R Stewart, WERC

Since the Memorial Day weekend, the Visitor Center has been open seven days a week from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and will continue until Labor Day. For the month of September, the Visitor Center will be open on weekends from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm with guided tours available throughout the week with advance reservations.

To date, we are averaging about 110 general visitors a week with an additional 19 individuals per week scheduling guided tours. The average of 134 per week is an increase over last year's average of 122 per week. Since the last weekend in May, visitors from 32 states plus the District of Columbia along with eight countries have signed the visitor log. There is still interest for individuals from all over to come out and learn more about gray wolves.

The four interns we had this summer along with staff have had the privilege to talk to all of these individuals. Some were curious about what WERC was and its history while others had specific questions about wolves and the re-introduction into Western states.

Usually, each family received an information packet to help them learn more about the gray wolf and how to contact us for more information.

Most of our visitors were first time visitors however; a small percentage are return visitors. A family I spoke to yesterday had first visited WERC in the summer of 1997 when we first started public visitation. They could not believe how tall the trees and other shrubbery had grown. Although they only saw Motomo in 1997, they were delighted to see Motomo, Motoki, and Piyip this visit. Bill equated watching for wolves to fishing in that after you caught your limit, you can relax the rest of the time. So after seeing the wolves in the morning, they were able to relax and enjoy the site the rest of the day. Of course they hoped to see pack members from the observation deck but if they didn't, that was okay.

An evening tour I led a few weeks ago included a couple that visited last year. After telling the group that there is no guarantee of seeing the wolves, they said that it was all right. It seems that when they visited last year and took the guided tour, all four wolves came up to the outside classroom area. In addition to hanging around, they started a group howl right in front of them. With those wonderful memories, I understood that just being at WERC this year was enough for them even if the pack chose not to be social that evening.

Although not everyone who visits WERC sees and/or hears the remaining members of "The Sawtooth Pack: Wolves of the Nez Perce", most leave with a much better understanding of the true nature and behavior of wild wolves and the importance of having wolves back into the ecosystem.

Many of the visitors stated that they would be back and hoped that the Board of Directors continues having this site or at least something like it. To have the opportunity to possibly see and/or hear a gray wolf are memories that last a lifetime.