Driving cross-country from metro-Detroit to Winchester, Idaho was an experience filled with anticipation and curiosity. It rained throughout most of the drive, and I guess that was a sign, as it continued to rain almost constantly for the first three weeks in camp. Combine that with a leaky tent and my first experience camping in an intact forest with coyotes and black bear revealing themselves from time to time, and my internship was off to an interesting start. I was surprised at how quickly I got into the rhythm of life at wolf camp. After just a couple of days I didn't think much about home or televisions and computers and all that other stuff I was separated from, at least while in camp. Living in the forest here with Piyip and the Owyhee Pack was an experience that was refreshing and new. Life was more basic in camp, and I felt more in tune with the natural rhythm of life here. As soon as the wolves started to trust me and recognized me as a staff member here, things got even better and more rewarding. I spent most of my time the first few weeks here rifling through all the books on wolves and interpretation I could find. I also usually had one or two field guides with me on enclosure walks in an attempt to learn all the native plants and wildlife that also call this place home. I spent days working and reworking outlines for my first guided tours trying to fit everything I could into a two-hour presentation. In these attempts I learned a lot about my surroundings and developed a few good ideas on how to get the public to see wolves in a different light. However, I think this method of understanding, at the least, was not deep enough, and at the most, caused me to completely miss the lessons to be learned from the wolves and the forest I was living in. I'm not sure who was the first to acknowledge this truth, but I'm sure it has been said countless times that "Human sciences dissect everything to understand it, and destroy everything to analyze it." I was seeing this place in only biological, ecological terms and thus, eliminating the possibility of anything deeper. I even noticed myself going against everything I believed about education in this attempt to package these wolves into only scientific, tangible terms. The truth is, at the last the way I see it, is there is an enormously large intangible aspect to these wolves and this forest that speaks of their value in greater terms than their value "to" something (the environment, humans, etc.). As soon as I realized this I drastically changed my approach. I spent much more time sitting with the wolves and much less time reading. I spoke less to visitors and let the wolves speak for themselves, all I could do is help the visitors listen.

As I sit on Jeremy's hammock (shhh..) with his cat Rhundi, I feel very content with my decision to come here. Piyip, Himtuuqin', KucKuc, Leq'eyleq'ey, XayXayx, and Miyooxat all taught me numerous things, but the most important lesson was taught by all of them. This lesson was learning how to listen. The forest is full of voices and the wolves have a very intricate language that, if we can learn how to listen to them, we can come to understand them on a deeper level. Thank you everyone at WERC, and especially the wolves, for a summer filled with new experiences, friendships, learning, and possibly more important, unlearning.

Jerry Heath , WERC Summer Intern