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.