There must be few eerier sounds than wolves howling as dusk falls in the wilderness. It is a sound that links us to a time in our development when our integration with our environment was more direct and obvious. Packs of these large carnivores hunted us the way they did other game. Standing in the darkening forest hearing the distant howls of pack members communicating sends a shiver down the spine. It reminds us that we can only pretend to be apart or above nature. Given certain circumstances we could be the prey and not the preditor. It is humbling and healthy for us to be reminded of this from time to time.

Sadly, this is an experience that many in Washington have not had and may never have. In June, the Bush administration announced plans to boost the timber industry on Prince of Wales island, an Alaskan wilderness whose pristine rainforest supports massive spruce, hemlock and cedar trees standing 70 metres high, 6 metres across and perhaps 500 years old. These areas also have an open canopy, so a dense carpet of shrubs and herbaceous plants flourishes beneath the trees. This is the home of the wolves and the deer upon which they prey. Unless there is some miracle this will be another wilderness whose destruction and death our children will mourn.

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