Reading Like a Writer: The Ninemile Wolves Response

Question: What specific details stay in your mind? Why? How do these small details lead to larger ideas?

Answer: A detail that Rick Bass described was the progressing "destruction" of wolves, how it took less than 50 years to kill all of the wolves that inhabited Montana. This detail stuck in my mind because everything that we humans do affects our surroundings and the sad part is most people never notice the detrimental changes taking place. This detail developed later in the story on the reverse end and how the wolves have began to rebound so rapidly when protected by law. The destruction of the wolves that inhabited Montana were not driven out of their habitat by the lack of prey, but by humans. The numbers of prey such as deer, and elk have since exploded in size. Rick describes the return of the wolves as inevitable, that life works in its own cycles, and nothing that humans do can change the natural process that has occurred for hundreds of year.
A picture that Rick left in my mind was his description of what a wolf looks like to him. It is not chasing a deer or elk, but being chased away by humans and it is up to us to change this picture.