Abstract Gray wolves were systematically and fervently eliminated from the northwestern United States between the mid-1800s and early 1900s. Wolves disappeared from lower elevations first and generally persisted longer in more remote, mountainous areas. Preservation of large tracts of public land, primarily for commodity use, at the turn of the century, had the unforeseen effect of allowing conditions for wolf recovery to occur later. Improving attitudes toward the species and the recovery of ungulate prey populations from their turn of the century lows are the proximate factors making wolf recovery possible in areas with vast public lands. Planners for wolf recovery in the Northern Rockies identified three areas for wolf recovery, northwestern Montana, central Idaho, and the Greater Yellowstone area, because they consisted primarily of national parks, designated wilderness, and national forests. Those areas had previously been designated as public lands largely because they were too unproductive for agriculture; they consist in part of high elevation habitat that supports relatively few prey for wolves in winter. So far, recolonizing wolves have settled in lower elevation habitats where deer and elk are most abundant. Since private lands are most often in these lower elevations, they may be more important to the recovery and maintenance of viable wolf populations than was earlier envisioned. The negative symbolic nature of the wolf was a major factor in its eradication and continues to be a major factor in considerations of reintroduction and natural recolonization; the newer positive symbolic nature of the animal will ultimately facilitate its return and contribute indirectly toward long-term conservation of wild spaces and biodiversity in North America.