That issue was dealt with effectively when Defenders of Wildlife offered to pay market value for verified losses. Livestock are not numerous on the Olympic Peninsula, but Defenders is prepared to set up a similar compensation program if desired. Bet on it. Opinion polls throughout the nation repeatedly have shown overwhelming public support for wolf recovery. What's more, if experience in Yellowstone and Ontario's Algonquin Provincial Park is any guide, Olympic Park tourism would jump as soon as wolves were present, meaning a welcome infusion of new jobs and tourist dollars in local economies.
Some hunters worry about competing with wolves, but there's little foundation for that concern.
In Minnesota the number of hunters and the number of deer taken remain at extremely high levels, despite an increasing wolf population. Moreover, surveys have found that most hunters support wolf recovery, believing that the presence of wolves enhances their outdoor experience. A National Science Foundation-funded study of possible Olympic Park wolf reintroduction, conducted by students at The Evergreen State College in 1975, found reintroduction biologically feasible. Reintroducing the wolf in the Olympics is an idea whose time has come. All that may be necessary to get things rolling is appropriate encouragement - say from someone such as the dean of Washington's congressional delegation, Rep. Norm Dicks.