Conservation Nation: Video Organizer Answer Key

Video clip #1: “1893 New Mexico”
1.	Settlers were pouring in to New Mexico by the trainload, bringing livestock for ranching, which had become big business.

2.	Settlers referred to the wild wolves as “cattle killers” and were on a quest to exterminate them.

3.	Seton was emotionally divided in the sense he was a hunter while at the same time serving as a naturalist. His love for the preservation of nature often conflicted with his task at hand, to kill Lobo.

Video clip #2: The “wolf problem”
1.	Seton referred to America as growing like an ugly, overfed brat – too healthy to slow down; too young and ambitious to care about what it destroys along the way. 

2.	While Seton noted small groups of pronghorn antelope, the herds in the past had apparently been much more numerous. And a few years earlier, there had been buffalo on the plains, but by the time Seton arrived, there were none.

3.	According to Seton, we created the “wolf problem” first by annihilating their greatest source of food (buffalo) and then by filling the prairie with defenseless cattle.

Video clip #3: Trapping Lobo
1.	Seton finally captured Lobo by first capturing Blanca and placing her body in the barn. He then set traps around this area eventually capturing Lobo. Lobo was finally captured with 4 separate traps on each leg.

2.	The ranger tells a story of a male wolf whose mate died – the male wolf seemed to mourn her, howling for days. 

Video clip #4: Seton’s legacy
1.	A big push in the late 19th century was to “clean up, civilize, and make safe” this region of the country. This included ridding the land of dangerous animal predators such as the wolf. 

2.	Three of the following: 
•	Pushed for creation of more National Parks
•	Helped push through laws to protect migrating birds (which laid the groundwork for every major piece of environmental legislation that followed) 
•	Founded Woodcraft Indians to educate children about the wilderness
•	Founding father of the Boy Scouts of America 

3.	Viewpoint 1: Wolves are bad, and predators – getting rid of them makes life easier for humans. Viewpoint 2: We made a mistake in killing wolves. They are an essential part of the ecosystem and we need to bring them back.