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Long before there were TV shows, movies and books, stories were passed on orally from generation to generation.

It's a tradition that continues today in many Ojibwe households.

Part legend and part history.

These stories represent the Ojibwe's cultural beliefs and explain the relationships they have with wildlife and the environment.

For the Ojibwe there is no deeper connection between wildlife and people than there is with the wolf.

Today, we're going deeper into the history of wolves and their relationships with humans, other wildlife and the environment.

So join us as we head into the outdoors.

(music) “Grab your gear and” “Lets explore.” “As we discover” “The wild outdoors.” “Science.

Discovery.” “Is what we do.” “You can make our Earth.” “A bright and better planet.” “By joining us.” “In this wide open space.” “Into the Outdoors.” Zach, I don't know about you, but I've seen a lot of movies about wolves, and they always seem to be the villain.

I don't know much about wolves, but that stereotype seems kind of harsh.

Yeah, I agree.

Wolves definitely get a bad rap in movies, but how much do we really know about them?

Exactly.

I only know what I've heard from movies, and something about it feels kind of fishy to me.

You're right.

Something feels off, you know?

I think it's important to learn about something before forming an opinion.

And it's important to hear both sides of the story.

Right.

And while wolves are often depicted as big and bad in movies, that everyone believes that, in fact, I remember reading that for the Ojibwe people.

Wolves actually symbolize protection and guardianship as well as representing family values and brotherhood.

Hey, that sounds like a very different view on wolves.

Let's go talk with some members of the Ojibwe tribe and hear their sides of the story.

(Music) We're here at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center to talk with Michael Price an Ojibwe knowledge keeper.

He can tell us more about the relationship between wolves and the people of the Ojibwe tribe.

Can you tell us a little more about who you are as a person and what you do within the tribe?

(Speaking in Ojibwe) So what I said was I introduced myself in the Ojibwe language.

My name is Michael Price I am Bear Clan.

I work at an organization called the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission.

It's located here in northern Wisconsin, and I am Anishinaabe.

So my current job which I'm the traditional ecological knowledge specialist, and what that means is that I integrate the old joy, language, culture and traditions into the work we do protecting wildlife, fish and the natural resources within the sea, the territories.

Another part of my job is to integrate the traditional stories from our culture into the work that we do.

Can you tell me a little more about what a traditional story is?

Yes.

Prior to colonization, you know, our tribe did not have a written language.

What we had were stories that would be passed down throughout the generations.

These stories contained teachings that were a moral, ethical and spiritual teachings as well.

So could you tell us about the importance of wolves and the Ojibwe culture?

Yes.

So the importance of wolves to us as a people go all the way back to our creation story.

It goes back to a time when the first human being was placed on Earth.

And according to our stories, that first person is sometimes referred to as Anishinaabe.

Sometimes that person referred to as.

So when Anishinaabe was first placed on the earth.

According to our stories, he was all alone.

He experienced great loneliness.

And so the great spirit noticed this so he sent down a companion.

And that companion was a wolf.

And together they traveled the entire countryside, naming all the trees, the plants, the animals, the lakes, the rivers, the mountains.

And when this journey was complete, the great spirit said to both of them, Your journey has now ended.

Now you both will travel your own separate paths, but always remember that you are related.

And you have been connected since the beginning.

So that story to us as a people tells us that ma'iingan the wolf is our closest relatives and that we have an obligation to protect our relatives, just like we would protect any of our other human relatives as well.

We don't believe that we are above ma'iingan the wolf.

We believe that we are equals and that we both have the same right to walk on this land.

That sounds like a really special relationship that you have with the wolves.

What kinds of lessons can humans learn from wolves?

I'm glad you asked that.

Most of the country sees wolves as being a villain, or they see them as being a menace, and they see them as being in a negative light.

But for our people, we see the wolves as part of our kinship, part of our family.

And one of the ways that we look at wolves, we look at a wolf as a teacher.

The wolf teaches us about family values because a pack is basically a family.

It's its children.

It's a mother, a father, it's grandparents.

If you watch a wolf pack, you will see that wolves take care of each other's pups while they're out hunting.

So that teaches us about taking in people into our family who may not be related to us, and that creates the extended family.

Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today and sharing with us your culture.

We really appreciate it.

Hearing this story really makes you wonder how wolves ever got their bad reputation in the first place.

Unfortunately, the way Hollywood portrays wolves often creates this false idea of what they are like in people's minds.

And those stereotypes contribute to the way real wolves are treated by people.

Let's meet up with Andy to get the real story and learn more about our history with wolves.

Hi, Andy.

Hi.

Thanks for having us here today.

Yeah, you bet.

Would you mind telling us a little more about our history with wolves, from your perspective?

For a long time, the Native Americans that were here prior to European settlement and had a pretty harmonious relationship with wolves and their natural prey.

But as colonial settlers moved into the area from across coming from Europe and pushed them to the Midwest, things started to change and they hunted a lot of the natural prey of wolves, the elk, the deer, moose and caribou, along with changing the forest type and getting rid of a lot of the habitat that was needed to support those populations.

And as that occurred, there was a shift in focus to the wolves trying to find food to things like livestock, which created problems and led to bounties and unlimited hunting on wolves.

And that really kind of set the stage for the next several decades of their history here in Wisconsin.

So do people still hunt wolves today?

The answer to that is actually yes and no.

It's changed a number of times, actually, over the last ten years or so where wolves were under endangered species protection.

Federally, some state protections as well.

Currently, wolves are back under federal endangered species protection again as of this last February.

How do those regulations help wolves recover?

So one thing that the endangered species law does is it provides a consistent set of regulations across a broader area that covers the entire range of a species, provides consistent regulations on protecting habitats, and provides penalties that help deter folks from illegally killing animals.

You know, wolves don't recognize our boundaries, state boundaries or county boundaries.

They roam across their natural environment.

But, you know, they're really capable of regulating their own take and harvest to suit the size of their pack and their needs at any given time.

One of the ways that wolves regulate themselves and their prey abundance is by defending territories.

And for that to work, obviously, they need to be able to let other wolf packs in the area know that they're around.

And they do that through scent marking along their edges in their territory and also a lot of times through verbal communication for them, which would be things like howling and actually tonight were planning to go out and do a howling survey in one of the local pack territories to see if we can get a response.

And we do that for a couple different reasons.

One, we want to see if the animals are present in that area to confirm that there is a pack this time of year.

If we're lucky, we might hear pups howling as well.

If we can get that, then we'd have some indication that pups were not only born in that pact this spring, but have survived to this point in the summer.

So if you're interested in that, maybe you can join us tonight where we try to.

That would be great.

Wonderful.

So we're out here in the National Forest.

We have a GPS collar on a breeding female for this pack of wolves around here.

We know that she actually had pups this spring.

We're fairly certain that the pups, anyway, are located about a mile down this Woods Trail.

So what we'd like to do is try to get some idea of survival from using a different technique.

And through howling, we get close enough.

Maybe pick up radio signals.

We're still a little over a half mile away.

How about you guys try to do some holwing from here and see what happens.

We might get a response.

We might not.

Okay.

All three together, and then we'll be quiet.

Listen to the response.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(Howling) (Howling) So how many pups do you think you're, you know, probably two or three.

Two or three.

One or two.

Yeah.

Good job.

Wow.

So what if you guys think of your attempts at howling trying to locate the wolf pack and some pups?

Honestly, it was really cool.

Like, it was really fun.

I like it a lot.

Yeah, it was a really fun experience, going all the way out there and seeing all the technology used and keeping track of where all these things are.

There's sure no better place to come out and see wolves and other wildlife than here in our national parks and our national forest like where we are tonight.

Wolves are incredibly important to maintain the food chain and the health of species they interact with, but also the ecosystem itself.

Wolves have actually been proven to have a major impact on the landscape in which they live.

To learn more about this, we'll be looking at the nation's first national park, Yellowstone.

Yellowstone is a great example of how wolves impact their environment.

We're here with Erik Larson, a professor and expert in the relationships between predator and prey species in Yellowstone.

So, Erik, can you tell us a little more about the history of wolves in Yellowstone?

Sure.

In 1872 was when Yellowstone National Park was first established.

And in the early part of the history of Yellowstone, wolves were persecuted.

They were poisoned.

They were trapped.

They were shot on site.

By 1926, wolves were actually extinct in Yellowstone Park.

They had been completely eradicated.

Legislation the Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973, which set the framework for the 1995 reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone Park, when 30 wolves were brought down from Canada and released into Yellowstone.

And those were the wolves that formed the basis of the population.

How did the loss of wolves impact other species?

Wolves are what's called an apex predator.

And an apex predator is a predator that's at the top of the food chain.

Examples would be wolves are bears, lions, tigers.

When you remove one of those, that causes ripple effects all through the ecosystem in the composition of the other animal species.

Did the loss of wolves have an effect on the landscape?

Well, that's actually one of the most interesting parts of the of the wolf story in Yellowstone Park.

And when I went to the park in 1996 to start my work, I was interested in studying Aspen, which is, of course, a tree.

But I ended up studying wolves because they had an effect on aspen populations.

So when I first came to the park, the elk population, which was about 20,000 at that time, was completely suppressing the growth of new aspen trees in the park by eating the sprouts in the wintertime.

In the 20 years that I've worked there since since the wolves have been reintroduced, the elk population has fallen to approximately 5000 from 20,000.

And we have seen a tremendous regrowth in in Aspen.

The really amazing aspect that we have discovered is that wolves not only control prey populations like elk, but they also actually control the composition of the vegetation looks like within Yellowstone Park.

And that's really, I think, a really amazing discovery.

So what are the things that people should take away from the success story?

Well, there are several things I think that are really important here.

And the first one is the importance of these apex predators.

They've been persecuted by humans for a long, long time, but they have a place in nature there.

One of the pieces that makes the natural world work in the in the way that it does.

People always want you do something today and you see a result tomorrow.

Right.

But these things in nature take a long, long time to play out.

The reintroduction of the wolf has shown that we can go in and we can correct the balance of nature.

And I think that gives me hope.

It shows that if as a society, if we have the willpower to do it, we do have the ability to make the world a more balanced, ecologically and I think, a better place.

It's pretty incredible to learn about how big of a role wolves play in their environment.

I guess that's why they're considered a keystone species.

Here's Josh with a little recap on what we just learned.

This is into the outdoors.

Wild about wildlife with Josh.

Don't cry wolf just yet.

Wolves are often seen as a bad guy, but they play a key role in keeping ecosystems healthy.

Wolves keep that population of other species in check.

This positively impacts the way herds move, trees grow, and even the way a river's flow.

Not such a villain now, huh?

Thanks.

Josh, we've seen how wolves have made a huge impact on the environment in Yellowstone National Park, but that's not the only place they've made a difference.

Wolves are also a really big part of the ecosystem on the island of Isle Royale up in Lake Superior.

The Wolves first came to the island by crossing the frozen lake in 1948.

Since then, the population has changed drastically, with sometimes having as many as 50 wolves on the island to as few as two.

These changes in population usually have something to do with the Wolves primary food source, which is the moose, but it can also be caused by spread of disease, lack of genetic diversity, climate change, or other random events.

Did you know that wolves primarily hunt the weaker members of the herd, like the sick and elderly?

This actually helps keep the herd strong and give the wolves a reliable food source throughout the harsh winters.

This relationship is known as the predator prey relationship, the wolf being the predator and the moose being the prey.

So what happens when wolves are taken out of the ecosystem?

It affects the entire food chain.

Since Isle Royale is an island.

There aren't a lot of species that live there in the first place.

But this also means that wolves are the only apex predator on the island.

So that directly impacts the moose and beaver populations.

Without wolves to keep the prey species in check.

They'll become overpopulated and over eat the vegetation until there is not enough left to sustain their population.

The population of wolves on the island has always gone up and down.

But in 2012, the wolf population got so low that there was little hope they would recover on their own.

Sound familiar?

This situation is similar to what happened in Yellowstone with the loss of wolves.

That's why the National Park Service stepped in to protect this ecosystem by creating a plan to reintroduce new wolf survival in 2018, Isle Royale, National Park and the partners of the project released the first two new wolves on the island.

They relocated wolves from Minnesota, Michigan and Ontario to help increase the wolves genetic diversity.

Between 2018 and 2019, they released a total of 19 new wolves onto the island, and they've had multiple litters of wolf pups since then.

The purpose of this reintroduction plan was to introduce enough wolves to once again function as an apex predator, as well as to encourage mating and park establishment.

It's crazy how one species can be so important in so many different ways.

Like how wolves aren't just important for the environment and other species, but they also hold a lot of cultural significance.

Let's head back to Red Cliff to learn more about the role wolves play in the Ojibwe tribe.

So we've already learned about the cultural significance that wolves have with the Ojibwe tribe.

But do they have any environmental impacts?

Kind of like they do at Yellowstone and on Isle Royale?

Yeah, definitely.

They help maintain a healthier deer population.

You know, they help limit by limiting the deer population.

It helps protect more culturally significant plants, such as berries and rare medicinal plants, which tribes, tribes like to use.

So it seems like the wolf is very beneficial for everyday life.

Yeah.

The Ojibwe see the wolf as the brother.

In our teachings, the wolves and the Ojibwe have tied fates like what happens in the world for having the Ojibwe and vice versa.

So it sounds like you have a partnership with the wolves.

So what do the Ojibwe people do for the wolves?

So it's in the Red Cliff Reservation, and I believe all other Wisconsin tribes are hunting and trapping of wolves is not allowed except for research by tribal staff.

So with my position at Red cliff as a wildlife technician, we trap and collar wolves.

And with that information, we're able to determine park territory and size down sites, rendezvous sites, kill sites.

And with this scholar project, we have actually documented several illegal kills of wolves.

The work Ron and Andy do with Cliff, which helps us understand more about the Wolves movements and how to prevent conflicts with hunters and farmers in the area.

That sounds like a pretty cool relationship that the Ojibwe have with wolves.

I wonder what this relationship is like outside of our national parks and tribes.

I think I know someone who can help us with that.

Come on, let's go.

Thanks, Ron.

Thank you.

Pleasure.

Good luck, guys.

Just like the boys have their special connection with the wolves, it's important for us to properly manage our relationship with wolves as well.

That's why I asked Adrian Treves to meet us here to teach us more about our relationship with wolves today.

So who is Adrian Treves?

Adrian Treves is a professor and expert on carnivore coexistence.

Carnivore coexistence?

What does that mean?

I think I can answer that question.

Professor Treves, thanks for meeting us here.

This is my friend Zach.

Nice to meet you, Zach.

It's nice to meet you, too.

So what can you tell us about carnivore coexistence?

Well, it really means sharing the landscape with these animals, like coyotes and wolves.

Oh, so it's similar to how the Ojibwe went to wolves to maintain a healthy ecosystem?

Yeah.

I mean, you you can coexist with animals that you love and care for.

It's a little bit harder if you are fearful of them, that you're scared of them or if they do some kind of property damage.

That's right.

A lot of people view wolves as pests and try to get rid of them.

Yeah.

Especially hunters who might feel competitive for the deer they want to hunt, or some farmers who are fearful for their domestic animals like sheep and cows.

So how can we fix these problems?

Well, it's not easy, but we can.

We have a lot of good examples of how to coexist peacefully without doing harm to each other.

For example, there's lots of ways farmers can protect their livestock from wolves or coyotes.

A lot of non-lethal methods like livestock guarding dogs, special strobe lights, or by herding, that means, you know, we're with a person out there with the domestic animals.

Caring for them.

Also one really important way to coexist, is for hunters not to kill wolves or coyotes wastefully without permits.

That's the leading cause of death for wolves across the US.

And that's a real problem.

I mean, that's criminal behavior and it certainly doesn't help co-existence.

Recent research, scientific research says that there's going to be fewer vehicle collisions with deer in counties that contain wolves.

Another study says that without wolves, our forests are unhealthy and that they're actually economically less valuable also.

So yeah, people can benefit quite a bit from healthy ecosystems with all of the native animals that are that belong there.

It sounds like wolves do a lot more for people than they really get credit for.

What are some things that we can do to help wolves?

Well, already doing it today when you're talking to your audiences and teaching them about wolves.

That improves tolerance.

And on top of that, we can keep protecting and nurturing nature every time we restore wild prairie like behind us.

Every time we plant trees and restore that ecosystem that's helping all the native animals.

Those all sound like pretty reasonable solutions.

Thank you so much for coming out here to talk to us.

It was really nice to meet you.

Yeah.

Thank you for all this great information.

Oh, well, thank you so much, SAC and Maya.

I mean, we're all working for future generations of all life on Earth, and wolves and coyotes are part of that.

We should have learned a lot about wolves these past couple of days.

I was surprised by what I learned, too.

Surprised?

What do you mean?

Well, you see, I grew up on stories like Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs.

But the wolves that we learned about are nothing like that.

I guess I was expecting something a little bit more familiar.

Yeah, I guess there are so many old movies and stories that make wolves seem evil or bad.

But after everything we learned, they seem like the good guys to me.

Yeah, well, I think we've done plenty of background research to make an informed opinion.

I, for one, think the stereotypes are way off.

Agreed.

Wolves are far from being the evil villains they represent in storybooks.

What do you think?

Has your opinion changed?

Well, we hope you had fun investigating along with us, and hopefully you learned the importance of doing your own research.

I know.

I sure did.

But most importantly, we hope that you learned how to coexist with wildlife near you.

Remember, we share this planet with other species.

It's their home, too.

Well, that's all for now.

We'll see you next time we head into the outdoors.

(Howling) (music) “Grab your gear and” “Lets explore.” “As we discover” “The wild outdoors.” “Science.

Discovery.” “Is what we do.” “You can make our Earth.” “A bright and better planet.” “By joining us.” “In this wide open space.” “Into the Outdoors.” The following organizations have provided funding for this into the outdoors television series.