It's More Than Elk

by Jerry Freilich

Wyoming is a land of wide open spaces and few people, and most of us like it that way. We're proud to live here, and happy that things are clean, open and empty. The contentment of knowing we're surrounded by nature reaches its peak when hunting season comes each year. Whether a hunter or not, nearly everyone here treats the almighty elk as the highest form of desirable wildlife and the symbol of our outdoor lifestyle.

But what about the rest of the biosphere? How do elk fit into the larger scheme of things?

Nature is a living fabric. A cross-weave of plants and animals whose tangled food webs, predation and competition drive the natural ecosystems on which we depend for the air we breathe and the food we eat. Yet most of us live in a state of ignorant bliss about the richness around us. Our society no longer stresses identification of animals. We simply trust that somewhere, in some university, there are folks who study it all.

What does biodiversity look like? First of all, it's not charismatic megafauna but enigmatic microfauna that count. Most life forms are small. Large animals are few and far between. In fact, mammals in general contribute little to Wyoming's biodiversity - there are only 117 species of mammals in Wyoming, of which 18 are bats and 27 are mice.

Moving down the size scale - but up the numbers scale - we come to birds. Of the 600 species found in North America, roughly 300 have been recorded in Wyoming. Our state is home to 49 native fish species. Insects comprise Wyoming's greatest biological wealth: of the 30 million insect species that theoretically inhabit the planet, easily 20,000 could live in Wyoming. Critical to the survival of all these creatures large and small are perhaps several thousand plant species.

All of these plants and animals are out there eating, mating, dying and being recycled in the great web of life. But who know or cares about them? Who would even notice if some of them disappeared tomorrow?

I have nothing against hunting and nothing against elk. But I would like to see our love of ungulates expanded into a broader appreciation of nature. It's a fact of life that humans value large game animals. We've set up both state and federal agencies to look after them and care for them. If the numbers of elk drop, those Game and Fish people hear about it promptly! But who cares about water voles, McGillivray's warbler, spotted frogs or, heaven help us, Hesperoperla? In the great scheme of things, 99.9% of the life forms out there have no champion, no legal protection and, worst of all, no one who even knows of their existence.

It seems overwhelming thinking about these numbers. How can one possibly learn all these 300 birds and 49 fish?

More importantly, people will not donate funds or show up at meetings to support things they don't know even exist. The burden is on concerned folks, like you, to learn what you can about the diversity of life in our state. Ask questions. Demand answers. And most of all, don't assume that just because you can go get your elk, that nature is alive and well in Wyoming. It is the very fabric of life we need to protect.