Wolves don鈥檛 just fascinate or intrigue Nathan Varley. They鈥檙e his livelihood.
Varley and his wife, Linda Thurston, run a wolf-watching business For 17 years they鈥檝e helped hundreds of tourists glimpse and photograph the national park鈥檚 famous wolf packs. Customers also see bison, grizzly bears and other wildlife. But it鈥檚 the wolves that most tourists travel for鈥攁nd pay specifically to see.
鈥淚f there weren鈥檛 wolves, we wouldn鈥檛 have a business,鈥� Varley said last month near his home in Gardiner, Montana.
Raised in Yellowstone by park ranger parents, Varley is a biologist who volunteered to help with the park鈥檚 gray wolf recovery project in 1995. He鈥檚 since studied and advocated for wolves while building a business around the opportunities to view them.
Varley said his customers come from all over the globe and will spend as many as six days on wolf watching trips that start before dawn.
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Some of his customers are profoundly affected by their wolf watching experiences. One of Varley's wolf-watching students was so inspired by the experience,
鈥淭hey're the type of people that not just want to see a wolf in Yellowstone, but want to see lions in Kenya, and whales in the Puget Sound,鈥� Varley said of his clients.
And they pay a lot to see the wildlife.
Guided hikes with Varley and his half dozen naturalists start at $800. A six-day wildlife viewing package with lodging on the banks of the Yellowstone River can run around $2,750 per person.
鈥淭he value of wolves in Yellowstone to all the gateway communities around the park is somewhere on the order of $82 million each year,鈥� Varley said, citing the most recent economic studies of the tourism benefits of wolf watching in Montana.
So Varley sounded surprised last month when he heard some tourism leaders on Colorado鈥檚 West Slope said they would never market the state鈥檚 newly-introduced wolves, citing their predatory nature.
Varley sees Colorado鈥檚 wolves as an attraction that should be protected. He points to the state鈥檚 abundance of open land and wide valleys as a reason wolf-watching could develop organically.
鈥淵ou have North Park and South Park. Big, wide open spaces in the mountains that might be great for wolf watching if there's the right kind of roads and access,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think wolves will be an attraction in Colorado鈥hey're just kind of this extra quality of the wild landscape that you have. It鈥檚 like, 鈥極h, we could see a wolf. We could hear one howling at our campsite.鈥欌��
But so far, at the dawn of Colorado鈥檚 wolf reintroduction project, tourism leaders in mountain towns are offering mixed views on the animals. Some are fearful or indifferent, while others are cautiously optimistic they could become an attraction.
Attraction or detriment?
In Glenwood Springs, tourism director Lisa Langer told KUNC in December she wouldn鈥檛 put wolves on marketing brochures.
鈥淣o, I don't think the wolf introduction will be a boon to tourism,鈥� Langer said. 鈥淚 think that it may be a detriment in some ways.鈥�
Langer said she worries that because wolves are predators, they might scare away some visitors from the hiking trails near Glenwood Springs, just as mountain lions do.
And tourism leaders in the nearby Vail Valley also appear skeptical of the potential for wolves to draw crowds. Chris Romer, the president of the Vail Valley Partnership, said there had been 鈥渮ero鈥� conversations about wolf tourism. Instead he raised the fear of wolves killing livestock in the area.
鈥淚t does impact our ranchers and farming community,鈥� Romer said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e seen zero discussion or impact or momentum or anything in regards to tourism.鈥�
But in Grand County, where the first wolves from Oregon were released in December, tourism board leader Gaylene Ore isn鈥檛 ruling out the possibility of marketing the wolves.
She said if packs establish themselves in nearby Rocky Mountain National Park and officials there choose to promote wolf-watching with the backing of wildlife officials, she鈥檇 鈥済et on the bandwagon, for sure.鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 just something alluring about them,鈥� Ore said of wolves in the wild. 鈥淚t's kind of what you think about when you think of the West.鈥�
Ore said she shares the concerns about wolves impacts on the ranching community. And she said any potential marketing of wolves would need to be done 鈥渞esponsibly鈥� with an emphasis on how to view them safely without clogging roads and trespassing on private property.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 anything that would happen soon,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 so early, you know, packs haven't even formed or anything like that."
Last year, Ore traveled to Yellowstone and went on a wildlife viewing tour in part to get a better understanding of the impacts of wolf reintroduction.
鈥淚t was fascinating to go to Yellowstone, but it's a little bit different situation there than it is here,鈥� Ore said. 鈥淲e just don't have the land space that they have to do such tours like that. I think (wolves) are amazing creatures to watch. But, again, I think as a county, we just really want to be respectful and do what's right by all of our stakeholders.鈥�
Interest building
Whether an organized tourism industry develops or not, Colorado鈥檚 wolves are already drawing crowds, both in person and online.
Ore said when one of Colorado鈥檚 new wolves was spotted on a remote road near Kremmling earlier this year, there was an uptick in vehicle traffic in the area.
鈥淎nd it just flooded that area,鈥� she said.
There are other signs of growing interest in the state鈥檚 wolves. Wolf tracking pages are popping up on social media, with followers being not only wolf enthusiasts but also ranchers who want to know where the wolves are to protect their livestock.
In Cripple Creek, wildlife photographer Steve Krull said he鈥檚 planning to try and photograph the wolves this summer. He said snapping shots of the wolves is a bucket list item for many photographers.
鈥淚'm also just fascinated with their intelligence and the expressions on their faces, and the way they live,鈥� he said.
Back in Montana, wolf tracker Nathan Varley also sees wolf watching opportunities developing for Coloradans.
鈥淎s soon as, maybe on social media, there starts to be regular sightings, then all of a sudden you'll get people showing up,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o even if you don't have a more formalized industry going where people are taking people out to see them, I think wolves will be an attraction.鈥�
Meanwhile, there have been no reported livestock deaths from the newly introduced wolves so far. Colorado Parks and Wildlife is also planning to hire new wildlife conflict specialists who can help ranchers deploy fencing and other wolf deterrents.
Now, wildlife officials are readying themselves for another potential milestone: It鈥檚 breeding season, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials say they鈥檒l know soon whether any of the new wolves have had pups.
"Around mid-April is when we would probably have more information about whether a den has been dug and reproduction has happened," said Reid DeWalt, who is overseeing the state's wolf reintroduction program. "So stay tuned."
