Often times, park rangers have no more scientific training than our highway patrolmen. There seems to be a trend in the parks toward there being too many nuisance animals and not enough wildlife that the parks were actually meant to protect. Local ranchers killed off many of these animals so their herds of domesticated animals would not be harmed. The gray wolf is finally making a reappearance in Yellowstone, as well as in other western parks. Humans have disturbed the cycle of allowing predators to have free reign of the parks and are instrumental in returning the balance to the necessary areas .
Fires are yet another component of the controversies of natural regulation.
Nearby residents to the parks did not appreciate this course of action. However, park environmentalists claim that the fires are vitally important to the ecosystems within the forests. During fires , small animals hide underground, birds fly away, and insects burrow. Large mammals are usually able to escape without too much difficulty. After the fires burn out, mammals, birds, and insects move back into their homes.