Unlike his cousin, Wolverine do care.

       This is a bit of a spin off of my last blog post, the one on wonder.  Tonight I went to a program on potential re-introduction of wolverines in Colorado.  The matter is still very much in the research and discussion phase.  A friend of mine there asked how much the program was likely to cost, and, especially with this sequester now in place, I too wondered if the budget would be there.  As I chatted with the friend after, she raised a valid question, "Is this really worth the money right now?"

     Since then, I have been considering her question, which was, I believe only partially a rhetorical question.  I don't know the answer.  On one hand, I can see her point.  With the country in debt and all government funds being stretched in 19 directions at once, is it practical to be spending some of that money re-introducing an animal that has not been reported in this region since 1919? (Exception: there is one lone, male wolverine who made his way to Colorado from Wyoming, over 500 miles, in less than a month.  These animals are extraordinary ramblers. But one lone dude can't reproduce and make a viable population all by his lonesome.)  Would it be better to wait until there's money to spare?

    On the other hand, there are two counterpoints, both worth considering.  The first point is that, especially with climate change decreasing spring snow pack, if we don't help re-establish new populations now, it may be too late to do so by the time we get around to deciding it is a good time.    What is put off for today is easily put off tomorrow as well and put off again the day after that.  If we are always waiting for a more convenient time to fund projects like this, we are sending the message that biological diversity is low priority.   The second point is the wonder factor.  Admittedly, the wolverine is not a keystone species.  They tend to roam over large ranges and never really end up living in densities where they would have a huge impact on prey or plant distribution or the like.  But they are one weird and wild animal.  They can and do capture people's imaginations.

       Looking like dog-sized, shaggy bears they pad along the white tundra on broad snowshoe feet armed with grizzly claws, and, oh yes, they have been known to chase grizzlies and even wolves from a carcass.  Yet very little is known about wolverines and studies on them are few and far between.  Can you imagine what it would feel like to run across one in the wild?

     Funding projects like this supplies jobs to people who are entranced by nature and wild animals.  Admittedly, I would love one of those jobs myself, so I am biased, but I think fueling that kind of fascination is healthy and that the wonder and love from those projects trickles back into society in beneficial ways.  We are, though it is easy to forget sometimes, linked to nature and all living things through the composition of our cells, through our history, through the foods we eat.  Even a the bits and pieces of a computer started out as metals in the earth, or compounds that were the ingredients for a new man-made material.  Understanding the world around us is means of discovering who and what and where we are and how we best should live.   There is also value just in the knowledge itself, and te curiosity that wolverines engender.  Based on the crowd at the public program tonight, I would say that projects like this reintroduction program feed a hunger for stories and foster a love of learning in general.

     Last but not least, is the reason that compels me the most, though it may be the least logically sound. They're wolverines.  Isn't it exciting just to know something so awesome is lumbering through our world?