Dec 12, 2017
Doug
Smith grew up on a farm outside Cleveland, Ohio, which his father
purchased, not to farm but to educate youth about nature and
outdoors. Like many midwest parents I know that had children during
the same time as Doug's youth, they gave him freedom to roam and
explore the natural world. His first love were birds but he enjoyed
every aspect of the woods from trees to salamanders. Around the age
of thirteen, he became interested in wolves and wanted to get more
involved with research. At the age of fifteen, he decided to just
write a number of wildlife biologists to see if they would let him
work with them. Unfortunately, likely due to his young age, he was
turned down with many rejection letters. But he persevered and
didn't give up. More letters were written and sent again at the age
of eighteen. He thought all it would take is just one response that
said "yes" to get his foot in the door. Then, it happened, he did
get that one response and found himself working with researchers
studying a group of captive wolves in Indiana. The doors began to
open for him; later that year he found himself working on the wild
wolf study in Isle Royale National Park located in the middle of
Lake Superior. He ended up working with this project for almost 15
years. Now, since the 1990s he has been the lead wildlife biologist
for the wolf re-introduction program at Yellowstone National Park.
The
message in this little story about Doug Smith is
perseverance is key
when pursuing your passions. He
wrote many letters and received many rejections,
BUT he didn't give up. Now he has a job he is passionate
about and we all benefit.
Doug
is featured on BeProvided Conservation Radio's
podcast on Tuesday, December 12,
2017. Please listen in to hear his story of how he got to
Yellowstone. We talked about the re-introduction of the wolves and
the current status of Yellowstone's ecosystems and surrounding
areas due to the re-introduction. We also discussed the irrational,
but deeply embedded fear, humans have of wolves.
Doug
Smith is the co-author of Decade of the Wolf with co-author Gary Ferguson. This is a beautifully
written book (you do not need to be a scientist to read this!) In
this book you will not only get immersed in the lives of the wolves
that were re-introduced, you get to know personally the scientists
who are faithfully researching and following them through their
lives.
Note:
In
the podcast we talk about a movement of people understanding bird
calls as warning signals when outside hiking. I didn't mention the
name of the book in our conversation. That book is What the Robin Knows by Jon Young. It is a great book and a must read for
any bird and wildlife lover.
Links:
Yellowstone National Park: https://www.nps.gov/yell/index.htm
Wolf
Management Website (Yellowstone National Park): https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/wolfmgnt.htm
and https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/wolves.htm
Below are pictures of Doug Smith during
the collaring of a Delta Wolf at Yellowstone National Park. Photos
were provided by Doug Smith.
