Vol 3, #40

   Friday, April 16, 1999

YELLOWSTONE
WEATHER
Highs 40s, Lows10s
Mostly Sunny
 

Yellowstone Net Home Page
Vacation Reservations

ROAD REPORT
The West Roads
Are Now Open!
(Mammoth to Old
Faithful & Canyon)

GREENWICH, Conn. -- Old Faithful in Yellowstone, Half Dome in Yosemite, the South Rim of the Grand Canyon: these are some of the images people photograph each year in the 378 national parks throughout the United States. To highlight the benefits of visiting a national park, Unilever Home & Personal Care (HPC) -USA and Canon U.S.A., Inc., are inviting the public to enter photos taken in U.S. national parks in a contest entitled Your Picture of America.

The Your Picture of America photo contest provides amateur photographers an opportunity to showcase their best images from a national park. Twelve first place winners will be selected and will receive a Unilever HPC ``family pack'' of products and a choice of Canon cameras or binoculars including:

-- the EOS Elan IIE 35mm camera with Canon's exclusive eye-controlled autofocus and a 28-80mm lens

-- 10 x 30 IS binoculars with Canon's exclusive Image Stabilizing technology

-- Canon EOS IX Lite Advanced Photo System SLR camera with 22-55mm lens

A grand prize winner will be selected from the 12 first place winners, and will receive a choice of Canon cameras or binoculars and a trip for four to Yellowstone National Park.

The Your Picture of America contest runs from April 12 through June 30, 1999. A full-page advertisement in the April 19 issue of PEOPLE Magazine will feature an entry form, contest rules and a coupon for Unilever HPC's products, including Wisk, Surf, Snuggle, Sunlight and Shield. Winning photos will be used to create Unilever's year 2000 National Parks calendar, produced as part of its ongoing program in partnership with the National Park Foundation.

BACK TO TOP

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND COLUMNISTS

Ralph Maughan
Kim Steinbacher
Kevin Sanders
Steve Brashear
Clint Wilkes
Tim Gourley
Hon. Bob Gammage
Ruth Colter-Frick
Lee Whittlesey
Tom Mazzarisi
Russ Finley
David Monteith
Denise Elmer
Dr. Bob Bara

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (YNET) -- If you are planning a visit to Yellowstone this summer, now is the time to be making preparations, including your lodging and activity reservations.

Yellowstone Net Travel offers the best customer service in the region and can take care of all your Yellowstone reservations, including lodging and activity needs.

Already, most lodging dates in the Park are filled, so you should be prepared to stay at one of the popular gateway cities:  West Yellowstone, Gardiner, Cody or Jackson.  In addition, if you plan on taking a raft trip, make your plans now, as it one of the most popular activities in Yellowstone vicinity.  Other popular activities include horseback riding, bicycle tours, and guided geyser tours.

For more information, be sure to visit the Yellowstone Net Travel website.

BACK TO TOP

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (NPS) -- On Thursday, March 25, 1999, Yellowstone National Park biologists conducted the annual aerial census of the northern Yellowstone pronghorn herd. A total of 204 pronghorn were counted, slightly down from the 231 pronghorn counted in April 1998. The count is conducted each spring in agreement with the Northern Yellowstone Cooperative Wildlife Working Group, comprised of state and federal agencies, and provides a minimum population estimate for the herd.

Pronghorn numbers in this herd have declined in recent years, from a high of 591 in 1991 to between 200 and 250 since 1995. The cause of population decline and its remaining at low levels puts this unique and isolated population at particular risk. To better understand the factors behind the recent decline and current low numbers, Yellowstone National Park and the University of Idaho have initiated a cooperative research project to study fawn production and fawn mortality in the herd. Other research projects, including a study of pronghorn habitat use and availability, are being considered to provide additional information necessary to understand the factors limiting this population.

The northern Yellowstone pronghorn herd summers primarily within the park, and winters between Mammoth Hot Springs and Corwin Springs, Montana. Once part of a larger population extending north along the Yellowstone River valley to Livingston, Montana, the northern Yellowstone herd has been isolated from other pronghorn since the 1920's, when pronghorn were almost extirpated through hunting between Yankee Jim Canyon and Livingston.

BACK TO TOP

Conservation groups have filed suit to protect the quiet and sanctity of the Denali Wilderness Area. The coalition of national and local environmental groups represented by Trustees for Alaska intervened in U.S. District Court of Alaska, in a lawsuit brought by the Alaska State Snowmobile Association that seeks to overturn the National Park Service decision to close the old Mt. McKinley National Park area to snowmachine use.