44 Nebraskaland • April 2023
A Return
to the
Plains
Wolves in Nebraska
By Sam Wilson, Furbearer and
Carnivore Program Manager, Nebraska
Game and Parks Commission
he howls of wild wolf packs have been gone from
Nebraska for more than 100 years, but recently a few
dispersers walked hundreds of miles into the state to
return to plains where the species was once common.
Few wild animals hold a larger place in cultures around
the world than wolves. They are a symbol of the wild that
has inspired legends, lore, fear, reverence, myths, fairy tales
and books. They have been viewed as villains, heroes and
partners throughout the ages. Societies have put forth great
efforts to destroy or to restore this species.
When the first people arrived in North America, wolves
were living in fierce competition with a large suite of predators
including mountain lions, jaguars, brown and black bears,
coyotes, and now-extinct animals like sabertoothed cats,
giant short-faced bears, American lions and cheetahs, and
their distant relative the dire wolf. By the time Europeans
made their way to Nebraska, wolves were one of the few
survivors flourishing on prairies grazed by the world's
greatest herds of large animals. Millions of bison roamed the
plains before settlement along with vast herds of elk and
pronghorn. And with these herds followed tens of thousands
of wolves. They hunt in unison as a pack and were one of
the most dominant forces on Nebraska's prairies, following
herds and defending kills from grizzlies — the other powerful
predator of the time. This is the landscape that Meriwether
Lewis and William Clark observed in 1804 when the men
journeyed through Nebraska and other plains states.
T
