It all started when I decided to paint one of my favorite places. Soda Butte Creek, in the northern part of Yosemite, is a beautiful part of the park. There are lots of elk and buffalo there, but the wolves are gone.

When I did this painting, it was an idealistic what if image, based on a decade-old proposal for a wolf reintroduction project. Shortly after I completed the painting, I spoke with Brian Peck of the Colorado Speakers Bureau, representing the International Wolf Center. He told me that Congress had commissioned an enviornmental impact study to explore the feasibility of reintroducing wolves into Yellowstone Park. Much to my delight, one of the sites of the possible reintroduction is Soda Butte Creek - almost exactly where I had placed the wolves in this piece.

To me, the most important thing is the restoring of the ecological balance, which is exactly what the devastating Yellowstone fire did. So the dead trees in the painting, as well as the wolves, all symbolize a comback.

It represents a rebith of integrity too. If people can finally realize and acknowledge their mistakes, and then take steps to correct them what a comback that would make. - BM