“Rewilding” areas of the western U.S. with gray wolf and beaver populations could help in ecological restoration efforts, according to researchers from Oregon State University (OSU). In the paper, “Rewilding the American West” published in BioScience, co-author, William Ripple, along with 19 other authors are suggesting using portions of federal land — like national parks and national forests — in 11 states to establish potential rewilding habitat for the gray wolf and the beaver.
There has been a sharp decline in both wolf and beaver populations in the western U.S. due to hunting. Beavers were also once abundant in the West, however, due to human trapping for their fur, beaver populations plummeted by 90 percent, according to a press release.
