Indisputable Evidence that ELK are in TROUBLE!

Here are three elk distribution maps from a recent book on the central part of YNP----the 4th file is the citation.

Map 1 is the distribution of wintering elk prior to the introduction of wolves.

Map 2 is the distribution of elk in the same area a few years after wolves were released,

While Map 3 is the current distribution of elk.

NOTE THE SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN ELK DISTRIBUTION WROUGHT BY WOLVES. This is similar to what was observed in both Banff and Jasper National Parks in Canada when wolves naturally decolonized those areas. The habitat is still there, but the elk no longer are-----this is a clear example of WHY HABITAT IS LARGELY IRRELVANT!!!!!!!!!-----Moreover, the only reason there are any elk left at all is because the remaining elk can flee into the deep water of the Madison River to avoid wolves. The elk also try and escape wolves by fleeing into the Fire hole and Gibbon Rivers, but those rivers are generally too shallow and the wolves are able to kill those elk. This is also an example of apparent, or predator-mediated competition. The wolves have been able to collapse both the numbers and distribution of elk by subsisting on bison as an alternative prey. The inside joke on all this is that the Greens have been sueing the Park Service for years to ban snowmobiles from YNP because of claimed adverse effects on wildlife---when what has really impacted wildlife is wolves! ... Which the Greens want more of through out the entire West! --- Logic and science not withstanding!