As strangers begin to approach, a stirring inside the double-fenced pen registers to Maria Ferguson.

From the outside, it takes a moment to discern the slowly moving shapes within the dense shade of the enclosure. Two layers of steel-wire fencing distract your focus like a window screen, while the glare of the afternoon sun dares the eye to tune into the darkness.

For the wolves, though, it’s taken no time at all to take in your sights and smells.

The pack’s alpha male, Wa-Ta-Chee - whose Choctaw name means “meeting at the waters of talking spirits” - begins pacing a figure-eight around the enclosure, keeping watch over his pack.

“They’re very protective of their territory,” Ferguson said, asking that you respect it, too.

For child visitors, that means following careful instructions not to run or holler. Grown-ups are told to walk slowly, speak lowly and not to make quick movements.

No fairy-tale villains these, each of the seven pack members at the Wolf Howl Animal Preserve is at one a muse, a cause and a pet for Ferguson. She left her home in Wisconsin four years ago to found this preserve in the Pinedale community, in western Union County not far from the Lafayette County line.

Down here, the land was cheap and roots already in place for her husband, Don, whose family hails from Hamilton in Monroe County.

After a year and a half spent clearing a site on their 43-acre property and making preparations, the couple opened the preserve in September 2005. They’ve since established an extensive Web site at www.everythingwolf.com and begun welcoming a few visitors at the preserve itself.

Her husband said Ferguson “lives, breaths, eats and sleeps wolves.”

It all started with her purchase of a Siberian Husky pup, whose breed she began researching. Digging deeper into Huskies’ wolf ancestry, Ferguson learned that the animals were a threatened species. They’re listed as endangered or threatened in some parts of the world, including the continental United States.

Choosing to champion their cause, Ferguson made a visit to the Wolf Park preserve in Battleground, Ind., and later became a volunteer tour guide and caretaker at a wolf preserve near her home in Wisconsin. The notion of providing a safe haven and educational facility on their own land became a dream for the couple.

Maria, who previously sold insurance, and Don, a self-employed computer programmer, searched for nearly two years for a large tract of land that was affordable.

With their first wolf enclosure now in place for nearly two years, they are in the process of raising some $100,000 to fence in a much larger enclosure of 5 to 7 acres total, including a pond.

The reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park has had a dramatic effect on its environment, helping to restore its ecological balance to a more natural state that was last seen half a century ago.

Since wolves were returned to America’s most celebrated national park in 1995 after an absence of 70 years, young aspen trees have started to grow again for the first time in more than 50 years, research has shown.

Although wolves have no direct impact on the growth of aspens – deciduous hardwood trees that are typical of the American West but in long-term decline – they have made their influence felt through what scientists have termed the “ecology of fear”.

Their return has halved the park’s elk population over the past decade, and those that remain have started to avoid browsing on young tree shoots in areas where they feel particularly vulnerable. The combination of these factors has allowed more saplings to thrive, so that some have reached heights at which they are no longer likely to be eaten by elk and other herbivores.

Scientists say that the phenomenon shows how the existence of a natural food web, complete with a top predator such as wolves, can benefit an entire ecosystem. The aspen is not the first tree to show signs of recovery since the wolves’ return.

“This is really exciting, and it’s great news for Yellowstone,” said William Ripple of the Oregon State University College of Forestry, who led the aspen study. “We’ve seen some recovery of willows and cottonwood, but this is the first time we can document significant aspen growth, a tree species in decline all over the West. We’ve waited a long time to see this, but now we’ re optimistic that things may be on the right track.

“The issue of aspen decline in the American West is huge, and their recovery will depend on local conditions and issues in many areas. In northern Yellowstone, we finally have some good news to report. It’s just a start, but it’s a pretty good start.”

Wolves were eradicated from Yellowstone, which is largely in Wyoming and takes in small areas of Montana and Idaho, in the 1920s, and the decline of aspen and cottonwood trees has been dated to precisely this period. Large trees that were at least 70 years old still stand, but few younger trees survived as new shoots were rapidly eaten by large herds of grazing animals, principally elk, that were no longer kept under control by predation. The loss of trees and shrubs had a major ripple effect throughout the ecosystem, say scientists. There was greater water erosion, a loss of beaver dams, and a breakdown of food webs. Birds, insects, fish and plants were all affected.

The new study, which is published in the journal Biological Conservation, has looked chiefly at aspen growth on land near to streams. It found that over the past decade – since wolves were reintroduced to the park in 1995 – some aspen saplings have grown more than 7ft, putting them above the height at which they can readily be browsed by elk.

The recovery has probably been influenced more by changed elk behaviour than by lower numbers – the elk population is still higher than it was in the mid1960s when aspens were in decline, even though it is much lower than it was a decade ago.

Professor Ripple said: “In riparian zones, where wolves can most easily sneak up on elk, and gullies or other features make it more difficult for elk to escape, we’ve seen the most aspen recovery.

“We did not document nearly as much recovery in upland areas, at least so far, where elk apparently feel safer. But even there aspen are growing better in areas with logs or debris that would make it more difficult for elk to move quickly.”

Robert Beschta, Professor Emeritus of Forestry at Oregon State, said: “When I first looked at these degraded ecosystems in the mid1990s in Yellowstone, I had doubts we would ever be able to bring the aspen back. There were so many elk, and the stream ecosystems were in such poor shape. The level of recovery we’re seeing is very encouraging.”

A demand by Catron County officials to remove an endangered Mexican gray wolf from the wild in southwestern New Mexico has been rejected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

County officials wanted the female wolf removed because they said it had a history of cattle depredations. The county threatened to enforce an ordinance it passed earlier this year, which says the county has a right to trap and remove wolves deemed accustomed to humans or which have a high probability of physically or psychologically harming children or other defenseless people.

The Fish and Wildlife Service responded to the county in a letter last week, saying it doesn’t plan to remove the wolf. The letter also contained a warning, Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Victoria Fox said.

“We’ve emphasized that any action taken that would affect the Mexican wolf population that isn’t authorized under federal law will constitute a violation that will subject the entity or individual to the full prosecutorial power of the U.S. government,” she said.

Catron County Manager Bill Aymar said he didn’t know how the county would respond to the agency’s position. He said the decision will be up to the county’s three commissioners.

Federal biologists began releasing wolves on the Arizona-New Mexico border in 1998 to re-establish the species in part of its historic range after it had been hunted to the brink of extinction in the early 1900s.

Most people cannot escape the magical images conjured up by a wolf’s howl.

Here in the mountains of New Mexico it’s a common sound, and anyone who has seen “Dances With Wolves” can feel the Native American spirit associated with them. A road trip to the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary is not only a chance to visit these amazing creatures of nature and lore, but also an educational experience, too.

The 80-acre wolf sanctuary located on BIA 120 just four miles west of BIA 125 is a journey well worth the trip for young and old alike as well as for individuals, families and school groups. The non-profit sanctuary is home for abused and abandoned wolves and wolf dogs. Since these wolves have no natural experience in the wild, once they are placed in the sanctuary, they can never be released into a wild environment.

James Paulson, outreach coordinator for the wolf sanctuary said, “We currently have 59 wolves in our care. Ideally we like to have only 50 to 55, but the need is there, so we took them in. The problem is epidemic today with people buying these bred wolves and then finding out they are not the best pet, so they call us and other facilities to try to find placement for the animals.”

The wolf sanctuary received 13,000 visitors last year and although many are from New Mexico, others come from overseas as do many of the sanctuary’s volunteers.

“We had one couple from England last year who flew to New York from London and rented motorcycles to tour the country and ended up in San Francisco. When they were there, someone they met mentioned the sanctuary, and they hopped on their motorcycles and made their way here to visit the us,” Paulson said.

Educational programs is another important function of the sanctuary. It provides programs for schools where a sociable wolf visits a classroom or classes tour the sanctuary. During the school year, the sanctuary handles about 10 educational groups a week.

This year, various scout groups are trying to arrange their jamborees around the sanctuary to learn about wolves and in some cases work on the grounds earning merit badges by helping to clean up, learning how to feed the wolves and caring for them.

The problems of abused wolves don’t always have a happy ending either, Paulson said, “Every year in North America there are over 100,000 wolf dogs put to sleep and the problem is only growing.”

In addition to visiting the wolves and learning about them, the sanctuary also has a rustic campground in a wooded area where visitors can enjoy the outdoors and listen to the wolves howl at night.

The sanctuary also has trained guides that help visitors walk with the wolves, but no dancing is allowed. Shutterbugs can also sign up for a private tour inside the fenced in area to get up close and personal with these wonderful and beautiful creatures.