{"id":488796,"date":"2026-02-25T02:57:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T02:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/488796\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T02:57:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T02:57:07","slug":"influential-outdoorsman-says-wolves-cost-western-states-more-than-tourism-brings-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/488796\/","title":{"rendered":"Influential Outdoorsman Says Wolves Cost Western States More Than Tourism Brings In"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s commonly argued that wolves are worth millions to the economies of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, because they\u2019re such tourist magnets.<\/p>\n

However, others think that wolves ultimately drain more from the states\u2019 economies than they bring in, because of losses to big game herds and livestock industry, as well as the massive legal fees that states incur fighting lawsuits from wolf advocate groups.<\/p>\n

Trinity Vandenacre of Townsend, Montana is among those who think that wolves cost more than they bring in.<\/p>\n

The outdoorsman, who has more than one million followers on his YouTube channel Life in the West<\/a> and other social media platforms, told Cowboy State Daily that he\u2019s learned much by traveling across the West and talking to ranchers, hunters and others directly\u00a0affected\u00a0by wolves. \u00a0<\/p>\n

He says his interviews and storytelling help give a voice to those who\u2019ve been overlooked. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Among the biggest hidden costs of wolves are the legal fees that\u00a0states\u00a0rack up, fighting lawsuits filed by animal welfare groups and others wanting to maintain or expand Endangered Species Act protection for wolves and grizzly bears, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about the costs to the taxpayers that we spend to fight these things, in our agencies? Then we\u2019re talking hundreds of millions of dollars,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Rob Edward, Rocky Mountain Wolf Project co-founder and president, told Cowboy State Daily that he questions the idea that wolves are an economic drain.<\/p>\n

Even when wolves cost people money, such as by killing livestock, wolf advocates, state residents and others are willing to make up the difference, he said.<\/p>\n

He pointed to Colorado\u2019s \u201cBorn To Be Wild\u201d license plate campaign, which raised $600,000 its first year and roughly $1 million the second year, to help ranchers make up the cost of livestock killed by wolves, Edward said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s evident \u201chow much people are willing to shell out for the simple knowledge that wolves are on the ground, and the ability to go see them,\u201d Edward said.<\/p>\n

Is The Benefit All Local?<\/p>\n

Vandenacre\u00a0said wolf advocates often point out that wolves bring in \u201c$82 million\u201d per year to Yellowstone National Park\u2019s gateway communities, such as Gardiner, Montana.<\/p>\n

That figure is based in research. It\u2019s according to\u00a0a 2021 study<\/a>\u00a0conducted by the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research at the University of Montana.<\/p>\n

Vandenacre doesn\u2019t question its validity in terms of the $82 million figure, but he argues that it falls short of telling the whole story.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThat is in, what, three towns on the edge of Yellowstone National Park,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, wolves\u2019 effect on hunting, has far-reaching effects across the region, he said. And there doesn\u2019t seem to be\u00a0an\u00a0interest in nailing down just how much that is costing in terms of lost hunting opportunities, fewer hunting tags sold, hunting outfitters losing\u00a0business\u00a0and the like.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the cost to ranchers can\u2019t be\u00a0calculated\u00a0only\u00a0in terms of just the cattle that wolves kill, he said.<\/p>\n

The wider effects must be taken into consideration, he argued, such as the overall weight loss to an entire cattle herd if the animals are stressed by wolves\u2019 presence.<\/p>\n

Every pound lost on a cow is dollars lost to the rancher, Vandenacre\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re doing to our food supply and our recreation and our industries across these states is incalculable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Debate Over Hunting Effects<\/p>\n

Edward said he\u2019s not aware of any studies done to calculate the costs of wolves to hunting in Western states.<\/p>\n

But he still questions the idea that wolves hurt hunting.<\/p>\n

He pointed out that Wyoming, Montana and Idaho all have more elk now than they did when wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone and remote areas in Idaho in the mid-1990s.<\/p>\n

And while hunters might hold a dim view of wolves, the predators might give hunters an advantage in some cases, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWolves are helping hunters, because they\u2019re pushing elk to move around more,\u201d Edward said.<\/p>\n

Also, by weeding out sick and injured animals from elk herds, wolves leave bigger, healthier animals for hunters to take, Edward said.<\/p>\n

Vandenacre\u00a0said just looking at the sheer number of elk doesn\u2019t tell the entire story.<\/p>\n

There are specific areas where wolves have severely slashed the number of elk, he said.<\/p>\n

As an example, he cited the South Fork herd in Montana\u2019s Bob Marshal Wilderness. It once numbered in the thousands but is now only about 300, he said.<\/p>\n

Wolves knocking back a particular herd, where other areas across the West are teeming with elk, might not seem like a big deal at first glance.<\/p>\n

However, Vandenacre\u00a0said the herds that have been hit the hardest by wolves also tend to be in hunt units with the most public land.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, where\u00a0do\u00a0all those hunters go?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In many instances, wolves killing elk in some hunt areas pushes more hunters into areas that are mostly private land.<\/p>\n

Particularly in eastern Wyoming and Montana, and in Idaho\u2019s lowlands, that\u2019s left hunters stuck in situations where huge elk\u00a0herds\u00a0are holed up on private property, where hunters can\u2019t get to them, he said.<\/p>\n

And if the wolves kill too many elk in one area, they aren\u2019t going to stay there, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are the wolves going to do? They\u2019re either going to starve to death, or\u00a0they’re\u00a0going to move,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He also argues that \u201cwe spent a ton of money restoring elk and moose herds.\u201d<\/p>\n

So when wolves kill those animals, how is the cost-to-benefit ratio calculated, he said.<\/p>\n

Managing By Numbers?<\/p>\n

Vandenacre\u00a0said that as he sees it, state wildlife agencies are beholden to manage big game animals and wolves according to numbers.<\/p>\n

The \u201cobjective numbers\u201d for elk herds might be based on how many elk ranchers will tolerate, before they think there are too many elk raiding their haystacks, or gobbling up forage before cattle can get to it.<\/p>\n

Likewise, wolves may be hunted in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. But if too many wolves are killed, and certain thresholds are crossed, federal protection for wolves will kick back in, and hunting will be stopped, he said.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d like to see wolves, grizzlies and other predators managed according to a \u201cpredator to prey ratio\u201d that takes into consideration the long-term effects on hunting.<\/p>\n

Edward said that \u201chunter success rates\u201d in elk hunt areas across the West have remained steady since wolves were reintroduced.<\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t think Colorado\u2019s ongoing wolf reintroduction plan is a threat to the state\u2019s treasured elk herds.<\/p>\n

And programs such as the \u201cBorn To Be Wild\u201d license plate campaign can help bridge the gap in opinions about wolves between rural and urban Coloradans, he said.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Vandenacre traveled to Colorado to interview ranchers in the wolf reintroduction zones there.<\/p>\n

He thinks it\u2019s na\u00efve to assume having wolves will work in a state that\u2019s changed so much since wolves and grizzlies thrived there in the 1800s.<\/p>\n

\u201cHunters can manage the elk herds there (in Colorado),\u201d he said, so there was no biological need to bring wolves back in.<\/p>\n

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s commonly argued that wolves are worth millions to the economies of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, because they\u2019re…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-488796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}