In the early 1900s, national parks were more about looks than actual conservation. Park managers would clear underbrush, cut trees for views, and kill thousands of predators like mountain lions and wolves. They didn't realize how much damage they were doing to the ecosystems. Enter George Meléndez Wright, a scientist who changed everything.

Wright grew up exploring nature around San Francisco. He was a Boy Scout and started an Audubon Society chapter in his high school. He studied forestry at UC Berkeley and learned from top biologists. His fieldwork took him to many national parks, where he honed his skills and made important discoveries.

When Wright became a ranger at Yosemite in 1927, he saw firsthand how parks were being mismanaged. He befriended Maria Lebrado, an Indigenous woman who had lived in Yosemite Valley. She helped him understand that the land wasn't as pristine as people thought. This made Wright question what "wilderness" really meant.

At the time, the Park Service focused on making parks look nice for visitors, not on real conservation. They removed dead trees, allowed unrestricted elk hunting, and set artificial boundaries that left animals unprotected. The worst part was the mass killing of predators. Between 1916 and 1928, over 8, 000 wolves, 324, 000 coyotes, and thousands of other predators were killed. Wright found this shocking and unsustainable.

Wright led the Park Service's first wildlife survey and became the first chief of its wildlife division. He argued that predators had a vital role in nature. In 1929, he helped create a new policy that banned the extermination of predators, except in rare cases. This was a huge shift, but Wright faced resistance from old-school rangers who were used to killing predators.

Thanks to Wright's efforts, park superintendents changed their policies. They started managing predators more carefully and even shifted some teams to other tasks. Today, the Park Service could use more advocates like Wright to fight against anti-science movements and promote real conservation.

GEORGE MELENDEZ WRIGHT

The Scientist Who Saved America's Wild Predators

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