There's a moment in William Campbell's new documentary when a Paradise Valley rancher looks across the pasture and says, "Wolves and cows don't mix."

Over the next hour, Campbell, an award-winning photographer with Time Magazine and a journalist with CNN, explores the strange waltz taking place between environmentalists and ranchers when it comes to living with wolves in Montana.

"Wolves are emblematic of the future of the West in a lot of ways," Campbell said. "You can use the wolf issue to get in touch with the development issue and the land issue, because they affect the landscape in such a dramatic way."

Filmed in southwest Montana, "Wolves in Paradise" follows the wolves from their release in Yellowstone Park during reintroduction in 1995. It tracks the animals as they expand outward, challenging the adaptability of humans when coping with their presence.

As Yellowstone Wolf Project leader Doug Smith notes in the film, the park was simply a release point for the animals. No one ever suggested wolves would stay within the park's boundaries, as is expected of the bison.

"We don't have the right through our human actions to completely eradicate another plant or animal," Smith says in the film. "Throughout history, wolves have been a symbol of something else. That symbol is decided by the person."

Campbell, who takes an objective approach to the controversial issue, shot most of the documentary in Paradise Valley, where the Sheep Mountain Pack took up residence to become one of the first packs to settle outside the park.

Early on, the animals weren't welcome by area ranchers. But over time, according to Campbell, cattlemen have made efforts to live with the wolf, initially turning to nonlethal deterrents and so-called range riders to keep the animals at bay.

"It began to turn when I started to see, not necessarily tolerance from the local ranchers, but a realization that wolves are here and they're not going away," Campbell said. "They were no longer fighting to not have them, but rather, looking for ways to live with them."

It's here that Campbell's documentary takes a turn, one that doesn't come all that surprising. The film sets out to examine how growth and development has so dramatically altered the once-open landscape around Yellowstone, impacting wolves and ranchers alike.

One rancher recalls his father talking about how, not too long ago, he counted eight porch lights glinting at night across the Paradise Valley. Now, he said, it's like looking out at the stars, the development creeping in, seemingly unchecked.

If there's one thing ranchers and environmentalists have in common, the film suggests, it may be their fear of development.

Ranchers talk about productive hay fields giving way to subdivisions. Environmentalists talk about wide-open spaces lost to upscale ranchettes. In this way, Campbell notes, ranchers and environmentalists have found common ground.

"It's not this big love fest," Campbell said. "It's more of a pragmatic arrangement that comes with living with a large predator."

No matter how the issue is viewed, Yellowstone Park is undeniably the nation's premier example of a natural ecosystem, and everyone, it seems, wants a piece of it. It is, the narrator points out, where America recognized its wild heart.

The park itself spans 3 million acres. More than 12 million acres of national forest land surround Yellowstone, which is home to hundreds of species living in a wild setting.

Elk migrate from the park, moving down river valleys north into Montana to graze. Just 10 years ago, those elk had little fear, as wolves had been eradicated from the ecosystem.

Now, wolves follow the herds -- a biological cycle as natural as the species itself. As a result of the wolf's return, Smith notes in the film, the landscape is changing in ways that are still being studied.

Bears have more carrion to eat -- leftover wolf kills. Reduced elk numbers have allowed vegetation to return to more natural levels. That brings in birds and provides food for beavers. In turn, the beavers create wetland habitat through building dams; the cycle goes on, much of it stemming from the reintroduction of the wolf.

"Wolves are expanding a lot faster and farther than anything else," Campbell said. "So I let the wolves take me to meet people who are dealing with them."

Campbell laughs, saying he wasn't looking to embark on a long-term project. He came to Montana to shoot segments on the wolf for CNN, Time Magazine, and National Geographic. But one thing led to another and before he knew it, he'd been in Montana for six years with enough footage for an hourlong documentary.

"I was able to build upon the footage over the years and finally come out with a one-hour show," he said. "For the first time, I wanted to have more of a regional impact than a national impact. It was a story I felt would interest people in the Northern Rockies."

The documentary includes interviews with Janelle Holden, a member of Keystone Conservation, and Lane Adamson, director of the Madison Valley Ranchlands Group.

It also includes interviews with Silicon Valley millionaire Roger Lang, who now owns the 18,000-acre Sun Ranch in the Madison

Valley.

"He's an example of the newcomer who's investing in land in Montana," Campbell said. "The Sun Ranch is a little extension of Yellowstone. (Lang) is trying a conservation experiment, trying to live with wolves and cows together."

Reporter Martin Kidston: mkidson@helenair.com or 447-4086