Greater Yellowstone and Wolves

Yellowstone National Park and the Greater Yellowstone Eco-system are essentially the same as they were before European-American’s started settling the Western United States, with the exception of a few developed towns such as Jackson Hole. This area has turned the clock backwards another notch, beneficially, with the re-introduction of the wolf, an apex predator. Apex Predators are critical to any eco-system, because they are at the top of the food chain, hence the term apex. This makes them an important indicator of the state of any eco-system, and one we can gauge the overall health of the wilderness by. With the wolf back in the GYE, a critical missing component of the eco-system has been restored, and we are already beginning to see the impact of having Yellowstone's 'top dog' back in its natural habitat. The park and surrounding areas have become much healthier as a result.

A wolf circling a kill that has been stolen by a grizzly bear.

Though wolves and men do not always co-exist peacefully, they can, if we take strides to understand the wolf and its needs, and see how we can accommodate them at the same time we tend to the needs of our own citizens who have chosen to make this beautiful area their home.

Arguments against the re-introduction of wolves to the GYE have been many, and the fight still goes on to this day. Ranchers and others in the area have valid concerns about wolves that need to be addressed with sensitivity, such as wolves that kill cattle, sheep and other domesticated animals. In fact, many people would dearly love to see the wolf eradicated again from the area. I believe that most of this attitude is present because people misunderstand wolves and their place within the eco-system, as well as misunderstanding that there are steps we can take to keep the wolf population in check, and provide safety for our domesticated animals.

As an apex predator, wolves keep elk, bison and deer populations in check. They also thin out the old and diseased animals from the herd, keeping the herd healthier. Wolf kills often feed grizzlies, who take over the kills when the happen upon them, much to the chagrin of the wolves. After all, who’s going to argue with a thousand pound (about 450 kilo’s) Grizzly bear?

Wolf kills also feed a number of smaller animals such as crow, eagle, fox, coyote, etc. giving them an edge, especially during the tough wintertime when food is needed most. Wolves tend to keep coyote populations down, which leaves more food for the fox population. Elk numbers being kept down means more aspen trees growing to full size as the elk tend to stay out of open areas where they might browse on these young trees. This means more food for beavers. The list of effects the wolf has on the eco-system just keeps going on and on, in an effect called a Trophic Cascade. This is why they are such a critical component of the GYE. Somehow we must find a way to co-exist with these animals, to keep Greater Yellowstone healthy.

Yellowstone National Park and Bio-Diversity

There are, unfortunately, many influential people who don’t understand the value of keeping the GYE exactly as it is today. Let’s examine exactly what the concept of a Greater Yellowstone really is, and what it means to people in general.

Right now, anyone can drive, walk or bike into Yellowstone, or any National Park, and see the wonders of it, because we all own it. We all own this wonderful, natural treasure, a comparative rarity in the lower 48 states, a large, intact eco-system. When you enter Yellowstone, in fact, for the most part as soon as you enter the Greater Yellowstone Eco-system, you are in a wilderness area. I don’t think most people understand this fact, let alone appreciate it. Yellowstone is a wilderness, people! Yes, you can drive a car into it, stop at Old Faithful, or other places in the park, eat lunch, even stay the night in a comfortable hotel room; you are still within a wilderness. You can go right outside and see wild animals, including bear, cougar, wolf, moose, elk, deer, bison, etc., most times from within your car. This is not a zoo; these are wild, dangerous animals, which can and will kill or injure you if provoked. This is a good thing. Why, you ask?

Because it means you are in a place that isn’t completely controlled and ruined by the hand of man.

Mankind has put his hand to most of this planet, especially in the last 150 years or so, and tamed most of it. The majority of it has been changed substantially by mankind, to the point where it is unrecognizable compared to what it once was. Wilderness is increasingly rare as are places that have intact eco-systems essentially the same as they were before man entered the picture. Yellowstone is one of these rare places. The value of such a thing as a place where we can go to get in touch with the primitive sides of our soul is valuable in and of itself, let alone its value in a biological sense as a control against our uncontrolled development in other places.

The fact is, bio-diversity is a valuable thing, something we are just beginning to recognize and appreciate. The bio-diversity of the thermal areas alone has already proven to be of incredible value, as research done on the bacteria from some of the thermal features led to modern DNA identification

The Importance of Yellowstone

With my first trip fresh in my mind, I began to look for sources of information. At this time the public Internet was barely in its infancy, and I was largely ignorant of it. Nor was it replete with the vast volumes of information on it that there is now. So I turned to conventional means, such as good old-fashioned books. I found there were a plethora of books that gave basic as well as detailed information about Yellowstone out there, depending upon your level of time and interest in the subject. I chose some books that gave some good, basic overviews of the park and the surrounding area, also known as the GYE, or Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. I read them thoroughly, and realized I was just scraping the surface of the subject. So, I delved deeper into the information pool, and came up with some more in depth books. After reading them, I felt a little more informed. Little did I know I had barely begun my exploration of Yellowstone, and didn’t really know or realize the true nature of the area, or its importance to the United States and indeed the entire world. For Yellowstone, first of the world’s National Parks, not only sparked a movement towards preservation of our world’s natural treasures, it continues to point the way in conservation efforts, on the bleeding edge of what it is to conserve our biosphere relatively intact.

The GYE has been the target of many schemes and plans throughout the years to dominate its resources and control its bounty, starting with the Northern Pacific Railroad before the park was even officially designated a National Park. The Northern Pacific dreamed of controlling access to the park’s thermal wonders for their own benefit, and used knowledge of the area as a goad to investors to give them money to complete the railroad. Fortunately their plan failed. But it was just the first of many, many schemes to control and develop the land in and around Yellowstone.

There have been many plans throughout the years to develop the park; building dams, bigger roads, exploiting resources including the thermal features and animals. In the early years of the park it had many enemies come against it, including a plan to destroy it completely and open it to settlers and private development. Luckily for future generations and us that particular plan was defeated. But that doesn’t mean the park is out of danger.

Yellowstone and I; A Love Story

I have had the privilege of visiting Yellowstone National Park now for over half my life. My first visit to Yellowstone wasn’t until 1991, three years after the infamous fires that burned so much of this iconic national playground. My entrance at the time was through the aforementioned Grand Teton entrance, and I saw the aftermath of the fires work. At the time I remember thinking how tragic it was that this beautiful place had burned so prolifically. What I did not know then is that fire is an important part of the nature of Yellowstone, and the park environs would not be what they are today without its historically important role.

My visit to Yellowstone that day was only a few hours in duration. A friend and myself were camping quite a distance away in Northern Utah and decided to make a spur of the moment trek to Yellowstone as part of our camping trip. We vastly underestimated the time it would take us to reach the park from our camp spot and as a result, cheated ourselves out of a longer visit; for by the time we reached the park itself there were only a few hours left of daylight. We rushed through Grand Teton, not taking the time to see any of its wonder and beauty, in a mad rush to get to Old Faithful. Like almost any first time visitors, our vision of the park was intertwined inextricably with the iconic geysers image, and so to us Old Faithful was Yellowstone. Ironically, by the time we reached the geyser, it had just erupted, and we would not be able to see the geysers next eruption properly because by that time darkness would have descended.

Instead, we spent the next hour or so literally running through the geyser and hot pool basins, snapping pictures as we went for later, and more leisurely, perusal. (As an aside, I DO NOT RECOMMEND RUNNING ON THE BOARDWALKS OR WALKWAYS NEAR GEYSERS OR HOT POOLS! In your own adventures to Yellowstone exercise extreme caution in the thermal areas of the park! What I did not know at the time was that the majority of the hot pools are so hot that they can, literally, boil the flesh from your bones in a matter of minutes, and even a short exposure to their intense heat is enough to seriously injure and often kill those exposed.) In another ironic twist, the pictures I snapped did not turn out, as I had not threaded the spool of film correctly in the old Kodachrome camera I was using at the time (this was long before digital came along, and I have since hardily embraced that format), and I was left with nothing but fleeting memories of wondrous hot pools and fleeting colors that were fading in the early twilight. We left off our whirlwind tour of the hot springs areas before we even hit Grand Prismatic spring, that so often photographed hot pool, known around the world for its rainbow hues and impressive size. I had seen enough to intrigue me greatly; enough so that I was plagued with the desire to see more of it. I had already begun to fall under the Yellowstone spell.

Grand Teton National Park

Since my first visit to Yellowstone I’ve returned again and again, each time finding something new about it to love. In my most recent trip I took a route into the park I don’t often take, through Grand Teton and in through the south entrance. Along the way I took time to appreciate the fact that Grand Teton in itself is a magnificent National Park.

Teton had a rocky start. Private owners owned much of it, though for years many had urged that the already existent Yellowstone National Park be allowed to expand its borders to encompass the area now known as Grand Teton National Park in order to protect elk in their yearly migrations. Unfortunately in the early days of Yellowstone, the preservation effort was more about protecting thermal features than it was anything else, and no real thought had been given by congress to preserving wildlife. It just wasn’t a concept that had found its way into the national consciousness yet.

In the twenties John D. Rockefeller, who was a admirable man and quite a philanthropist, began purchasing much of the private land in the upper Jackson Hole Valley and Grand Teton area in secret, establishing a company for that very purpose that did not include his name in it. It wasn’t for some time that people found out that he was behind the purchase of much of the area. Under his guidance, the organization he put in place to buy the property (the Snake River Land Company) had eventually purchased a respectable 35,000 acres. With the establishment of a National Park in mind, Rockefeller took his acquired land to the National Park Service and asked them to accept it as a donation. Incredibly, they refused.

Even more incredible than this is the fact that even after the Park (first declared a National Monument) was established, Rockefeller’s generous gift, that included much of the northern end of the valley floor, was still refused and was not included in the original Park declaration. It wasn’t for many years and much argument later that his philanthropic effort was recognized and included into the National Park.

I for one very much appreciate the fact that he went to this effort. On my last trek through that beautiful park, I observed and photographed a grizzly bear on an elk carcass, practically right next to the road. That would likely not have been possible if it were not for Mr. John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his efforts, because where I saw this was in the lands that he purchased and later was allowed to donate to the National Park Service for inclusion into the Grand Teton National Park.

A 'Close Call' With The Fury of Nature

The first time I attempted to visit Yellowstone was during the infamous summer of 1988, when fire consumed over 300,000 acres of the park and surrounding National Forests. A friend and I were vacationing with family and friends in nearby Starr Valley, Wyoming, and after discussing the various things we might do we decided to make the drive up to Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. The air everywhere in the west seemed to be heavy with that ‘campfire’ smell and smoke tinged the sky, even as far as Salt Lake City. The air seemed to thicken as we neared Jackson Hole and the sun became darker, even though the day was edging towards noon. When we arrived at Jackson Hole, which at the time was a much smaller and sleepier town than it is today, the atmosphere and attitudes seemed subdued, even for Jackson. We stopped in at a local National Forest Ranger Station to see if they knew what the situation was inside the National Park.

The ranger at the station, which is on the way out of town on the highway leading to Teton and Yellowstone, warned us quite frankly to not go to Yellowstone. He was very persuasive and we chose to follow his advice, curtailing our trip and spending some time in Jackson Hole instead, which, while admittedly boring for a single twenty something, was very charming and interesting. So ended my first ‘trip’ to Yellowstone.

In retrospect, I can’t help but feel that I missed out on a piece of history. To see the fires for myself would have been something I could have told my kids and grand kids etc., and probably would have made for a good tale for this blog. It was Labor Day weekend, and on September 5th, Labor Day, we headed home without having seen Wonderland. If we had gone into the park, we had on our first agenda going to see Old Faithful, that stalwart and famous old geyser that is the top priority for most first time visitors to Yellowstone, and for good reason. Its regular eruptions have entertained visitors to the Park since the first white men entered and explored the area, and most likely Native American’s for countless generations before that, though we have no records of that.

Two days later, on September 7th, a firestorm came marching over the low hills near the Upper Geyser Basin, and the nation came near to losing one of it’s most iconic lodges, the Old Faithful Inn. The people still present at Old Faithful, mostly firefighters, faced 200 foot flames and 80 mph winds that threatened the lives of all who remained in the Old Faithful area. It was only blind luck that preserved the lives of those people as well as the lodge and other buildings. At the last minute, winds shifted and the fire moved away from the Upper Geyser Basin, sparing their lives.

It would have been interesting to been able to say I'd been there but days before.

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone helps me understand the most basic part of myself. The natural side that yearns for the tranquility of the wilderness, the good feel of unspoiled forest and wildlife. It helps me understand my place in the world and what my true priorities are. It gives me a respite from the world I live in day today, the world we all have chosen to make for ourselves, which sometimes seems so sterile in comparison.

Most people believe the struggle to preserve Yellowstone occurred a long time ago and was won. Unfortunately that isn't true. The fight to preserve our sacred wilderness continues and will continue as long as there are people. The demands of society and of population have put pressure on Yellowstone that it has never had to contend with before. Yellowstone is still and always will be at risk. Even now there are people asking the federal government to open surrounding national forest land to development. Yellowstone is not just the boundaries of the national park, it is much greater than that, and it needs the entire surrounding national forest land to survive as an ecosystem. If it is to be preserved then we must all care about it, love it and want to protect it.

If I am right about Yellowstone’s ability to take us out of ourselves, to move us and to inspire passion in us, if Yellowstone can inspire that spiritual side of us that sometimes gets lost in our daily lives so filled with technology and progress, then the fight to preserve Yellowstone takes on a much more important role than just protecting some animals and forestland. It becomes a conflict for the best part of ourselves, a war for our spiritual selves, a battle for our very souls.

We can win it, if we choose to. I fear the consequences should we lose.