Early this morning members of the Wolf Conservation Center’s education team howled goodbye to Ambassador wolves Atka, Zephyr, and Alawa before beginning their trek to Yellowstone National Park for a week of wildlife watching! The crew of adventure seeking WCC friends and supporters will meet up with Yellowstone Wolf Tracker‘s Nathan Varley and Linda Thurston this afternoon and by dawn tomorrow they’ll have scopes in hand to behold the WCC Ambassadors’ wild brothers and sisters.

Diane Bentivegna and her 8th grade students in 2010

Among the group of adventurers on this year’s expedition is Diane Bentivegna.  As a middle school teacher, Diane was an inspiration to her students introducing them to local and national conservation projects and bringing Atka to Long Island’s Woodmere Middle School on several occasions. Today, Diane is one of the driving forces behind National Wolfwatcher Coalition, working on behalf of wolves full-time although she has yet see a wolf in the wild!  Perhaps tomorrow will be the day that Diane sees her first wild wolf, stay tuned to find out.   Diane will be sending updates from the field all week long.   Safe travels!