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 Every day at camp offers a new
experience. Here we get to live with wildlife,
seeing everything, not just the creepy crawly
or the cute and cuddly, but the whole
spectrum of life.
At 5:30 a.m. I am awakened by
Chickarees tap dancing on the roof of
my tent. If I move in response they're
likely to give a mini jackhammer-like alarm
call. Walking to the visitor center in the
morning brings a wide array of critters.
Grasshoppers rise out of the dust at
my feet clicking their wings. The invasive
Canadian Thistle that grows on the roadside
swarms with orange butterflies in the
sunlight. Then there are the piles of ground
squirrel feces that must be swept from the
visitor center entrance every morning.
All of this wildlife provides a fitting
backdrop for the realities of camp life. Wolves eat meat and you know its going to
be a good day when you lift a dead goat and
it releases a massive blood clot onto your
leg. Noxious weed control is a good land
management practice that helps to restore
and ecosystem, but controlling weeds on 300
acres of land with four people is next to
impossible. Hours of sweating in the sun
cussing at thistle and Hound's Tongue bears
unsatisfying results. Educating visitors is
a key responsibility of interns, and a job I
very much enjoy; unfortunately a four hour
shift at the visitor center can end in no
visitors and a sunburn.
The day ends, it was likely tiring and
some times unfulfilling. I fix my dinner
over a propane stove and eat quickly; often
bed can't come soon enough. Then, as the
temperature drops, the wolves begin to howl.
It is a sound almost more relaxing than a
massage and it brings me back to reality. I
am here for a reason, and the animals that
I share a camp with make the events of
the day well worth my time. And my time at
camp is only too short.
Olivia Hanson, WERC Summer Intern
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This area is devoted to the memoirs of those dedicated, and slightly crazy, individuals who live in Wolf Camp. A rustic setting devoid of electricity, plumbing, and phone service, camp is located just outside the pack's enclosure and residents live in tents year round. The Wolf Center's resident biologist and typically 2-4 interns inhabit the remote camp to ensure the welfare and security of the pack every day and night, regardless of the weather or danger. Such a life provides a deep insight into the pack's life and essentially causes the Wolf Camp residents to live in harmony with the other forest inhabitants. Life in Wolf Camp is nothing less than an adventure. These are our words. 