Tag Archives: Yellowstone National Park

Uncategorized

Happy Trails, Part 121: Getting used to this response

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — So … I was waiting this afternoon for Old Faithful to shoot itself into the air.

I turned to a gentleman and his wife sitting behind us on a bench. We talked for a moment or two: about Vietnam (we both were wearing caps revealing our war connection) and about the fact we were sitting on a huge volcanic fault that might explode some day, maybe soon.

Then he asked, “Where are you from”? I stumbled for a moment.

Then I mumbled being “from near Dallas.”

My retirement has taken my wife and me to Fairview, just north of Dallas between Allen and McKinney. I haven’t grown entirely comfortable telling strangers that I am “from the Dallas area.”

I can’t explain it, other than to suggest that Fairview isn’t as widely known to folks as, say, Amarillo and Beaumont, where we lived for more than 30 years while I worked for a living in daily print journalism. Most people I have met over the years know where Amarillo and Beaumont are on the map. Indeed, when I mention “Amarillo,” I often get a response that goes something like, “Hey, isn’t that the place with the big steak?”

As I grapple momentarily for the right way to tell folks where I now reside, I am left sounding awkward and perhaps a bit feckless.

It’ll come. Soon.

Uncategorized

Oh, the fires leave lasting scars

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — I feared this sight as we approached the nation’s original national park.

We looked all around us as we drove through the park from east to west and noticed thousands upon thousands of scarred trees.

They are the casualty of forest fires.

The sight of them breaks my heart.

Our return to Yellowstone, which we first saw in 1973 — when we came here with our then-infant older son — is off to a great start. We drove slowly through the park and saw three large herds of bison. One of the beasts was ambling down the highway at his own pace, stopping traffic along the way; fortunately we didn’t see any yahoos trying to taunt the cantankerous critter, like the idiot who did just the other day.

But those trees, or what is left of them, is a troubling sight to me.

I recall the huge 1988 Yellowstone fire that engulfed thousands of acres of timber. The National Forest Service was forced in the wake of that blaze to change its firefighting policy; in other words, the service went from a quick-suppression policy to a “let it burn” policy, understanding that fire is nature’s way of cleansing the forests.

Well, the fires have “cleansed” the park. Don’t misunderstand, there’s plenty of handsome timber still standing throughout the park. A lot of the mountain slopes, though, remain scarred by previous blazes.

The sight of them makes my heart hurt.

environmental news

Yes, the government works for us

My wife and I — along with Toby the Puppy — are preparing for a two-week-plus journey out west where we’re going to enjoy the sights associated with two massive federal government projects.

Yes, the federal government has lured us to take in these projects’ splendor and to marvel at the genius that created them.

Our first stop will be the nation’s first national park: Yellowstone. We’ll be parked outside the west gate of Yellowstone in an RV camp in Montana.

The federal government established Yellowstone National Park in 1872. It would the first in a long line of gorgeous exhibits of natural splendor.

And yet we get rumblings from Washington that the government wants to scale back its national park land, specifically its national monuments, which also are run by the National Park Service, an arm of the Department of Interior.

I am of the view that we need to set aside more land for Americans to enjoy, not less of it.

We intend to see Yellowstone again and thank those far-sighted individuals who saw fit to create a national park system that would stand the test of time … and I hope it’s forever!

From there we’ll venture to the Columbia River in eastern Washington, where we’ll take a gander at a project that came into being during the Great Depression.

President Franklin Roosevelt inherited an economy in free fall in 1933. He then set about creating the mother of government economic stimulus packages. It included the Bureau of Reclamation, which began construction on Grand Coulee Dam in July 1933.

This is a product of what I would call “good government.” It’s a quaint saying these days. We don’t hear much about the good that government does on behalf of Americans. Grand Coulee produces electricity and also irrigates some fertile farm land where growers produce food to feed millions of Americans.

How can that ever be a bad thing?

So we’ll cast our gaze on these two governmental masterpieces. They’ll make me even prouder of the things my government has done for all of us.

local news

Happy Trails, Part 118: Packing warm clothes

A young woman at an RV park in central Wyoming delivered a message that was music to my ears.

I made an overnight reservation there and then asked about the temperature. “It’s been hot here the past week,” she said. I then asked about Yellowstone National Park, where my wife, Toby and Puppy and I are heading.

“Oh, be sure to bring warm clothes there,” she said. “I hear it’s cooling off nicely.”

Man, I hope she heard it correctly.

This is our first trip in a few months; it is the first since we moved from Amarillo to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

We have had a toasty summer so far in the Metroplex, although it’s been more,Ā  um, tolerable the past few days. We had quite a few consecutive days of 100-degree-plus weather. That, and the humidity, does take the starch out of you.

However, very soon we’re packing up our RV and heading north and west toward Yellowstone. We’ll spend four nights there before heading ever farther north and west, where we’ll spend three nights near Grand Coulee Dam, Wash. I grew up in Portland, Ore., which isn’t all that far away, and have never been to Grand Coulee Dam. So, this is kind of a bucket-list destination for me.

I am not expecting frigid temps on this road trip. I do expect to layer up my attire while we’re visiting Old Faithful and gawking at the wildlife that runs around the nation’s oldest national park.

I do hope the young woman on the phone today knew what she was talking about.

I’ll keep you posted.

environmental news

Nature has this way of tending to itself

A video came to my attention. It apparently has gone viral, which is why it showed up on my Facebook feed the other day.

I opened it — and was filled with wonder at the power of Mother Nature.

It’s about the consequence of the release of 14 wolves into Yellowstone National Park. It recites the impact that the wolves have had on the ecosystem.

It’s all good, I’ll tell you. The video is here: oSN8R80e

I encourage you to take a look.

In brief, it explains how the wolves culled the deer and elk herds in Yellowstone, how the culling has helped the flora flourish, how the increased flora has attracted more birds, improved soil erosion throughout the park, enhanced the rivers, streams and lakes, which attracted more wildlife.

I remember when the National Park Service brought the wolves back into Yellowstone, the nation’s oldest national park. I was pleased to hear about the return of the beasts. I knew they would prey on injured or ailing deer and elk. They did what we all thought they would do.

Yes, the numbers of deer and elk diminished. The quality of the herds, though, improved. The more fit animals were able to survive. They reproduced.

And … shall we say that the rest is history.

Mother Nature is the greatest equalizer of them all.

environmental news, national news

Those signs are up for a reason

BBtPTUl

Yellowstone National Park officials are unambiguous about how people should interact with the wildlife that roam the park.

Do not do it. Period.

That didn’t deter a Canadian visitor and his son from interfering with Mother Nature when they grabbed a newborn bison and put it into their SUV, thinking they were saving its life.

Well, they didn’t.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/canadian-men-defend-loading-yellowstone-bison-calf-into-vehicle/ar-BBtPHPl?li=BBnb7Kz

Shamash Kassam and his son, Shakeel, would learn in quick order just why the park insists that human beings keep their hands off these beasts.

The park took the critter and then tried to re-integrate it with its herd. The mama bison rejected her baby, which then sought to approach other human beings, putting itself into imminent danger.

It was then that park rangers had to euthanize the little critter.

My hope is that rangers gave Papa and Son Kassam a serious tongue-lashing for interfering with Mother Nature’s way.

Shamash Kassam said he and his son thought the animal was shivering. They didn’t want it exposed to the elements.

How can the National Park Service make it any clearer?

Human beings should not ever interact with wildlife, which are called “wildlife” for a reason.

environmental news

They’re labeled ‘wildlife’ for a good reason

baby-bison-with-mother

This is one of those stories that simply sends me into orbit.

Some visitors were driving through Yellowstone National Park. They see a newborn bison calf. They pick it up and put it into their SUV, believing it was “freezing.” They take the creature to a park office, where I presume the National Park Service rangers were none too happy to receive this arrival.

The rangers sought to return the animal to the wild, return it to the herd from which the visitors “rescued” it.

Mama bison wouldn’t care for her baby, which at that point was doomed.

Faced with the prospect of allowing the young bison to starve to death, theĀ rangersĀ decided to euthanize the tiny critter.

You know, of course, why this story is so outrageous.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/yellowstone-tourists-put-bison-calf-in-car-spurring-warning/ar-BBt7pJ9?li=BBnbfcL

The National Park Service spends a lot of time and energy — not to mention public money — educating the public about the hazards of messing with these creatures. TouristsĀ must notĀ feed them, pet them, love on them … pick them up and put them in their vehicles.

As for the bison in particular, they are powerful and often cantankerous beasts that can inflict serious bodily harm.

TheĀ visitors wereĀ fined $110 for touching the baby bison. A part of me wishes the penalty was a lot stiffer. I also hope the rangers gave these visitors a serious tongue-lashing for what they did.

OK, you are welcome to accuse me of restating the obvious — but these animals are labeled “wildlife” for a very good reason.