On March 29th, 1998, eleven Mexican Gray Wolves were released from captivity to the Blue Range Recovery Area of Arizona and New Mexico to embark on a recovery program for their species. The rare subspecies of gray wolf had been absent from the landscape for over 30 years. This week, #Loboweek, celebrates the 26th anniversary of reintroduction to their ancestral home in the wild.
It wasn’t until I studied herbalism and learned to forage food, becoming truly intimate with the land under my feet, that I began to feel like an animal aware of her ecosystem. A veil was lifted that had stood between me and the natural world. Home to countless plants, insects, birds and fungi — whose health and well being is inextricably connected to ours – the land around me came alive. It was then that I realized my life’s work: to reconnect people to nature and, in my own way, remind humans that we too are animals.
Once I felt well-versed in wild medicine, I began offering nature-connection experiences in collaboration with wildlife organizations like the Wolf Conservation Center (WCC) in New York where I finally met a wolf and learned to howl. There, Regan Downey, Education Director of the WCC, taught us about the true nature of wolves while I reintroduced people to edible and healing plants under their feet. This spring marks over a decade of that collaboration.
The Wolf Conservation Center’s mission is “to protect and preserve wolves in North America through science-based education, advocacy, and participation in the federal recovery and release programs for two critically endangered wolf species — the Mexican gray wolf and the red wolf.” Hidden enclosures of red wolves and Mexican gray wolves are ‘off exhibit’ so as to be kept as wild as possible, away from human interference with the hope that one day the wolves might one day return to their rightful place in the wild.
I recently spoke with Regan about the misplaced fear of wolves. When I asked her about the danger of wolves she just laughed and she said, “Honestly, you’re more likely to be killed by a vending machine.” In North America, there have been only 2 fatal wild wolf attacks in the past century, and in the lower 48, there have been none. Deer, on the other hand, cause 1.5 million roadway accidents per year with 150 human fatalities and 10,000 personal injuries, not to mention being a vector for Lyme disease. The absence of wolves has created an imbalance that is far more dangerous than the mythical danger of their presence. Still, Regan told me, people regularly ask nervously what they should do if they encounter a wolf in the wild. She tells them, “Take a picture, you’re so lucky!”
EARTHLY BODIES
Wolves have a large presence in my forthcoming book, Earthly Bodies: Embracing Animal Nature. I recently finished copy edits and am receiving early blurbs for the book jacket. It has been an honor and a thrill to receive blurbs from writers and conservationists I admire. Among them
“With both the last and the first wolf, I wonder, did you know just how alone you were? Beneath this question, lay the other one. The same one that now flickered in my chest as I traveled alone for interviews and research. Were you afraid? I wanted to ask the wolf. And if you were, how did you bear it?”
Her quote makes me think of the last Mexican Gray wolves — canine relatives who roamed the Americas over 700,000 years ago — exterminated and driven from their ancestral homes. Almost Ancestors, a short film created and directed by award winning filmmaker Brišind (of The Doctrine of Recovery) illustrates the parallel paths of suffering and displacement experienced by Mexican gray wolves and Indigenous peoples. Lobos of the Southwest an organization devoted to the Mexican Gray wolf, writes that the films’ message includes the fact that “Lobos need the freedom to roam and connect with other wolves without unnatural boundaries. Likewise, human families, including indigenous families, need the freedom to travel traditional pathways and come together in community. We need bridges, not borders, and welcome mats, not walls.”
Today, there are roughly 257 wild Mexican wolves in the United States and about 45 in Mexico. A tumultuous recovery that began with eleven once-captive wolves 26 years ago.
The worm moon is beginning to wane now but I imagine those of you lucky enough to live amongst wolves heard increasing howls in the moonlight. Here’s to more howls. Our inner and outer wilds need wolves.
NOW, SOME INVITATIONS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS (links are in each title):
SPRING ONLINE PLANT WALK
Saturday, March 30th. Train your attention to detail and discover how heightened awareness of local land can bring you into deepened relationships with your body and Earth.
During Covid I was forced to move in-person classes online like everyone else, and I moved plant walks (like the ones I offered at the WCC) online, too. I offer occasional in-person experiences again now but have come to enjoy the accessibility of online offerings.
The plant walk is free for paid Weeds, Wolves & Wild Women subscribers. You’ll receive a Zoom link Saturday morning. Let me know if you plan to come! If you’d like to upgrade your subscription you can do so anytime.
REWILDING THROUGH WRITING
Intro course, Saturday April 20th
Spring weekend sessions begin April 27th (4 spaces left)
NATURE WRITING COURSE WITH ATLAS OBSCURA
We meet for 5 Tuesdays starting April 23rd. This course is open to all. I would love to see you there!
COYOTE AWARENESS WEEK
The first ever Coyote Awareness week was launched by Project Coyote last week and was a success! Coyotes, another misunderstood carnivore, is also featured in Earthly Bodies. I’m excited to share that I’ll be offering a writing workshop with Project Coyote soon, too. More details to come.
Can't wait to read Earthly Bodies! I have had a strong craving to hear the call of wolves lately. Where I am currently living, there are coyote and I eagerly listen for their calls at night. Would love to learn more about their migrating patterns and behaviors.