Wolves were extremely controversial in 1995 – when a team of biologists traveled to Canada to capture and bring the animals back to Yellowstone National Park and to the Lower 48 – and in 2025, 30 years later, they remain just as controversial still.
Clark pitched to me a series of written stories and a multi-episode podcast by teaming up with Heath Druzin, an experienced audio reporter who has previously freelanced for us here at the Idaho Capital Sun. He's a former war correspondent who covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and is the creator and host of the award-winning 'Extremely American' podcast.
They wanted to spend weeks hiking through more than 20 miles of wilderness and drove more than 1,000 miles crisscrossing Idaho to interview sources directly in Yellowstone, the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, the Nez Perce Reservation in North Idaho, and dang near everywhere in between. And they wanted to take even more time reviewing and researching all of the past articles, books and memoirs – as well as old film of the wolf captures – that dealt with the dozens of wolf-and-livestock related sources they've talked to for Howl.
They'd also need some financial help to pull all this off, they told me, including help with applying for grants to support the reporting, as well as a chunk of our not-so-sizable annual travel budget and a chunk of our finite freelance budget to support hiring a skilled photographer in Pat Sutphin. And they'd need some new audio equipment (and a few bucks for non-negotiable bear spray) to ensure the podcast was as clear and engaging as the written series.
So while I had my initial, with-good-reason reservations, I also recognized the history of the reintroduction of wolves to the American West – and the impact the lineage that those wolves have on the West and Idaho today – is always a story worth pursuing.
After having spent the last 14 months organizing trips across Idaho, editing and re-editing drafts of the written stories, reading podcast scripts and listening to the first iterations of the podcast episodes, I know I can safely say all those investments were well worth it.
In the written stories as well as the podcast episodes, we connect you with the sources who understand this issue better than anyone else: wildlife biologists, ranchers, Native American elders and tribal members, Idaho Fish and Game officials, Idaho Gov. Brad Little, and trappers. We take you right into the wilderness with us, with its sights, sounds and smells (and scat. They saw and tracked A LOT of scat.)
We talked to wolf advocates who have spent decades of their lives following, documenting and trying to protect specific wolves in Yellowstone and across the West, and we've talked to people who have multi-generation ranches who have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to wolf depredation. Importantly, we also talked to people like Suzanne Asha Stone of the Wood River Wolf Project, who has spent decades trying to bring all sides of the wolf debate to the table to find solutions – together.
We look not only into the past of how the U.S. government essentially exterminated all wolves from the Lower 48 in the 1920s and '30s, but into the present day by detailing how controlling the wolf population continues to be one of the most controversial issues facing the American West – and its future.
With all the time and resources we've put into this, I hope you like 'Howl,' certainly, but I also hope you come away with a better understanding of our Western history and how we've come to be and live in such a special place that must find space for us: all of us.
We hope you'll check it out June 4. Enjoy.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
43 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
DOJ tells Rhode Island its employment practices are under investigation
The letter said the federal investigation is based on information that the state 'may be engaged in employment practices regarding its affirmative action program governing state government employment under state law that discriminate based on race, national origin, or other protected characteristics in violation of Title VII.' Advertisement The investigation will look to determine 'whether Rhode Island is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination as set forth above,' Dhillon wrote in the letter. It's unclear which specific policies, programs, or agencies the DOJ is investigating. A spokesperson with the DOJ could not be reached for comment. Tim Rondeau, Neronha's spokesman, said the office is still reviewing the letter, 'as the subjects and focus of their investigation are unclear.' Neronha told The Public's Radio that he 'didn't pay it a whole lot of mind.' 'They can go investigate and if the investigation turns up anything, then we will address it,' Neronha told the NPR affiliate. 'It could be something today, gone tomorrow.' Governor Dan McKee's office also could not be immediately reached for comment on Thursday. Advertisement In his letter, Dhillon said that Louis Whitsett, a senior trial attorney with DOJ's employment litigation section, has been assigned to the investigation. Alexa Gagosz can be reached at
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Western states like Idaho are drowning in legislation
Members of the Idaho Senate work from the Senate floor on the morning of March 10, 2025, at the Idaho Capitol Building in Boise. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun) Who knew there were this many things that had to be fixed? The legislative sessions in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Washington are over. Depending on your political perspective, the benefits — or damages — will be felt for years to come. One thing that isn't in dispute? Lawmakers couldn't help but introduce a record number of bills in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Washington may also be added to that list, depending on what happens in the second part of its biennium. More pieces of legislation were prepared for Idaho's 2025 session than in the last 30 years In Idaho, lawmakers introduced nearly 800 pieces of legislation — the highest mark going back at least 16 years. Less than 50% of the legislation actually made it across the finish line. Higher numbers are expected in Idaho, as lawmakers now individually introduce and approve every state department budget, rather than just one large state budget. Still, the numbers are staggering, not only for lawmakers who work at the state capitol, but also for citizens who try to follow the session and be involved in the process. Making it more challenging in Idaho is the sometimes minimal lack of notice regarding hearings for bills that have been introduced. We've recommended that lawmakers commit to a Rule of Three to allow citizens more time to be engaged. In Montana, lawmakers also hit a record of 1,761 bills introduced, with a little more than half being signed into law by Gov. Greg Gianforte. Montana's joint Rule 40-40 'allows members of the Montana Legislature to request an unlimited number of bill or resolution drafts before December 5. After that date, a member may request the Legislative Council to prepare no more than seven bills or resolutions. Unused requests by one member may be granted to another member. The limits do not apply to code commissioner bills or committee bills.' In Wyoming, which divides sessions among general session years and budget years, lawmakers also hit a record of 556 bills introduced. But only 31% became law. Washington state lawmakers were by far the least productive, passing only 19.5% of the more than 2,000 bills they introduced. And they're not done yet, as Washington works on a biennium and lawmakers will return next January to continue increasing the number. Passing legislation certainly isn't a contest. And this column is in no way an encouragement to increase the across-the-finish-line percentages. But it is worth pointing out that introducing legislation takes time and resources — resources that are provided by taxpayers (so perhaps a new state rock shouldn't be high on a lawmaker's list). More bill introductions also make tracking your elected official's work more difficult. Some states, including Arizona, California, New Jersey, Colorado, North Carolina, Florida, North Dakota, Indiana, Louisiana and Montana have sought to restrict how many bills a legislator can introduce each session. Do all states need a rule that limits a lawmaker's appetite for more and more legislation? Maybe. But we'd rather see a self-imposed diet. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump asks Congress to make (some of) DOGE's illegal cuts legal
President Donald Trump sent Congress a memo Tuesday night asking lawmakers to sign off on his administration's demand for roughly $9.4 billion in immediate spending cuts. If Congress passes that rescissions package, funding to NPR, PBS and a slew of foreign aid programs would be officially slashed. If this idea sounds familiar, it's because Trump is asking Congress to take back money for programs that he and Elon Musk have illegally refused to spend. The request is a nod to the way things are supposed to work under the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act, a law that makes it clear that the president has no authority to unilaterally withhold, or 'impound,' money the legislature has appropriated. Thus, the request itself is a tacit admission from the Trump administration that its refusal to spend money Congress has appropriated is against the law. If an administration doesn't want to spend money that has been budgeted, a 1974 law requires the White House to submit what boils down to a request for Congress to take its money back. Only after both chambers approve would the budget authority granted to specific departments and agencies be rescinded. Congress now has 45 days to pass the package before it expires and the administration is once again legally required to spend that money. In the memo passed on to Congress, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought laid out 22 specific cuts to be made. The largest single item in Vought's request would fully eliminate $1.07 billion allocated over the next two fiscal years to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The CPB, as those of us who grew up watching 'Sesame Street' know, is the biggest source of funding for many PBS stations. Trump signed an executive order to slash the CPB's funding last month, but NPR and PBS have called the order unconstitutional and sued to have it overturned. But the bulk of the requested cuts are focused on drawing down funding to various international projects the Trump administration has decided 'do not align with an America First foreign policy agenda.' They apparently include such controversial concepts as promoting democracy ($83 million rescinded from the Democracy Fund), helping children ($437 million in contributions to UNICEF and other United Nations programs terminated), fighting HIV/AIDS ($400 million cut from programs like the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR), and saving lives after natural disasters ($496 million withdrawn from the International Disaster Assistance account). Among the smaller but pettier cuts requested is $125 million of the U.S. Agency of International Development's operating budget. It has been months since the Department of Government Oversight de facto shuttered USAID, which Musk famously boasted had been fed 'into the woodchipper,' with most of its contracts illegally cut and its employees fired. Many of those laid-off employees are also suing the administration for circumventing Congress in trying to shut down an agency Congress established by law. As with many things budget-related, several things are true at once here. On the one hand, the money that would be clawed back would undoubtedly have major, catastrophic impacts on the work it's funding. On the other, the $9 billion package is a drop in the bucket compared to the $2 trillion in savings that Musk originally promised to find with DOGE and a drop in the ocean compared to the annual $6.8 trillion federal budget. Getting the package through Congress would require only Republican votes, but that doesn't mean it will succeed. There has historically been little appetite from Congress for rescission requests; many lawmakers are aware of the political risk that comes with publicly voting to cut specific programs, especially popular ones. As Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, recently noted to reporters, 'there hasn't been a successful rescission package in many, many years.' But Musk has been unhappy with the lack of enthusiasm from Congress for codifying DOGE's cuts. The Tesla CEO, who just left his quasi-official government role, slammed the House's megabill as a 'pork-filled ... abomination.' Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he called Musk to talk to him about the bill but got no answer. Even if congressional Republicans balk at the relatively small package, Vought has a backup plan: keep breaking the law. The OMB director recently appeared on CNN not only to say this was 'the first of many rescission bills,' but also to insist that impoundment remains on the table. He also echoed a truly absurd claim from his former think tank that as long as you illegally withhold money within the 45-day window before a fiscal year ends, you can do an end-run around Congress. To repeat, in presenting congressional Republicans with the chance to place a veneer of legality on DOGE's actions, the White House is tacitly admitting that the power of the purse still lies in Congress' hands. But Vought's attitude makes it clear this is a 'heads I win, tails you lose' proposition. If Congress doesn't go along with its rescission package, the Trump administration will simply continue to do as it has done and usurp the power of appropriation for itself. The sad thing is there are surely plenty of GOP lawmakers who, to avoid risking difficult votes, are willing to surrender their awesome power. This article was originally published on
