When I picked up Restoring the Balance, I was hoping to learn more about how wolves live and how they affect nature and the balance of life, but I wondered whether the book would be rather academic in style and a dry read. I need not have worried: I found Restoring the Balance enthralling from the start.
John Vucetich spent nearly 25 years conducting fieldwork on Isle Royale, studying the relationship between the local wolf and moose populations. Isle Royale is a large island in Lake Superior, in Michigan, USA. Doing fieldwork there is not for the faint-hearted: there are no dwellings on the island, and for a large part of the year, with temperatures well below freezing, the island is covered with snow and surrounded by the lake's frozen water. In the absence of permanent buildings, the author lived either in a small plane used to track wolves, a small cabin or a tent. His work involved walking in snowshoes through miles of snow and rugged terrain to access the sites where wolves had killed moose, dissecting and then carrying back the remnants of frozen moose carcasses and wolf faeces for lab analysis.
The book is part memoir, part scientific analysis, part historical account and part philosophical essay. In addition to his own observations, Vucetich also covers the experiences of other scientists who worked on Isle Royale, going back to 1959 when scientific observations began there. Some sections, for example on the history and development of the methods used to analyse fluctuations in wildlife populations are more academic, but overall the book is an exciting and enjoyable read.
The book's main premise is that the population of a predator influences the population of its prey, and, in turn, the entire ecosystem. We learn how tightly linked the destinies of various species are with each other: when the moose population increases, so does the wolf population, because food is plentiful and the packs thrive and breed. In time, the increased wolf population leads to a decrease in the moose population, which allows trees to recover from pressure exerted by large numbers of browsing moose, and so the trees, too, can grow and reproduce.
If, as Vucetich has done, we watch this dance for many years, we see a sinusoidal pattern, not unlike that regulating the expression of the genes and hormones that govern our chronobiological rhythms. We also realize how human activities negatively affect this age-old dance, upsetting the delicate balance of life on the island. For example, as global warming proceeds, the lake around the island no longer freezes regularly during the winter. This prevents the influx of new wolves from the mainland, causing inbreeding and malformations in the spines of the wolves on Isle Royal, and subsequently the demise of this population. Vucetich alerted the government about this long before the wolf population declined, when he became aware of changes in the DNA and skeletons of the island's wolves. He suggested introducing new wolves to increase genetic diversity, but was initially ignored (although the coda at the end of the book gives hope as wolves are eventually being reintroduced to the island).
Vucetich invites us to reflect on the value we place on human over animal life, and emphasizes that ecosystem restoration cannot succeed when based on anthropocentrism or misanthropy. He explains that the Ojibwe, Natives whose territory include Isle Royale, believe the wolf is their brother. This kinship means that, as fellow family members, wolves are to be treated with respect. Vucetich's observations of the interactions of species on Isle Royale can be extrapolated to the general state of ecosystems around the world, and inspire us to change it for the better.
Vucetich had me hooked from the start with his observations of the wolves’ behaviour, the stories of their fluctuating lives, and in particular, the evocative accounts of how they work together to hunt moose. His descriptions elicited vivid images in my mind, and I found myself bonding with the wolves and caring about their survival. I particularly appreciated that his observations are not limited to the large and charismatic species such as wolves and moose, but also include the smaller, but no less ecologically important, creatures such as mice and the ticks and parasites that depend on them. He also references previous studies on the interaction of bacteria and their predators, showing how the intricate balance of predator and prey plays out at every level in nature.
The author's deep respect and reverence for animals and nature is clear throughout the book, and inspires the same in the reader. He offers a wide, bird's eye view of our interactions with nature, from field observations to history and conservation policies. In a world where scientists tend to study biological processes in microscopic detail, I found his broad approach refreshing. As someone who has become convinced that our disconnection from nature is at the root of the demise of ecosystems and that this disconnect leads us to reckless exploitation of natural resources, I found this book to be a beautiful and in places poetic call to a renewed and humble respect for the beauty and power of nature.
Open access
